September 29, 2024

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Acts 2:41-47

Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman

We have such easy access to the Bible and God’s Word that we often take it for granted. We can overlook how important it is to our lives as Christians and our life as a Christian community, to be able to read God’s Word for ourselves.

Through the Bible, we hear stories of how God chose to work with and through the most unexpected people – the younger sibling, the foreigner, the outcast. We see that God can and is working through all of us, too. Through the Bible, we hear God’s words of strength, encouraging us to keep going, to keep hoping, to trust that God has a future of hope planned for us and the world.

Through the Bible, we discover God’s words that pour strength into our souls; words that inspire us to be our best selves; words that ground us and steady us and even free us from this anxious, overburdened culture we live in.

God’s Word as found in the Bible sustains us in the hard times, when the path feels particularly dark, because we are reassured that God is with us in that darkness. God is leading us and loving us. God is nurturing and sustaining us on the journey of life and this journey of faith.

Sometimes, though, God’s Word needs someone to lift it up, to point it out, to remind us that God has spoken a word we need to hear. Sometimes, God’s word needs a messenger, someone who will help us connect God’s word to our lives.

The Acts 2 church, our inspiration for how Christian community can and should be, the Acts 2 church wasn’t just devoted to God’s Word as found in scripture. They had been hearing scripture their whole lives. Week after week as they worshipped in the synagogue, they heard the psalms and the prophets, the law, and stories about God’s people – and yet, these words alone had not brought them the peace and new life they were searching for.

They were looking for something more, and that something more came when they heard Peter’s teaching, when they heard Peter read and explain God’s Word. The people simply needed a messenger. And from that moment on, the community of Christ devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

Since God’s Word was translated into English five hundred years ago, we have been blessed to be able to have our own Bibles. Blessed to be able to read God’s Word for ourselves and in so many different translations.

And still, we too need messengers. We need apostles to help us connect God’s Word to our lives, to help us hear God’s Word in a new way, to open our eyes and ears to hear God’s words of hope, peace, and love.

The Acts 2 church had 12 apostle-messengers. In our modern age, we are blessed by the teaching of thousands of apostle-messengers.

Messengers like authors Max Lucado, who through his children’s and adult books, reminds us that each of us are special and precious to God. Or Ann Lamott whose faith story includes running as far and fast from Jesus as possible, until one day in her darkest hour, Jesus came to comfort her, and now, she prays “Help, Thanks, Wow” over and over again. God’s apostle-messengers include Henri Nouwen, who in his devotional, Bread for the Journey, shares that friends are signposts to God.

There are lots of apostle-messengers who write books to inspire our Christian faith journeys and devotionals to help us hear God’s still speaking voice every day. Some of my favorites are: God is in the Small Stuff and it all matters; I’ll be Praying for You, finding calm in the chaos; and Jesus Calling.

God isn’t limited to Christian books though. As I was reading a book about happiness and art, God blessed me with this wisdom: “Happiness as a whole is born in …moments of grace. Stand still and be silent. Look, listen, breathe. Admire. Make room for happiness to emerge. Gently work on perceiving it wherever it appears.” And “A grateful heart acquires cardiac coherence – it beats more slowly and more regularly.” (Happiness: 25 Ways to Live Joyfully Through Art, Christophe Andre, pg 24 & 91)

“A grateful heart [attuned to God, connected to God] acquires cardiac coherence – it beats more slowly and more regularly.”

God’s wonderful words of life come to us in many forms, through many messengers: audiobooks, apps, podcasts, television shows, and movies. It is not uncommon for me to pause a Hallmark movie to write down a line, which inspires my life and Christian faith journey. Lines like joy is always there somewhere “in some small thing to be grateful for, something to celebrate, a way to give joy to others, a new way to grow.” (The Magic of Lemon Drops)

This is from a movie called “Finding Faith”: “There’s no version of life that doesn’t include pain and disappointment” “It’s the tests that give us our testimony.” It’s the trials that give us the opportunity to see God working in our lives. As we look back on our most challenging moments, we are able to share forward our story of God’s love, God’s care, God’s miracles that have carried us through. “It’s the tests that give us our testimony.”

You might not write any of these words from TV movies on your heart; perhaps though, they might help you write God’s words of peace, hope, and new life on your heart. Maybe you will read something, hear something, see something, and come to understand in a new way what it means when the psalmist writes: “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” (Psalm 23:1, New Living Translation).

It might be a devotional, an Instagram meme, or a song that reminds you that when you are tired, worn out, burned out, Jesus invites you to come to him, get away with him, and recover your life. Jesus promises to show us how to take a real rest. So walk with him and work with him – watch how he does it. “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

We are blessed; we are surrounded by a multitude of God’s apostle-messengers, who are all seeking to help us “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NRSV)

As we seek to change our lives, turn to God, and free ourselves to be the people God calls us to be, we need all the help we can get. We need all the messengers of God’s peace, unity, and love we can find. Just as the early church did, we devote ourselves to listening, to learning, to hearing God’s Word – in all the ways God is sharing it, that we might be Christians and a Christian community that bring light and love to the world.