Sermon - Good News Travels

Preached on October 19, 2008 at The First Congregational Church of Tallmadge, UCC

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Dedicated to my wife, Betsy Wooster, who inspires me and shows me God’s love in the world; and always to the glory of God.

When we study the history of the church, one of the perplexing questions is how the church grew from the small number of people who had met and known Jesus in Galilee and Jerusalem and the surrounding country, to within three centuries reaching all the way through Asia Minor and Greece, to Rome, the capital of the Empire, and reaching south into Egypt, Ethiopia, and further into Africa. The strange thing about this great growth of the church is that under the Roman Empire in the first three centuries, Christians could be persecuted for their beliefs, arrested because they refused to call Ceasar their Lord, instead claiming only Jesus as Lord. And so, Christianity didn’t grow because they had wonderful worship services, or because there was great preaching. Worship services had to be held in secret, and only those who were already Christian could attend. In a time of persecution, you couldn’t announce a worship service and invite visitors.

So how did the church grow?

The historian Justo Gonzalez tells us that people did not find out about Christianity “in church services, but rather…in kitchens, shops, and markets.” It was in ordinary, everyday relationships that people came to know an invitation to a different kind of life in Jesus Christ. Jesus had told his followers to love one another, and by that love others would know that they were followers of Christ.[1]

Henry Chadwick, in his history of the early church, concluded that “the practical application of charity was probably the most potent single cause of Christian success.” Chadwick describes how “Christian charity” in the early church was expressed in “care for the poor, for widows and orphans, in visits to brethren in prison…and in social action in time of calamity like famine, earthquake, pestilence, or war.”[2]

This morning we heard the beginning of Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, in what is today eastern Greece near the Aegean sea. After his conversion, Paul traveled to many cities to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ and to help local people to begin a Christian community before he moved on to somewhere else. Much of our New Testament is comprised of letters Paul wrote back to these communities after he had left. In this case, Paul has moved northwest to the regions of Macedonia and Achaia, and he writes back to the Thessalonians to tell them what he hears there:
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it”

Good news travels.

When we hear about people doing great things, it inspires us. We want to try it. When we hear about a creative family gathering that got the kids excited, we plan one with our family. When we hear about a great date idea, we want to try it ourselves. When we hear visit someone and admire their goldfish pond or the decorative candles in the dining room, we get an idea that we want to do at our home. And so it is in the life of faith. When we see the kind of love that exists among the faithful, and the depth of meaning in their lives, we want to join them: to surrender ourselves more fully to worship, to service, to spiritual growth.

Faith is not supposed to be a solo act. We need to hear the good news of each other’s lives. So let me share some good news with you.

I want to tell you about Anil and Teresa Henry. Ten years ago, Anil was a surgeon at a hospital in a large U.S. city; Teresa was an anesthesiologist, and they had three children. In the midst of this comfortable life, they felt the call to service that had been nurtured throughout their lives. They contacted Global Minitries of the United Church of Christ to offer their service, and were soon placed as a missionaries to India. They were commissioned at the Avon Lake United Church of Christ, not far from here in Tallmadge. In 2003, Anil and his wife took over Mungeli Hospital in Central India. At the time it had three working light bulbs, no screens, no linens, no beds, and very little equipment. Piece by piece they have made it a working hospital, never asking patients if they have money, but treating everyone as best they can.

Earlier this year, Anil drove 1200 miles to a port to pick up a shipping container full of supplies that had been donated from the U.S. Some of the boxes were marked with the words “packed with love,” sent by people very much like this congregation. One particular piece of equipment was put into use the day it was unloaded: an infant warmer for twins who had been born prematurely. The twins remained in acute care for one month at Mungeli Hospital. Here is what Anil wrote afterward: “The family and the community was amazed as to how we were able to save these small little babies with what little we had. It surely was the beginning of showing the community that with a little hard work and faith, there is so much that we can do.”

Good news travels. The early church thrived on practical applications of charity, and that has not changed. That’s still how the church grows. The same thing happens here and now, in this congregation. For starters, you help to support the Henry’s in India and the many other missionaries and disaster response efforts that we undertake in the United Church of Christ. It is our goal to increase our contribution to the wider mission of our church next year as a part of our stewardship.

It also happens here in very local ways: when you take food to Miller Ave, when you help to host homeless families with Interfaith Hospitality Network, when you buy malaria nets, when you go on mission tours, when you visit people in hospitals and homes, when you listen to veterans and their families, when you support people in illness, or as caregivers, and when you celebrate with them for weddings and babies who are born. Remember all the ministries featured at the ministry fair last Sunday. Or, perhaps, remember this next week when you look at the “ministry story booklet” that you will receive in worship: it tells the stories of this church. Good news travels, and the more good news travels, the more God is at work within us to do even more.

I want to invite you to share our good news. Here’s a quiz for you to see if you are ready to invite others in on what’s going on here, and you can just take this on your own right where you’re sitting.[3]
Let’s say a new family moves into your neighborhood and as you are meeting them, they say “This is exhausting. There’s so much to do. I have to find a new dry cleaner, a new grocery store. Why, we’ll even have to find a new church.”
Would you say…
A: Yeah, moving stinks.
B: I can recommend an outstanding dry cleaner.
C: Yes, I know how hard that is. I’d be glad to steer you toward a few places. And we attend a wonderful church where we feel at home. I’d be glad to tell you about it.

If they say “really, what’s your church like?”
Would you say…
A: Well, we’re like any other, we have our share of problems.
B: To be honest, I don’t get their all that often, so it’s hard to say.C. It’s very welcoming, full of all kinds of great people. I leave worship ready and inspired for the week.

Finally, if they say “Well, I think I’d like to visit your church sometime.”
Would you say…
A: You’re kidding?!
B: Good for you, I was thinking of sleeping in this week.
C: Great, why don’t you come with us. We’ll show you around and afterward we’ll take you all out for brunch.

Telling our good news is easier than you think, and it’s a wrong assumption to think that people are not interested. There is good news here and we have good news to tell about God’s great love for us shown in Jesus Christ, so may we continue the tradition that goes all the way back to those Thessalonians Christians, who became imitators of Jesus with joy, and the love they showed was so great that their good news traveled, and the story continued, and the story continues still…

In the name of the one who gives us life, redeems our lives, and sustains us along the journey. Amen


[1] Gonalez, The Story of Christianity, Volume 1. Page 99
[2] Chadwick, Henrey. The Early Church. Page
[3] Adapted from “Are You Ready to Talk About Your Church?” UCC pamphlet by Rev. Lillian Daniel.

Economic Crisis

In the midst this economic crisis, and the central crisis of the housing market collapse, I’m reminded of the widows who lost their houses in a long-ago time.

In a part of the gospels of Mark and Luke seldom noticed, Jesus speaks to the corruption of the religious leadership in Jerusalem : the scribes who were charged with applying the laws of the scripture to their society. They were supposed to be true to God’s word of justice and good news to the poor. Instead, the religious leaders were padding their own wallets while the ones in greatest need lost out. Jesus was always very forgiving of people who had sinned, but when he conf ron ts sin perpetrated in the name of religion, he lets them have it:
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Mark 12:38-40).

The Biblical scholar Douglas Hare tells us how the scribes used their position of legal power to defraud a widow of their late husband’s estate. This was at a time when women were not allowed to speak in a courtroom. Unless the vulnerable widow had a son or brother who could present her case, she was easy prey to those in power. The precarious fate of widows in that era explains why scripture so often commands generosity and special concern for widows (and orphans). God’s will, revealed in scripture, was the moral conscience for a society where too many were left out.

I don’t know how to fix the economic crisis. I’m trying to understand it, and I’ve learned a lot about the stock, housing, and credit markets and the complex mechanisms that guide them, but I’m not in a position to advocate any particular solution. What I can do, and what I believe the church must do, is to be a moral conscience for our society. We should proclaim that those without power should not be left out of our public policy. We should demand a society in which the ones with power do not promote their own success by devouring the houses of the vulnerable, but instead work for the good of everyone, no exceptions.