Sunday Stretch: Vol. 31
Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...
Dear friends,
I am so happy in this moment - having just read through the texts for this week and the joy they convey in Jesus’ vision for a post-Easter Christian community.
Now many of us know how trying it has been for human beings to try and realize this vision of Christian community here on earth. Many imposters and, as today’s Gospel reading puts it, “thieves and bandits” have come to break in and “steal and kill and destroy” - and still Jesus promises that he is the gate. Jesus promises merely and beautifully this: that we may have life and have it abundantly.
In a month where we’ve witnessed just how quickly lives are stolen, from gun violence in America to war in Ukraine and Sudan to deadly spring storms - this promise of life is a comfort and a lament at the same time, for the ways in which Jesus’ promise is challenged by sin, violence, and the world.
Still, we find ways to come together - as the first Christians did - to share all things in common and break bread together. There is so much joy and promise in that simple little truth.
Let’s get to the texts.
Bible Stories
Acts 2:42-47
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Acts 2:43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
One of the rallying cries of Christian Nationalist politicians and activists in America today is that America is drifting away from Christianity and from God and toward “socialism,” the boogeyman of 20th Century Latin American countries like Cuba, and of course Soviet Russia and Communist China.
Of course these same politicians are much less likely to point out that the world’s wealthiest democracies, mostly located in Northern Europe, are also rooted in socialist policies, like universal healthcare and generous government benefits, of which most wealthy white Americans want for themselves, they just simply don’t want poorer or Black and brown Americans to share in those same benefits.
I say all of this starkly not to point fingers - I know I myself am complicit in the same racism and classism - but simply to put the scare tactic of “socialism” into conversation with this Bible passage from Acts, where the first Christians “had all things in common; they would sell all their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” That sure sounds like the founding principles behind socialism, and progressive taxation, to me.
Now it’s certain that, unlike the early Christians, many who followed them have abused these principles. Many religious and cult leaders have used this idea to take money and possessions from their followers and hoard the wealth for themselves. This continues to happen today throughout American Christianity.
Nonetheless, I think we can’t discount this vision of Christian community. And we also can’t discount the role faith communities and local churches can play in keeping this vision going: where the goal of church donations are not to build the biggest flashiest building, or fund the most celebrity-adjacent lead pastor - but instead to share with those in need in the community.
Questions to Ponder
Note the order of the happenings in this text. First, the believers experienced awe. Then, they gathered in community. How do we make space for awe in our own Christian and church communities?
Much has been researched and written about the practice of early Christian communion, and how it was much more than bread and wine but functioned more as a communal meal, including those who didn’t have enough money for food to eat on their own. Read here to learn more about the so-called “agape feasts.”
The end of this passage talks about early Christians “being saved.” For many contemporary American Christians, especially through the lens of the “born-again” movement of the 20th Century, “being saved” often means praying a Sinner’s prayer and “inviting Jesus into your heart.” But the Greek word used here (σῳζομένους) has more of an earthly connotation of salvation, meaning rescued, or “saved from.” How do you understanding the meaning of “being saved?”
1 Peter 2:19-25
1Pet. 2:19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. 20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
On first reading, this passage from 1 Peter is a tough one for me, being paired with two such expansive and liberating visions of Christian community in the first reading and the Gospel for this week. You can see here again how misused this passage could being in the wrong hands. Imagine a slaveholder saying to a person he has enslaved: “for it is a credit to you if, being aware God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.”
Imagine an abusive father or husband saying these words to an abused wife or child.
Imagine a pastor quoting these words to a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault or child abuse.
Clearly much caution is needed with this passage. I think this passage needs attention to who is reading it. It is meant in solidarity with victims and those who have suffered abuse, not to sanction the abusers in their hands, but instead to encourage and strengthen those who have suffered wrongly, that Jesus is with them.
This passage might be compared with the admonition in Matthew 5 to “turn the other cheek.” How do those words of instruction apply to you, do you think?
What role might a power dynamics analysis have in interpreting these passages? How might one with great power need to apply this rule differently than one who is vulnerable, such as a child or a marginalized person or a victim of abuse?
How can Christians and Christian leaders acknowledge the wrong done in the name of the Bible while still upholding the Bible as a sacred and holy document, especially when it comes to passages like these?
John 10:1-10
John 10:1 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
John 10:7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
I love the imagery of John 10, and each time I read it, I gain new insight and a different perspective on the truth that Jesus is sharing here. Jesus is a gate is such a liberating and freeing image, one that is incredibly rich and shows the depth of insight of the Johannine community that formed this Gospel book.
Jesus as a gate means an entrance into a new reality, an opening, a possibility. Walking through that gate means leaving a past reality behind. Inside this gate Jesus promises pasture: peace, sustenance, enough.
The concept of abundant life has been tainted, unfortunately, by pastors who lead Prosperity Gospel movements and churches, those who trade Jesus’ vision of pasture with a vision of fancy cars, mansions, commercial and capitalist financial wealth at the expense of the poverty of others. So in contrast to that vision - what do you think abundant life means to Jesus?
Have you experienced life abundant? What does it feel like? Look like? Taste like? Smell like? Sound like?
The disciples didn’t understand Jesus, so he tried again. Does this comfort you, to know that if you don’t understand, Jesus will try again?
PRAYER
Dear God,
Thank you for showing us a vision of Christian community and abundant life. Help me this week to take time for awe and for “pasture” in my own life. Help me listen for those who want to dwell with me in this community, and take time to share a meal with loved ones without distraction.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
AMEN
This is a special free version of the Sunday Stretch. Ordinarily, this newsletter is only available to paid subscribers. To receive this full newsletter in your inbox every Sunday morning, please consider a paid subscription. To all paid subscribers: thank you for your support! Please remember to share your prayer requests with me in the comments or privately, if you wish, via email. Please know - to everyone in this community - you are in my prayers and I am so grateful for every single one of you!
An Invitation
A Community that prays for one another is transformed by the power of the Spirit. We’ve been praying for and with each other now for about six months! For the new year, and about once a quarter, I will re-start this space for prayer requests and praises. Please email with your own requests and I will share here with your permission!
We continue to pray for a cessation of violence and war in Ukraine, and for refugees and migrants around the world who are without a safe place to call home. In the same vein, we lift prayers of rescue and safety for the people of Sudan, who have been victimized in a war between two military leaders that has threatened the lives of civilians.
We pray for all people experiencing extreme weather, and those without safe shelter or a warm/cool place to sleep at night. For all those in need of food. For all those looking for work. For those injured in travel on the roads and on the sea and on the rails.
We pray for the people of Holy Land, for Israelis and Palestinians, Christians, Jews, and Muslims - that all will be treated with justice and be given equal rights before the government, to live, work, and practice their faith. We pray for an end to violence and protection of the vulnerable, especially children and the elderly.
We pray for all churches, church leaders, and volunteers as they finished up a busy season earlier this month with Easter Sunday. Might they all have time this week for rest and renewal, and might new volunteers and leaders be inspired to take part in future ministry in their local churches.
We pray for the people of California, who continue to repair and rebuild their lives after flooding devastated many communities this past winter, and snowmelt continues to threaten homes and businesses.
We pray for the people of Iran, where protesters’ lives are being threatened and women are being arrested simply for advocating for their lives and criticizing an abusive government. We also pray for women and girls in Afghanistan, whose right to education and employment has been taken away by the ruling Taliban.
We pray for the victims of gun violence across America, and for brave legislators who are seeking to change overly permissive gun laws in states, like Tennessee and Kentucky, where mass shootings have recently occurred.
This Easter Season, God, be with all who lead congregations and serve in churches around the world. Help them to see your presence and find ways to lift up your justice, grace, and truth - while shunning all those who would proclaim hatred in your name.
Dear God, we pray for our awareness of your presence, and for our joy in your resurrection!
AMEN
P.S. …
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