Very blessed to share the sermon today – about Community – and including Communion… Jesus together with us – that is how the church will continue to grow… scriptures from the early church of Acts 4, 5, 6…

This week was the 24^th anniversary of September 11^th…  seems like yesterday – and so does my daughter being 6weeks old – crying and ready to be fed while I fussed around getting my water and the tv buttons, the phone…  and click – tv – wait – what? Sept 11^th – this was 9am and I saw the 2^nd plane hit the second building and stuck deer in the headlights at the tv – and wow…

After watching many September 11th video replays, I also have a memory of people saying, weeks and months later that “I miss us as a community being September 12th people”…

Yes I even saw that on facebook a lot over the years – a saying “I miss us being sept 12^th” – meaning we were collective as a community – by good and by bad circumstances – and I could say that after covid hit too – wow the sharing in my community – I remember giving some fabric to a lady in a facebook group – left it on my car and she walked up to get it – people shared…

Yes these were the days we remembered community, September 12th 13th 14th… etc… for the next few weeks and months we looked to each other for comfort, for understanding (which there was and yet so little understanding in a devastating tragedy like that), and we also looked at the people helping and we became helpers too, in processing and in donations. In prayers for sure…

My baby girl, 6 week was still crying even though I was mesmerized by the tv – so hungry – probably needed a diaper change – well – my baby kept me going that day – I had to feed her  she was the immediate person to love in front of me – she was my mission in life at that moment – my community and I was hers –  I had to keep living for her – keep going…   And surely those days after we held our family more dear, we were more somber and polite, and we rallied around folks – and we were those “September 12^th people” – and we built and rebuilt community  – yes community – just as we are talking here today about growing God’s community – with purpose and knowledge…

And just as the rubble removed from the crash sites, if you have been there – wow – beautiful – and the phoenix rose and rises from the ashes just like the beautiful Oculus metro station, if you’ve seen it, it’s gorgeous. Yes, just as new buildings rose, just as the water pool installations were placed for memorial and a place of reflection the people returned – and returned to be community. People who don’t know each other still gather as community.

There is a favorite Mister Roger’s saying that his mother always said: “In the middle of a tragedy, look for the helpers” – and oh yeah, September eleventh, then the 12^th, that brought community – I know somebody who lived on long island as a specialized surgeon. And yet, they were sent to ground zero to try to help with recovery, but there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t apply their specialized skill set to that situation. However, they could bring us a first hand account of the situation to us – to her community. Then I remember stories that there were chefs, celebrity chefs, who brought their whole restaurant crew and food supply and cooking and continually served the first responders and the workers for months. There were musical celebrities who put together concerts for fundraising. And surely my favorite Bruce Springsteen song called the rising detailed the flight and plight of first responders, firemen rising up the stairs while everybody else was getting out, and then surely rising up to Heaven as those towers fell.

The firefighters did not hesitate, because that was what they did FOR community and in community.

When we look at the scriptures this morning, these scriptures make us very happy to hear about this community of the first early church – we can strive to this model group. At least we should strive to ask God how to live. We also LOVE hearing about it because surely they came together as a JOY – and a MISSION – and surely as a relief to – safety in numbers – but we love it because we know that God WANTS community – He never raised us to live alone – He asks us to share and to publicly communally worship Him…  

And we like to see that the early church had skillsets to share – everyone different and decided not to neglect their strengths. We see that the wise chose new people to serve – this makes us happy for the widows were taken care of – and for each person in the early church. We are to know that they as community were celebrating victory, victory in Jesus. “Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world” and HOPE – yes hope because Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, He was risen.  This is the ultimate “Have Faith” – because memories were kept in community to share with the next generation and the next, memories that so many of them, they say up to 500 saw the risen Jesus – so they COULD witness – and they could speak to the fulfilled prophesies….  And they could witness, witness in community from people who were there, teaching like Jesus talk to His disciples on that walk to Emmaus – and to those gathered at the sea of Galilee for breakfast – after He arose.

This early community was in the immediate days in the book of Acts, just after Jesus ascended and the angels said: “He’s not here and you will see Him come back just as you saw Him go up”…   They waited then for the Holy Spirit and The Spirit was crucial, and they lived together and worshiped in spirit and truth best they could.  The disciples went about building community from scratch as well as rebuilding their community. First the replaced the 12^th apostle with Matthius instead of Judas. This was in the time after the Lord brought the apostles the Holy Spirit – after Jesus was taken to Heaven. And because of the Apostles, the church grew…  So the community kept growing in faith, strength, supplies and mission…   [emphasis] The Believers Share Their Possessions

Acts 4:32-37 All the believers were one in heart and mind.No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need…. Joseph – called “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Was it perfect? We like to think so – especially with that All the believers were one in heart and mind. Well, surely some were so human like us – but working WITH the Holy Spirit – they accomplished so much including staying as a community…  but honestly don’t think it perfect – but PERFECTING….   As there is a very interesting story in Acts chapter 5 about two who deceived the apostles and lied about the money they were contributing – so surely the early church learned lessons of honestly from that situation – community will do that…  And yet our favorite part of the new community is how the Lord BLESSED this community – and also in the Apostles Acts – working with the Holy Spirit, they healed many –  performed many signs and wonders among the people…. more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. ¹⁵ As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. ¹⁶ Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.  ————-  WOW that is AMAZING!!!!!  And yeah – PERFECTING…  getting better…

And we learn that the community grew and so did the roles for many of the followers… Like I said, things weren’t always perfect but the Lord thru the Holy Spirit found ways to “perfect” the situation – that is one of my favorite verses – “The Lord will PERFECT that which concerns me”… either He will perfect me – or He will perfect the situation – which might take a while but we do believe… 

******

Let’s listen to this part of the story from Acts 6:1-7:

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hel-len-istic Jews among them complained against the Heb-raic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ^—  and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

YES – then like now – there is a need for a plan to further and grow the church – to spread the Word – the good news – and this is not a decision in a vacuum = they had to pray on the choices… Surely this is part of the reason to find folks to serve so others could spend their time teaching and surely in prayer – to discern the direction they should go – the Lord must be consulted and surely He was and Is consulted for the church to have grown…

(I did a big presentation of the early bible and how we got here – big bag of info…   because people cared and were filled with the Holy Spirit) – this is the church as a body together too…

And here is the best advice I ever heard about churches – the buildings – that we must remain a bible-based church and share the Word first —-  I know this from a friend who said to look at the churches that grow – it is the Word – brought by the Holy Spirit Whom we pray to fill our house of worship…

And in the church, we share and to bring together, and like the early church it is important to not neglect the duties of prayer… I love the phrase I have heard – preaching teaching and reaching – with reaching being an action item…   So they appointed others like deacons who understood everything that had been going on…  and they prayed on it…

And yes – among those who were chosen included Stephen – so strong and the first Martyr… the book of acts is a great teaching lesson for those of the day and for us now.

IMPORTANT TO GOD’S Plan – AS THEY WITNESSED,  THEY WERE STRENGTHENED

And we must know that that to build community and be dependent upon community also means we are to be dependent upon the Lord even more. 

—

So – what a marvelous opportunity they took -and that we have of the early church as an example – and everybody working together and that was a tremendous scripture about feeding the widows and making sure they had people stationed at every job… because the social structure and the financial support in those times is very different from now. Growing community is taking care of your own and they take care of you, yes, AND growing community also means taking care of others not in your own flock – that extending out the generosity also means extending out the Word – and the good news of Jesus… For collectively together we are the body of Christ.  

Growing community spiritually, as well as growing the flock, fishing for men, making sure that the hungry are fed and to especially feed everybody on hope.

And hope is in the community that we grow today. We find ourselves very blessed to be able to help share that hope. We share hope in all our sharing, little church big impact. Little works into a lot.

Now we will be sharing communion, and we have this communion bread, nutritious, and full of nooks and crannies, we could say bread is the staple of the meal in community . Actually Jesus born in Bethlehem, they said was “house of bread”….

In making this rise of bread – we have the rise of the yeast processing which takes time – makes the air pockets.  

I love talking about Jesus being the yeast, the living Word. Sharing in community of Jesus and sharing His Word is the HOPE that people are hungering for. We in community are doing the communion of the sharing, and we must know that we’re not just sharing a little bit of bread, but a LOT of Jesus.

I often tell this story of a women’s gathering at my old church, and I remembered last minute that we were supposed to do communion because the pastor was visiting and all I had was some Irish soda bread and he said that was fine. Then like 2 YEARS later, especially because it was just after when the Lord got my head on the straight, we had the pastor speaking again at our meeting, and I thought to myself of the contrast between irish soda bread and the yeast-risen bread – so I made the Irish soda bread again and also brought a yeast risen loaf I bought.

Well soda bread is just that – risen by soda – man made or harvested levening reagent – and although it is tasty – it doesn’t get the pockets that a yeast-risen bread will get. Yes soda bread is faster to make – but the yeast-risen bread takes time…  And that connects to our community and our communion – we may put in our man-made efforts – but wow when we put in Jesus and His teachings and His HOPE – and His LOVE – we will grow with a Living Church and a Living Spirit… 

And so we will share this beautifully risen bread today and think of our table and bread set by Jesus – for us to remember HIM…

And so Friends – Jesus himself invites us to his table, but the apostle Paul advises us to examine ourselves before we come unthinking to the Lord’s table. So let us pray:

Gracious and loving Lord, as we prepare to come to your table, we come remembering in humility the boundless love that brought us here. And we confess how often we have failed to reflect the love that was shown to us – failed in our actions, in our words, even in our thoughts…

We have both done things we ought not to have done and we have left undone those things we ought to have done.

We ask forgiveness through the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself on our behalf. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us, so that we might offer the worship, service and praise that brings honor to you. Have mercy on us and forgive us for the sake of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ – Amen. Friends, hear and believe the good news of the gospel.  In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

AHHHHH – COMMUNITY…  This is the joyful feast of the people of God! People will come from east and west and from north and south to sit at table in the kingdom of God. At this, our Lord’s table, all who trust him are invited to share the feast he has prepared for us. Any baptized believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is welcome to receive this sacrament, regardless of denomination or church background.

++++++++++++

So let us break bread as community…..

(While breaking bread) – The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread and when he

had given thanks, he broke it, gave it to his disciples and said, Take and eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.

(While lifting the cup). In the same way, after supper our Savior took the cup, saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins; all of you, drink of it, in remembrance of me.” As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death and resurrection until he comes.

(call for helper for communion) +++++++++++ After serving communion:

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for this meal shared in the Spirit with your Son Jesus, who makes us new and strong, who brings eternal life. May we who have received this bread and this cup live in the unity of your Holy Spirit, that we may be the expression of your love to all the world. Send us out in peace and grant us the strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

———

Benediction PRAYER at end…   We are to display the strength that he gives us, especially share the information with our community and outside our community. What are the challenges we will face? Nothing compared to the Lord – remember The Lord is bigger… and take these words of  Isaiah 40 28-31 with us: Do you not know?  Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,  the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.