God puts families together in a variety of ways and ours was no exception. John and I married the summer we graduated from college and we thought we would have a couple of years of wedded bliss before we thought about starting a family…well, three years turned into six which turned into nine which turned into eleven before we came to the decision that God meant for us to adopt our children. Our son was born in 1983 and was our only child for the next eight years.
We had been advised by our adoption agency that it was unlikely that we would be considered for another child because of our age and there was a long waiting list of childless couples. But God doesn’t pay too much attention to waiting lists apparently because one night we received a phone call from our son’s birthmother. Ours had been an open adoption – a process by which the birthparent and adoptive parents can contact the adoption agency and have letters and pictures forwarded through them. That arrangement worked very well for years until the agency phoned to say that our son’s bone marrow might be necessary for a sibling with leukemia. I told them that this was something that we needed to talk about mother to mother and told them to give his birth mom my phone number. We all survived that crisis, and it seemed ridiculous to all of us after that to continue to use the agency as a clearing house for our communication.
So I wasn’t too surprised when several years later our phone rang and it was Lisa, the birth mom. I was surprised though by what she told me. She was pregnant, her oldest daughter was once again battling leukemia and her husband had bailed. Knowing she couldn’t care for another baby she had tried to go through the adoption process at our agency but just couldn’t make herself go through with it. She was calling to ask if we would consider adopting the baby because she felt like she could bear the parting if the siblings were together. I promptly told her yes, and then said, “well, maybe I should ask John.” Luckily he agreed. I asked Lisa when she was due and she told me she had about a week left.
Boy did we get busy…we had health exams to pass, financial investigations to pass, criminal background checks to pass…we were just about ready to pass out! And we still had to get a nursery ready.
By then our son was 8 and we had long since given away all the baby paraphernalia…so the three of us went shopping. The only was problem was that we hadn’t shared the good news with him yet. There are so many roadblocks that can put the brakes to the process and we didn’t want to raise his expectations until we were absolutely sure. So, it was a little tough to explain to him why we were buying all this baby stuff. At first he must have figured that they were gifts for someone else, but when we got down to selecting a crib the gig was up. We told him what we hoped would happen and told him that for now we would just keep it between the three of us.
Sworn to secrecy, we let him go over to visit his friend when we got home. Before the car was even unpacked our phone rang. My friend Sandra said that he had run right in and announced that we were getting something new at our house. That didn’t really surprise her because, as I have shared with you before, we were the poster family for strange pets…African pigmy hedgehogs, ball pythons, those nasty hermit crabs…so she would have been less amazed if he had told her we were adopting a baby rhino. Yep, he spilled the beans! He just couldn’t keep it secret…he had to tell or he would have burst. Sometimes that’s just the way it is! Some times you just have to tell!
As scandalous as her pregnancy was, Mary was compelled to share it with her cousin Elizabeth. And soon the shepherds in the fields and the wise men from afar heard the good news!
In today’s reading from the
Book of Acts we learn that, compelled by God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit,
the apostles can’t keep silent either.
They preach, teach and heal in the city and in the countryside around
So they had the disciples arrested. The next day the High Priest, the council and
the whole body of the elders of
What does it take to stop this movement? Herod killed John the Baptist, only to have Jesus send out twelve to take John’s place. Next, Jesus is killed and the disciples are still going strong, only this time with increased zeal. Here’s where the Sadducees might have figured out that the message can’t be killed by killing the messenger. They were powerless to squelch what God had proclaimed. They knew and feared the power of the masses. They had witnessed it. Not too long before, the voice of the mob rose loudly against Jesus. The passion of the masses, now captivated by Peter and the apostles could do the same, and it would be turned against them this time. So the Sadducees brought the disciples to them without force…meaning the disciples went willingly.
This brings us to where we enter the story that we heard this morning. The most obvious question the Sadducees didn’t ask was, “How did you get out of jail?” Maybe deep in their hearts they knew the answer, and it wasn’t one they wanted spoken publicly. They had no intention of giving the disciples one more opportunity to reveal God’s power. You can almost hear the foot stomping, pouting and whining as their frustration mounts. “We tell you and you just don’t listen. We told you not to teach anymore in his name, and yet here you are stirring up trouble, determined to dirty our hands with this man’s blood.”
Well, duh! The truth hurts. The leaders in
God’s action takes precedence over any other player in our story today. God raised Jesus. God exalted Jesus. God sent forth the Holy Spirit. Peter and company are witnesses to that
truth. It is their holy vocation
to speak as God had authorized, empowered and called them to do.
Well listen up…we
too have heard the good news! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! That is
news that can’t be silenced. God
will not have it! Since the beginning of
time, God’s word has never been silenced.
The prophets of old…Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah … dared not
keep silent. The apostles could not be
silent and we dare not be silent either.
In March our church
applied for a matching “Still Speaking” grant to take our message
of welcome to the radio airwaves. Out of
all the UCC churches in the United States we were one out of 17 to receive this
grant and now we are advertising on WYTE (106.5), WLJY (96.7) and WUSP
(105.5) from Easter Sunday through
Mother’s Day. I was driving home
from the Rapids last Saturday about 2:30 pm and heard one of our ads for the
first time. You would have thought I had
just been voted the next American Idol I was so excited.
Many of you have
been kind enough to bring in the clippings and photos from the articles about
our church in the Daily Tribune. I was
thrilled to have that chance to tell all their readers how much I love this
church and all of you, and to proclaim that we are a church of extravagant
hospitality. Because just like the
apostles, God has authorized, empowered and called us to still speak. We are ordered to go and tell…to share
the blessing…to reach out to others…to be evangelists.
There I said it…the
“e” word…evangelism.
Yes, we are called to be evangelists.
It makes me sad that this wonderful word has been tainted by a small number
of people who have used it to con good people out of their hard earned
money. Those were shameful acts, but the
word itself is not shameful. Christian
evangelism is simply where we share our faith with others. Why do we need to be evangelists? It’s spelled out right there in the red
letter portion of the Bible in Matthew’s gospel. After Jesus rose he
appeared to those he had left in charge…those he entrusted with his
ministry and said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I
am with you always, to the end of the age."
Those words have no statute of limitations…they still apply today to each and
every one of us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Just like the first followers of Christ, we are to go out and make
disciples. In your bulletin today you
received a handout like this. John made
these up and took them out to go meet our neighbors. Some of them were pretty friendly and some
not so much, but he knows that God doesn’t call us to be
successful…God calls us to be faithful.
I am asking each of you to prayerfully consider who you might give this handout. Who do you know that might need a church
home? Who might just be waiting to be
asked if they would like to come to church. I know it’s hard … I know it can
be a little scary, but all anyone can say is “no.” Jesus has promised he will be right there
beside us. And maybe, with God’s
help, we can lead one more person to Christ through our invitation.
May we pray?
Gracious God, we will open the doors for Christ. In spirit and truth help us to go out and hold those doors open for others so that they too might know you. Remind us, that we are never alone and inspire us when we are anxious and afraid. This, as in all things, we ask in the name of your precious Son. Amen
Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa