O ur reading from Acts today is six verses long. Those six verses define the nature of being a follower of the Way, not only in ancient times but for us today. As I began to prepare for this sermon, I found myself reflecting back on our preaching texts from Lent. Then I started reading some of Jesus’Äô prophetic words on hi vision of an economy based on the Commonwealth of God. Then I started reading the stories before and after this reading from Acts. This isn’Äôt an unusual way of preparing for a sermon but in these other readings I realized that these six verses are a window into a much larger picture of the Gospel. The connections this Acts story holds cannot be felt unless you put the six verses in a much larger social and scriptural context.

So, before I say anything specific about the six verses from Acts, we have some ground to cover. We need to look through a window and see what encounters occur to create this formula for discipleship.

As I name the following stories, listen for some of the words used in Acts: possessions, prayer, breaking of bread, teachings, miracles and wonders.

During the season of Lent, we heard stories of Jesus and his encounters with those around him. First, was Jesus in the Wilderness, when a ’Äúvoice’Äù tried to lure Jesus into receiving the Kingdoms of the World. But Jesus said, ’Äúno’Äù to being the recipient of the possessions, land, and wealth around him.

Then we heard about the transfiguration, a story that begins with Jesus, John, James and Peter seeking a place and time to pray together.

The story of Nicodemus followed. After his encounter with Jesus, Nicodemus became a follower of Jesus’Äô teaching and testimonies. Nicodemus relinquished his place of religious privilege (and probably some possessions) to share the teachings of Jesus with others.

Next we had the raising of Lazarus from the dead. No doubt an experience that would be full of wonder, awe and considered a miracle. Mary and Martha were part of this story, their home a place of hospitality, fellowship and the sharing meals and breaking bread.

Holy Week gave us stories of breaking bread, fellowship, a broken body, prayers, and the miracle of God making Jesus alive again.

Last week, we had the story of the Road to Emmaus where Jesus was recognized as the Resurrected One in the breaking of bread during fellowship and a shared meal.

Did you hear how these encounters connect with our Acts story--- these stories of encounter and identity set the stage for the early church’Äôs priorities on how to create community for the sake of Jesus.

The other scriptural context that is important to understanding our Acts text is scriptures that reveal the miracle of economic change. Listen to these stories from Luke:

Jesus’Äô mother Mary reveals God’Äôs intentions for change in her Magnificat:

"My soul magnifies the Lord, the Mighty One has done great things for me...He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." (Luke 1:46, 50-53)

Did you catch that? The rich are brought down; the poor are lifted up!

You hear that theme again, when Jesus preaches his first sermon,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The year of the Lord’Äôs favor is the Jubliee year, mentioned in Leviticus 25 where there is amnesty and sharing, hope for the poor, and distribution of wealth. Again, the rich come down and the poor rise up.

Jesus continues to turn economic understandings upside down in his beatitudes, "Woe to the rich! Blessed are the poor. Woe to those who are full...Blessed are those who are hungry."

Then we have the story of the chief tax collector Zacchaeus, so short in stature he had to high up in a tree to see Jesus; and then at the Jesus’Äô word, Zacchaeus comes down, shares a meal and fellowship with Jesus. And then Zacchaeus performs a miracle. He sells off half his wealth, gives back four times what he owes. This act of sharing causes Jesus to exclaim, "Today salvation, liberation, healing has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham." (Luke 19:9)

Our final context comes from what happens right before our story today. Pentecost has just occurred and Peter delivers a sermon. As a Jew speaking to other Jews, Peter links the story of Jesus with the Hebrew Scriptures. Peter share the story of Jesus as a story of power and transformation’Äîthere is a power loose in the world and this power is for everyone. In his sermon, Peter conveys certainty that there is a God who is busy in the world, busy empowering people through the Holy Spirit to help create a Household of God.

After Peter finished his sermon, 3,000 people felt called to be baptized so they could change their ways and live in God’Äôs way, connect with God’Äôs activity in the world, participate in the life giving spirit of Jesus Christ.

Now we can get to our story in Acts.

Three thousand people just became followers of the way. The early church just went from around 150 people to several thousand. Something had to give form to this community of faith. The encounters with Jesus and the economic vision of God gave shape to the Way: breaking of bread, prayers, fellowship, teaching, and the sharing of wealth. These elements were part of the lifeblood if Jesus, the life of their ancestors of faith and their risk taking. The decision to make these the structure of community life was beyond practicality. These structures were infused with the sacred, the struggle for life over death, and the energies of Christ.

What’Äôs so amazing to me is how the early church was able to extract essential truths from these stories that had been passed down to them and create a structure of life and worship. From these stories of encounter and identity, they were able to clarify what was essential to create an alternative community; they were able to nurture the vision for an alternative way of life that would resist the dominant force of empire and bring about economic reversal. They were able to answer a critical question: How do we live together for the sake of the world?

That question is still relevant for us. How do we live together for the sake of the world? Living together through breaking of bread, prayers, fellowship, teaching seems fairly do-able. Who would object to those things?

The kicker in all of this is for us: All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and good and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

The early followers of God’Äôs way shared. Radically. The community grew as a result. Radical sharing was essential to live into the words of Jesus’Äîreversing the economic structures of society.

The early community didn’Äôt grow fast and furiously forever. The Roman Empire made sure of that. Later on in Acts we hear about followers who were holding and hiding some of their property from the rest of the community. By the time Paul arrives on the scene, some of the communities are in pretty dire situations: selfishness, doubt, and delinquency in sharing were the ways of the people.

So what kind of sustainable model for community does Acts give us? The early followers based their structure of community on the history and stories of the faith. Will this alternative community even work? Is there hope?

We know the answer. Yes. It will work, it continues to work. Especially when we look at community this way:

The ’Äúall things in common’Äù and ’Äúsell their possessions and good and distribute the proceeds to all’Äù is not the beginning point of community, but rather the logical outcome of ’Äúthey devoted themselves to the apostle’Äôs teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers.’Äù You do not start with radical egalitarianism: it is what happens when you start practicing the faith. What happens then? ’ÄúAwe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.’Äù

How do we find these wonders and signs? We could rest on our laurels and wait around to see if radical sharing happen on its own or we could continue to devout ourselves to the teachings, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, to prayers. When we do those things, something radical happens. We are called to share what we have. Radically. Just like the early followers of the Way. Sharing radically. That’Äôs the miracle. That’Äôs the sign that reveals the wonder.

If you witness the reality of this city, if you read the newspaper, there isn’Äôt a whole lot of sharing going on, at least not radical sharing. People are rioting around the world due to the cost of food. UN Peacekeepers believe they cannot be successful in Darfur without helicopters. No country is willing to share what they have and provide them. People are sleeping on our back porch here at church because as a city have trouble sharing the costs for everyone to have a home. D.C. is making great strides but still, not enough sharing is happening yet to secure a home for all.

But we continue to be a people experimenting with the truth, following the Jewish Carpenter who shared in the most radical of ways with those who were broken and rejected. All of us are simple earthen vessels, called together by the stories of faith to teach, pray, break bread and be companions to strangers and one another. When we live in the ways of the first followers, rooted in the stories and prophetic words of the ancient faith, we are called to practice the faith in the most radical and egalitarian of ways: sharing what we have for the sake of others.

Now, I can’Äôt have a sermon on sharing and not incorporate an act of sharing in it. Take your index card given to you with your worship bulleting. This is a clarification exercise on radical sharing. First, name and write down how you can radically share. You, yourself. How can you radically share what you have? Second, name how Pilgrims can radically share. How can Pilgrims radically share what we have? What would that radical sharing look like? Third, name how the world can radically share. What should the world be radically sharing? What would that sharing look like? Write down those 3 things on your card. Take two minutes when you are done and share with your neighbor. Hold on to your card, we will pick it up during the offering.

As one writer puts it, recognizing Jesus in the breaking of bread, prayers, teaching, fellowship and sharing what we have, radically, can scare the faith out of us. As long as it scares the faith out of us and into the world, we’Äôre good.

This background context is so important because it solidifies the priorities of the church in these encounters of risk taking and identity we heard about in Lent. The formula for living in God’Äôs way didn’Äôt come out of the blue. Teaching, fellowship, prayers, breaking of bread, ’Ķ.these elements of the faith had been revealed along the way through the encounters and prophetic words of Jesus. The ways of the faith are connected to the risk taking, radical, ordinary acts of Jesus, strangers and companions.

The early followers of the Way had received these stories of economic uprising and encounters of Jesus. They reflected upon these stories and then acted or created how they would build their community in the midst of the Roman Empire. They were an experiment with the truth. They had to make the connection between the truth of these stories and the structure of their lives, their worship and their identity.

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