Scripture: Acts 3:1–10
For the sermon this morning, Pastor Matt was joined by the FBC Missions Team. The first part of the text is from Pastor Matt, and the remainder is from Missions Team members.
Forty years. A long life to live, never having taken a step.
Forty years. That is how long he had been coming to the gate to ask for money. Day in and day out. At morning prayers. Midday prayers. Afternoon prayers. Holy days. Festival days. Rain or shine. He would be there. Thankfully, he had friends who would bring him. They knew the right spots where to place him so that he would see the most people. So that more generous givers would pass by. And they knew when to bring him at the times with the highest traffic, so that he could receive the most.
Forty years. He started when he was young, when people would have plenty of sympathy and be generous. They would look down at him, and fish out money for him. It would be hard for them to see him and not give him something. But the older he got, the less they gave. It became easier for them to avert their gaze. To look away when he called out to them. There were times when the man wasn’t sure that he would have enough for food. For his daily expenses. Sometimes the others near him would share. Sometimes he went to bed hungry.
Forty years. By the gate called “Beautiful.” He often laughed at the irony. It was like the back door to the Temple, and crowded around it were all those who weren’t considered beautiful by most folks. The blind. The deaf. Those missing limbs, or with limbs that didn’t work…like his. The man knew who would be waiting there beside him, and worried when one didn’t show up for a couple of days in a row. He often looked at the gate wistfully, even with envy. He sat by that gate to the Temple every day, but he would never be allowed in. He was impure, and those who entered the Temple must be pure. He was imperfect, and those who entered the Temple must be perfect. He was not beautiful, and the Temple required beauty. He felt incomplete…left out and alone. He would see the same people coming and going each day, and he wondered what it would be like to enter that place. To be welcomed. To be included. Sometimes, he would close his eyes and imagine. He would listen to the chorus of those who cried out, in a hundred different ways with a thousand different words. “Help us. Save us. Look at us.”
For forty years. Until the day when two men almost passed him by…
Peter and John rushed to get to the Temple on time. It was almost time for afternoon prayers, and they were running a bit behind. They rushed past the bustling market, glancing up at the afternoon shadows up on the Temple. It seemed like they had been rushing next to each other for a long time…
- That incredible morning rush when they raced each other the tomb, incredulous that Jesus was indeed gone.
- The whirlwind of the next 40 days, during which Jesus appeared to them and taught them, and restored them. Forgave them for abandoning him. Denying him.
- The literal rushing wind of the fiftieth day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they ran out into the streets and started hearing and understanding and speaking to the pilgrims there.
- The rush of the next season of ministry, with believers joining their ranks every day. The Spirit had given them both the ability to preach, to share, to celebrate the good news of Jesus. People responded to that good news with generosity and expectancy. None of them had any money, because they ALL had money and possessions in common.
- And yet, they still practiced the faith that they had known since they were children. Going to Temple. Participating in morning prayers. Midday prayers. Afternoon prayers. That is, unless they were so busy talking to people about Jesus in the other part of the city that they lost track of time. Like today. And so, they rushed beside each other, once again.
But the rushing seemed less purposeful of late. Peter would admit later that he had grown anxious that perhaps he wasn’t doing enough. Both of them were well known for doing…sometimes more than thinking. Peter risked jumping out of the boat to walk on the water with Jesus. It didn’t go well. John and his brother risked asking Jesus for a special place in his kingdom. It didn’t go well. But now Peter wondered what was missing. Jesus had once told them that they would be able to do even greater things once he was gone. But Jesus had done so much. Peter wondered—what were the apostles missing that they should be doing? Could be doing? These were his thoughts as he rushed to afternoon prayers.
That’s when they saw him. That’s when they stopped.
John wondered later what made them stop. There he was, unable to walk. Quietly asking for money to survive. They had probably passed by him a hundred times before. Did he ask them more insistently for alms that day? Was his voice pitched a little higher? A little more desperate? Were John and Peter somehow able to hear him better that day? Was it less crowded and quieter? Or were they somehow more open to what might happen?
Now, with him sitting there, asking for help, time seemed to stop. It no longer mattered if they made it to prayers on time. Now was the time to open themselves up to what might happen next. To live vulnerably and whole-heartedly. To risk. To give the man everything that they had. The encounter was very sensory. They looked at him intently and saw something in him. They asked him to look at them, as they held each other’s stares. They spoke. He listened. They grasped him by the hand, and slowly, like a child toddling on unsure ankles, he stood. And then he walked. And then he danced! And sang and praised and ran and rushed and kissed babies and climbed on tables and did all of the things that he had only dreamed of doing for the last forty years. Through the power of God to heal, and the courageous risk of Peter and John to reach out in faith, the man who could not walk…learned to dance!
Today, I have asked for some help imagining how this story in Acts is our story in Lawrence. How the early church is our church. Two questions:
• Who are the marginalized? Like this man. The left out. The lonely. The hurting. Those desperate for healing? Those who cry out: “Look at us!” What are the ways that we leave people out of our community because of the way that their bodies operate? Who gets included and who gets left out?
• And what would it take for us to risk, like Peter and John, to take a step in faith, and help another learn to walk?
FBC Missions Team: Steve Yoder (with assistance from Hannes Combest and Wendy Wheeler in the worship service)
Who lives on the margins in Lawrence, KS? Who in our community face barriers that leave them desperate and hopeless? Matt described the scene outside the gate called “Beautiful”. We may not have a scene like that outside our FBC “temple,” but you know as well as I that there are many in our community who live lives of quiet desperation on the margins.
We invite you to hear just a few examples, sharing a few seconds of silence following each in order to very intentionally not avert our gaze from our brothers and sisters who live on the margins.
• Those with chronic medical conditions who can’t afford basic health care, including prescription drugs, dental, and eye care
• Those with untreated mental health issues who lurch from crisis to crisis
• Those whose lives are consumed by addiction and substance abuse
• The elderly who live off a meager fixed income, have no family/community support system, and choose between food on the table and medicines to treat their chronic conditions
• Recent immigrants whose language barriers and lack of documents keep them in minimum wage jobs, unable to participate in government assistance programs
• Families who struggle daily to provide for their child with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, meanwhile biding their time on a ten-year waitlist to access help and services
• Children born into generational poverty who have no choice but to work in their teenage years and for whom the American dream is a myth
• The working poor, some of whom visit our food pantry every month in order to help stretch their modest wages
• Those whose history of a criminal conviction makes it nearly impossible to find housing, employment, and a fresh start
FBC Missions Team: Tim Bonner
D.A.R.E.—Drop-in And Rest Experience: Homeless Day Center in Lawrence at 10th and Kentucky
Help—I need a drink of water! Help—I need to wash my clothes! Help—I need a shower before I interview for a job!
Robert Frost said, “Home is the place that when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
As you know, there are a lot of people who do not have a home in Lawrence. It is a serious social problem. Those at the D.A.R.E. Center are doing their part to alleviate that problem. Although it is a secular institution, it has a strong Christian foundation. Loring Henderson, an amazingly generous Quaker, was its originator and had been its executive director for all of its history. However, at 80+ years old his energy to do the job ran out and he had to stop.
The board posted the job of executive director at a meager salary contracted for six months knowing no one would do that job for free, as Loring had done. The new person would also have to do their own fundraising to continue the position and the viability of the D.A.R.E. Center.
Surprisingly, they found the right person for the job—Brett Hartford, who worshipped with us last Sunday. He grew up in Lawrence but had been living and working in New Jersey. Brett is a Christian who deeply believes in incarnational ministry—being the hands and feet of Christ. I believe he was called by God for this position.
Brett’s vision for the D.A.R.E. Center is for it to become not only a direct service provider but to also be an information and referral agency. Thus, they can work in coordination with all the other agencies in town to help the homeless to attain the stability necessary for full functioning.
What can we do to help Brett attain success at D.A.R.E.?
1. Pray for those who work, volunteer, and receive services there.
2. Get to know Brett as a friend.
3. Visit/volunteer at the D.A.R.E. Center: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Friday 2:00–6:00p. Wednesday is a workday—with no homeless participants there—working on refurbishing the building and expanding their space.
4. Go and see their art gallery on Final Friday.
Thank you.
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