The Time Has Come to Tell the World

Acts 1:6

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

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Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can't put it off another day
I don't care what others say
They say we don't listen anyway
Time has come today

"Time Has Come Today" by Joe and Willie Chambers recorded by The Chambers Brothers

Pink Floyd sings "Time is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death." There's a pessimistic fatalistic attitude in our time that can't disagree with this statement. I guess if you look at life one day at a time with the only goal being the end of days, this is your song. It's tempting on a very bad day, but this is not our call. This view of time is not our vocation.

So the Apostles asked Jesus "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus said, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” The time is not for us to know, but Jesus shares two words with his disciples. He tells them that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they are to be God's witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. They were called to share the Good News from the End of the World to their towns.

Well, we still don't know the time when Jesus will return in glory. So far everyone who has made that prediction was wrong. But the time has still come today. The time has come that we have been filled with the Holy Spirit. The time has come that we have been given the power of God. The time has come when we are called to share the word of God with the world.

We are called to tell the world that Christ has come, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. Scripture doesn't tell us to get ready, scripture tells us to be ready. So take the power we have been given and share the word with the world.

As the Chambers Brothers sing, there are people who will not listen. There are those who are so hard hearted that they may never hear, but there are still others who haven't listened in the past who may hear today. So share and know that it doesn't matter what others say, the time has come today!

Tell Me Something Good

Matthew 11:2-6

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

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Tell me something good
(tell me, tell me, tell me)
Tell me that you love me

"Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus

Tell me something good! The cry of the ages. People wait for news. People wait stateside while their husbands and wives, sons and daughters are overseas in the military. People wait in hallways and side rooms in hospitals. People wait on hold. People wait for messages, people wait for any news. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

We pray to hear of new life, the birth of a son or daughter. We pray that new life is healthy and happy. We pray our sons and daughters grow strong and faithful. We pray they find love and happiness. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

John the Baptist was in prison. He would soon be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, but he had heard what the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples with a very simple question: Are you he? Jesus lets his actions speak for themselves.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought. In their own way, John's disciples were poor and this was the good news. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

John is about to be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, and John needed good news. He needed to hear the good news that the Jesus is the Messiah. He needed to know that what he heard was true. He needed to know that God's work was continuing on earth. He found his good news. He found that the weak and the poor were being tended and healed. The needy were being uplifted. The mourners were comforted. Now John knows the fruit of him ministry will not die on the vine. There is more. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

Just like John, the world wants to hear the Good News of the Living Christ, our Lord Jesus. Go, and tell them something good.

What Appears to Be Insane

Acts 26:24-25

While he was making this defense, Festus exclaimed, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.

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Welcome to my breakdown.
I hope I didn't scare you.
That's just the way we are when we come down.

"Welcome to My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper

One of the most difficult things about being a Christian is that to the world we're all kind of crazy. We believe in love. We believe in redemption. We believe no one is beyond the reach of God's redemptive work. Where this gets crazy is that if we believe no one is beyond redemption we had better believe that no one is beyond redemption. The moment we put limits on God's redeeming work, we put limits on God.

Sharing this truth has put Christians in a pickle since the beginning of Christ's ministry. Men left the family business. Men left their homes and families. Followers suffered scorn, ridicule, pain and even death. What's crazy is that they continued their mission!

We can always depend on the Holy Spirit to give us the words we need to share the Good News, but we can't guarantee people will be ready to hear it, or at least to accept it. Festus heard the word, but he was not ready to hear it. He declared Paul out of his mind. "Too much learning is driving you insane!" Festus was scared, frightened by the words Paul spoke and he could not fathom them. Instead he declared the Apostle coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.

Friends, share the good news with your neighbors and you will risk the same rejection. Jesus tells us that we will be rejected by some, but he will never reject us. When people call us crazy we need to welcome them to our breakdown. It's just the way people often hear the word of God when it first comes down to them.

That's fine too, we aren't alone. Many have been called that sort of crazy before the Apostle. Many have been called that sort of crazy for speaking the sober truth. In Christ there is no nightmare, there is no breakdown--it'll just look that way to some people.

St. Patrick and the Songs of Zion

Happy St. Patrick's Day


Psalm 137:3

For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

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It's been so lonely without U here
like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby where did I go wrong

"Nothing Compares 2 U" by Prince covered by Sinead O'Connor

Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland. The man who rid the island of snakes. The man who brought Christianity to the Emerald Isle. Here is something you may not have known about him. He was brought to Ireland as a slave when he was young. He was kept as a slave to an Irish nobleman for several years.

Here's where the story goes sideways. Patrick escaped the nobleman and Ireland. When he escaped he became a Christian. He became so consumed by the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Good News of forgiveness that he went to Ireland to spread the Good News.

He was well received by everyone... well almost everyone. His former master was so ashamed he set his castle aflame and committed suicide in the fire rather than face Patrick and the grace of Jesus Christ. Truly, this man went from keeping slaves to becoming the slave.

Patrick never knew the "songs of Zion" when he was a captive, but when he did, and when he found his mission, he went to his captors and shared his mirth with his tormentors, a far cry from the psalmist.

The Isle was a bird without a song. Patrick provided the song. Tears fell when it was time to mourn, but in the joy of the Good News of Jesus Christ there was joy.

This is the lesson of St. Patrick's Day, a song of Zion, a song of joy, a song of forgiveness. Lonely tears may fall, people will ask where things went wrong, but in forgiveness there is new life. In forgiveness there is new life in Christ.

Disagreements and Turning Points

Acts 15:1-2 and 19-20

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.

Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.

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So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree

"We Just Disagree" recorded by Dave Mason, written by Jim Krueger from Mason's "Let It Flow" album.

It is often said that the bloodiest wars are fought over the least of consequences. This wasn't a bloody war, but it was over an important theological and liturgical point of worship for the new believers in Christ. Let's remember our history, the first believers were Jews. Hence the first believers were sons of Abraham and participated in the Abrahamic Covenant. In short they were circumcised. The gentiles, the Romans, and the Greeks were not. The newest believers from he hinterlands of the empire were not.

So it just made sense to the old guard, to become a part of The Way, the Body of Christ, you first must become a son of Abraham like Christ. You had to be circumcised just like we are. Logical, isn't it. To enter the second door you have to go through the first. It seems so logical. As logical as it was, it was also a stumbling block.

So glad we're enlightened today! So glad we don't have to dress a certain way... or affirm a particular creed--beyond Jesus is Lord of course. It's wonderful that we don't have an official bible version we have to carry or a particular car we have to drive. Thank God we don't act like... oh, wait, we do, don't we.

A litmus test-- if you aren't exactly like we are you aren't welcome in the name of Jesus Christ is probably the worst thing we can say to one another. It is also said frequently, to our shame and I trust God's horror. Killing in the name of love. How ironic.

In the end, the council that heard this question, known as the Jerusalem Council, came to a wonderful compromise. If you wanted to require circumcision that's fine. But for those who do not have a history of Abraham's covenant, the gentiles, they would only be required to "abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood." (Let's not ask how any of us are doing with that one, alrighty?)

The branch of the Church of Christ led by Peter and Paul did not require circumcision. The branch that remained in Jerusalem led by James and John did.

On a side note, have you ever heard of this branch of the faith? This disagreement truly led to a turning point in the church. It can also provide an important lesson for us today, inclusiveness without sacrificing distinctiveness is a good thing for the church in any age.

Another thing? Does this make James and John the "bad guys?" No. There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys. On one issue we just disagree.