Acts 10:34-43

William F. Schnell

January 13, 2008

Hilary Clinton found her voice this past week in New Hampshire.  Good for her.  I also found my voice this past week in Aurora.  From before Thanksgiving to well after New Years Day I have suffered from the same stubborn cold virus that has reduced my voice to a nasally mess.  I shall therefore not look back upon the winter of 2007 & 8 with undiluted pleasure.  It shall henceforth be remembered as the winter of being sick.  Hopefully it ends here.

Each year seems to leave its distinctive mark in one way or another.  And so it goes for the church.  Last year, for example, there were an uncharacteristic number of baptisms at The Church in Aurora.  Rev. Horak and I baptized children and adults, some in the context of worship and others privately after worship.  Some Sundays we both had baptisms to celebrate. Indeed, there were some Sundays when we both had multiple baptisms. 

Was it a local phenomenon, or did other churches in Aurora experience the same up-tick in baptisms?  Maybe it was a national trend for awhile, I don’t know because I never researched it.  But the staff here did notice it, and will fondly remember last year as the year of many baptisms.  Some marks that are left are fondly remembered.  Others are about as fondly remembered as having a sinus infection for 6 weeks.  And, of course, some years are marked in more than one way with mixed results.

Last year, and about half a year before that, our congregation experienced an uncharacteristic loss of membership through relocation.  As with baptisms, every year includes some.  But last year there were many very actively involved members who relocated to other places.  Almost all of them had previously attended the 11:00 worship service.  They were the first wave of baby boomers relocating to ultimate retirement locations.

Well, the Weaver’s are actually everywhere, full timing it in a motor coach, but the Howell’s left for Arizona, the Koning's for New Mexico, the Hennen’s for North Carolina, the Toomajian’s for, I believe, the other Carolina and the Seals for Gulf Shores, Alabama.  I just got a card from the Stackleberg's in New York and Margie Koppes in Nevada.  And so it goes for a lot of others who had previously attended the 11:00 service.

And why the 11:00 service, because that is the service attended by our empty nester members.  Because Christian Education for all ages is only provided during the 9:30 worship hour, that is the service preferred by our young families with children.  We do provide an excellent Christian Education opportunity at 11:00 for children ages 4 through 4^th grade, called Godly Play, but outside of a few exceptions families with children attend the 9:30 worship hour and empty nesters attend the 11:00 worship hour.  That is why the loss of relocating members has been so acutely felt at the 11:00 service.

As a Senior Minister I have to pay attention to such things.  Up until last year our attendance patterns had remained stable for over a decade.  Functionally we had reached a contented capacity beyond which there was no congregational desire to move.  But the recent loss of so many members changes that.  Not only are attendance patterns affected, but also things like stewardship giving since there are fewer giving units.  I will have to say at this point that the extreme generosity of our current membership has exceeded expectations, enabled us to compensate for the loss of giving units and has resulted in a balanced budget that will soon be presented at our Annual Meeting in two weeks.  Whew!

Still, this is not a sustainable situation.  We must concern ourselves with restoring ourselves to full capacity.  In theological terms that means concerning ourselves with evangelism.  Our lectionary assigned text for this morning appropriately happens to address the topic of evangelism, and offers some solid advice as we go forward from this point with God’s help and grace.  But before we get to our text, a little background is in order.

Our text comes just after the budding Christian Church experiences its first real crisis.  Following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, his followers began to coalesce into a worshiping community in Jerusalem.  They were all, like him, Jewish, but they sought to separate from the Jewish powers-that-be by, among other things, establishing a new Sabbath Day.  Instead of meeting for worship on Saturday, they met on Sunday—"the Lord’s Day" as it became called—and their numbers began to grow.

The Jewish powers-that-be were no less threatened by this new sect than they were by Jesus himself, and so they sought to stamp it out.  They gave approval to the stoning of an early leader of the Jerusalem church named Stephen (from whom our Stephen ministry gets its name).  But Stephen was not the only one attacked for his faith.  The book of Acts tells us: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (8:1).

It does not sound like that was a good day for the early Christian Church.  But as it happened, it may have been the early church’s finest hour.  Acts continues, Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went (8:4).  Philip preaches in Samaria; Saul, who had previously consented to Stephen’s death, is converted on the road to Damascus, changes his name to Paul and becomes the greatest church planter of all time.  Peter lands in Joppa, which brings us to our text for this morning.

But isn’t it interesting how God redeems even the seemingly bad things that happen to good people?  Had the early church not been scattered by persecution, it would not have grown beyond the mother church in Jerusalem.  As it happened, the church not only multiplied into new churches, it expanded beyond the confines of Judaism.  Again, all the early Christians were Jews.  Jesus was a Jew, the 12 were all Jews.  Philip and Paul and Peter were all Jews.  But that changes when the Holy Spirit causes Peter’s path to cross with that of a Roman Centurion by the name of Cornelius.

Even though Cornelius was a Roman and not Jewish, Acts says He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly (10:2).  That should temper the all-to-common tendency of people of faith to write off those whose religious backgrounds are different from our own.  That was certainly the tendency of the early church.  It was assumed that to be a good Christian one had first to be a good Jew.  Cornelius was not a good Jew, but he was a good man in God’s sight.

Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.  He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.  But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean (10:27-28).  Therefore Peter goes on to baptize some of the first Gentile converts to Christianity.  Then he has some explaining to do.  The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them (11:1).

Peter recounts the whole story to them, and concludes by saying: So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"  When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life (11:17-18).  From that time forward Gentiles were in, and you and I and Gentiles of all times and places can be grateful that the church of Jesus Christ is an expanding church that takes in all who are drawn to it regardless of background.

And so it is that The Church in Aurora takes in all who are drawn to it regardless of background.  But the question we must struggle with is this: what is it that draws people to the expanding church?  Our text and its larger context give us a clue to that answer.  In sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Cornelius and the crowd of Gentile with him, Peter said, you know …how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good… (Verse 38).

Jesus heals the sick, casts out demons, welcomes the outcast, feeds the hungry and raises the dead.  Doing good means meeting the needs of God’s children whatever they may be.  Cornelius has a spiritual hunger.  Peter defies social convention and risks condemnation to meet that need.  God blesses efforts like that.  Not only is Cornelius drawn to the church, a whole lot of other Gentiles are drawn to it as well.  The secret of the expanding church is to meet the needs of God’s children that are within the sphere of your influence.

As mega-church pastor Rick Warren puts it in the quote at the top of our bulletin, "Every time your church meets someone’s need, a good rumor about the church begins traveling the interpersonal network of your community.  When enough of those good rumors get spread around, the church begins attracting people that no visitation program could possibly reach."  As well put together as our Celebrate-a-Friend Sunday was in November, it is not going to result in an expanding church.  As slick as this mailing is that Aurora’s households received yesterday, it is not going to result in an expanding church.  Such marketing is only effective when it is accompanied by meeting the needs of God’s children.

So I have a great idea that I believe could double our attendance and membership in as little as one month, maybe less.  The basic idea is this: we give everyone who attends worship $100 each and every Sunday.  If they become members their allotment increases to $200 per Sunday.  I am absolutely convinced that within a month or less the word would get out without any further marketing plan at all.  And I do believe that our attendance and membership would double very quickly, and then double again.  Indeed, we would have serious parking and seating problems inside of two weeks.

However as generous as you have shown yourself to be, I doubt if you are generous enough to support such a program.  By my calculations we would need to come up with from between $90,000 and $100,000 each Sunday to fund such a program.  That would consume our entire annual budget in less than a month and a half.  So maybe it is not such a good idea after all.  But there are other needs that God’s children have beyond financial needs.

As brand new empty nesters ourselves, Nancy and I are no longer so consumed with raising children as we once were.  Much of our time has been freed up, and been transferred to caring for our aging parents.  Both of our mothers are in declining health.  My Mom just suffered a stroke that resulted in a move, among other changes.  As a trustee of her financial affairs, and power of attorney for other affairs, I am on a learning curve to protect her interests and wellbeing.  That kind of thing is a big deal for an empty nester like me.

I can tell you this; an ad in our local paper with the following headline would definitely capture my attention and interest: "Are you struggling to care for aging parents?  Come meet with an attorney, social worker, nurse, financial advisor, pastor and other professionals who can help you with resources and options, and warn you of pitfalls and mistakes to avoid.  Free to the public at The Church in Aurora following the 11:00 worship hour on Sunday, January 13.  Lunch provided."