Tell Me About Your Faith

As Alan mentioned, in the life of the church,

not only is it Confirmation Sunday, but it is

the second Sunday of Easter. If you remember

just last week, we did the Easter thing. And

so we continue into the Easter season on the

path to Pentecost. And on this Sunday, typically,

if you are used to coming to church on this Sunday,

you might know that often we read the story

of a disciple named Thomas, Doubting Thomas.

But you might also be interested to learn that

the lectionary gives us more than just Thomas.

And so our second text this morning is two for

the second Sunday of Easter, and it comes from

the stories of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles,

or maybe the Acts of the Holy Spirit from the

early days of the church. Friends, let us go

to God in prayer before we read this scripture.

Let us pray. Good and gracious God, we give you

thanks for this day, for this morning and time,

for the wails of praise, for the places, the

lives, and the stories that you have gathered

us from, that we may be all here in this place,

settled in this moment. May your spirit descend

down upon us, filling us, opening our eyes and

our minds and our ears, that we might receive

a message of hope, a message of something different,

that we might go from this place transformed.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations

of all our hearts gathered here in this place

be pleasing to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen. Hear now these words from Acts 5, and we're

picking up kind of right in the middle of the

story at verse 25. Then someone arrived and announced,

look, the men whom you put in prison are standing

in the temple and teaching the people. Then the

captain went with the temple police and brought

the apostles, but without violence. For the police

were afraid of being stoned by the people. When

they brought in the apostles, they had them stand

before the council. And the high priest questioned

them, saying, We gave you strict orders not to

teach in his name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem

with your teaching, and you are determined to

bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and

the apostles answered them, we must obey God

rather than human authority. The God of our ancestors

raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging

him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand

as leader and savior, that he might give repentance

to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we, we

are witnesses to these things. And so is the

Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey

him. Friends, this too is the word of God for

the people of God. Thanks be to God. Now it seems

to me, and you can agree or disagree, but it

seems to me that as we grow older, we tend to

lose touch. with some of the most significant

parts of our childhood. This text from the early

chapters of Acts, it makes me think of one of

my favorite childhood pastimes. It's right up

there with nap time and with snack time, which

if you're lucky enough to go to children's church,

you can still have snack time. It's this moment

where children are gathered. Maybe they are invited

to take a beanbag or to pull up a carpet square

to sit down and sit quietly or as quiet as you

can and to listen. Can you think of what I'm

thinking of? It's story time. Do you remember

story time? Do you remember those moments of

childhood? Do you remember being captivated by

the stories that your teacher might have read

you when you were a child? Or maybe it was a

moment at home when your mother or your father

or your babysitter or grandparent or aunt or

uncle, where they grabbed your favorite book

and said, let's read a story. For me, it was

books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Harold

and the Purple Crayon. You remember that one?

Dr. Seuss. Maybe for you, like it was for me,

it was the stories of the Bible that would be

read to me and they would come alive. Noah's

Ark, the animals two by two, David and Goliath,

Samson's strength, the creation narrative. Maybe

it was the stories of Jesus and the many miracles

that he did and performed. Now in preschool,

I loved... every Monday morning. I don't love

them as much now, but I used to love Monday mornings

because I got to go to chapel time. We got to

leave class and come into the sanctuary and sit

on the front steps as the pastors taught us a

story. Now, if you don't know this about me,

there's an extra layer to why I love that. The

pastors were my parents. I felt like the cool

kid. Right? Everybody else was so excited to

go see Dr. Dan and Dr. Helen, but I got to walk

in and say, hey, Mom and Dad. Right? It was different.

And it was a moment there in chapel time with

my peers where these stories of Scripture, they

were read once again to us, but even better,

they were acted out. We got to be the characters.

We got to see these stories literally come alive

in front of us. I've always been fascinated by

stories, just fascinated by stories. Of course,

those that are concocted in this imaginative

genius of writers, but especially the stories

that arise up out of the journeys of people's

lives. Now, the best stories... are the ones

where you're sitting there, and as you're being

told it, you can't help but just blurt out at

different moments, what happened next? Okay,

but what happened next? Don't dramatic pause

me. What happened next? These are the stories

that captivate us, that leave us wanting more.

They're the stories that just lead us to this

place where our minds can't quite comprehend

the reality of the tale. There's just something

different. It's the stories of our own lives

where something happens, where someone happens

to be that are so life -altering, so life -altering

that we just can't help but to share. These stories

with everyone we meet, with everyone that will

just lend us an ear to listen. Do you have these

kind of stories? Do you have these stories? Do

you want to share those stories with me, with

us? Are you sitting here this morning? With those

stories, but just waiting for an invitation,

for someone to stop for a minute to see you and

to say, tell me about your life. Tell me a story.

Tell me your story. Now in this story of the

early church, the apostles find themselves On

the other side, here at verse 25, they find themselves

on the other side of a midnight jailbreak. Just

before our reading, some background, the temple

authorities, they have sent the apostles to jail,

to prison, the public prison, as the text says.

They have sent them there for healing, for teaching,

and for sharing this story of the resurrected

Jesus Christ. Now, while in prison, an angel

comes and it busts them out of prison. They're

in the middle of the night. And the apostles

do what someone would do if they simply just

had a story to share. They go back. They go back

to the temple courts, back to the place where

they had just been arrested the day before. And

as they go back there, They continue to witness.

Now they do this on the angel's command. The

angel breaks them out of prison and says, go,

stand in the temple and tell the people, tell

the people the whole message about this life.

The next morning, the prison police, as we've

read, are shocked. shocked to find that the prison

is there, securely locked. But the apostles are

nowhere to be seen. They report this rather unfortunate

news to the chief priests, who likewise can't

wrap their minds around it. They don't know what's

going on. They're wondering what's happened.

Where are they? And it's right then that we get

to 25, when someone shows up. Someone shows up

to announce that these formerly imprisoned apostles,

they're back in the temple courts teaching the

people and sharing their stories of faith. So

the authorities pull them back in. What are you

doing? What do you think you are doing? Did we

not explicitly tell you yesterday to keep your

mouth shut? Did you not get the message? Was

it not clear that we do not want to hear about

your faith? I don't know if you know, but that's

why we threw you in prison. We don't want to

hear about your faith. The last thing that the

chief priests want from these apostles. It's

for them to share their story of this Jewish

rabbi who was publicly mocked, flogged, and executed

on the cross by the Romans. The last thing the

chief priest want is to hear about these experiences

of faith in that man who was dead for three days

and then alive again. It's as if the world looks

at the apostles, And wielding the power of society,

the power of the systems, the power of status

and roles, it's as if the world looks at the

apostles and says, don't you dare tell me about

your faith. Don't tell me about your faith. But

in that imprisonment, physically behind bars

and spiritually handcuffed, God shows up. God

shows up in the angel and exclaims, be free.

Go. Tell your story. For your experience, what

you've seen, this is a story of life. And it

needs to be shared. Tell me about your faith.

Tell me about your faith. What have you seen?

What have you heard? What have you felt? What

have you tasted? What have you smelled? Tell

me about your faith. Whereas God flung open the

doors in your life and said, Thomas, this is

what the kingdom of heaven looks like. Martha,

this is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

Bennett, this is what the kingdom of heaven looks

like. Tell me about your faith. Where has God

shown up? In the still, quiet place. In the casseroles

and in the flowers. In the cards and in the prayers.

In the meal of Maundy Thursday. In the grief

of Good Friday. in the lingering death of Holy

Saturday and in the resonating music of resurrection

on Easter morning and the baptism of your son.

Tell me about your faith. Where are God's fingerprints

in the life that you've lived, in the stories

that you've told and you have to tell? Tell me

about your faith. Every time we look at each

other and we lead with a childlike curiosity

to say to our neighbor, to our friends, to our

family, to a stranger, tell me about your faith.

Every time we do that, we open ourselves up to

a brand new way, a brand new way that God has

been and is and will continue to move in the

world around us. When we have the courage to

look at someone and to say, what's your story?

What's your story? We learn something about the

storyteller, but we also learn something about

God who is the architect of that story. To obey

God is to witness to the miraculous, even if

it's microscopic, places of our lives where the

resurrected Jesus has shown up. Peter proclaims

to the chief priest, we are witnesses to these

things. What we've experienced, it's so radical

and life -changing that we must share it, no

matter what you say or command. He says to the

chief priest, I understood what you asked of

us. I understood why you put us in prison, but

I'm led by the commands of my God. by the angel

who broke me out of that prison and said, go,

by the God who defeated death, that we all may

have life. Tell me about your faith. Tell me.

This year, our confirmation class spent some

of our time reflecting on the writings of Frederick

Buechner, Frederick Buechner has been referenced,

I think, in many of his sermons in this sanctuary,

is a pastor and a theologian and a writer. And

he has this gift, in my opinion, for taking these

abstract theological ideas and themes and bringing

them into a frame that just makes sense. He says

it in such a way that it just makes sense. One

of his greatest gifts, not only for the confirmands

who have been at this work examining their faith

and what it means and who God is in their lives.

This is also a gift for each of us. It's a gift

for you if you are one in this room who doubts.

It's a gift for you if you are one who is here

dreaming and imagining and wondering. It's a

gift for each of us on our own paths or on our

own journeys of faith. And Buechner writes this

in his memoir, Now and Then. It's the pondering

prayerfully on the very back of your bulletin.

Listen to your life. Listen to your life. See

it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In

the boredom and the pain of it. No less than

in the excitement and the gladness. Touch, taste,

smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of

it, because in the last analysis, all moments

are key moments, and life itself is grace. If

you find yourself lost for words, when you're

sharing your story of who God is in your life,

and sharing the stories of your faith, that's

okay. Stop for a second. Stop for a minute. Stop

for an hour. Stop for a day. Just stop. Stop.

Close your eyes. Go on, close your eyes. Close

your eyes. Trust me. Take a deep breath and listen

to your life. Listen to your life. Search for

the moments. Look where you haven't looked before.

Think of those people you haven't thought of

in a long time. Do you see the holy? Do you feel

the sacred in that story? That story that is...

your story. Tell me about your faith. Let us

pray. Good and gracious God, we hear your call

to go to witness to this life. Fill us not only

with courage and strength, but with peace. And

knowing that we don't go alone. And knowing that

there is someone out there who not only wants

to but needs to hear our story. Lead us to those

places and those people. That your love might

be known in this world. We pray this all in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit. Amen.