What About St. Andrew?

Acts 6:1-6

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of the early church with lots of characters involved, but the major point of the story is the journey of the word of God spreading across the region. The church, witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ, is in service to the world.

Today we receive a quick snapshot of an issue in the Jerusalem church; the kind of situation that can create a huge bruhaha if not approached properly. The issue concerned equal distribution of food to those in need. The Hellenists were Greek speaking Jewish Christians; the Hebrews in the Jerusalem church were Aramaic speaking and were probably stricter in their interpretation of Torah. The big leaders were Hebrews. Like at an Italian dinner table, where the father, the most powerful person, carved and distributed the meat, the most powerful leaders in the early church made decisions about distributing leftover food from the love feasts. Some of the Hellenists criticized the Hebrew disciples in leadership for not making sure the Hellenist widows received their fair share. Instead of getting all puffy and insulted that how they carried out their responsibilities was being criticized, the leadership asked the Hellenists to choose seven new leaders to take care of the food distribution. They should be honorable, wise, and full of the Spirit. Seven people were chosen (who by the way had Hellenist names). The leaders prayed for them, and laid hands on them, thus ordaining them to a new ministry. Everyone was pleased.

In any congregation, how leaders react when a challenge arises demonstrates how mature they are in the faith. Do they let Jesus lead when they face a new challenge? Would they allow the Spirit to act or get caught up in their own egos and traditions? Bishop and theologian William Willimon helpfully writes, “What the church has established, the church may change.”[1] From the 6th chapter of Acts, listen for the word of God.  

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.            

The church exists to witness to Christ. The job of the church is to testify to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Anyone who reads Acts sees that the people following Jesus were committed to him, to his teachings, and to the vision he painted of how God wants the world to be. They are more than “do-gooder people” who feed the hungry and advocate for an end to oppression. They are people committed to and empowered by Jesus Christ. Each believer must determine what it means to commit to Jesus Christ personally, but here are some starter ideas. His followers feed the hungry and work to end oppression because they believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, so what he says matters. Scripture claims Jesus of Nazareth was God’s Word enfleshed (John’s Gospel says “The Word became flesh…” 1:14). But what does that mean? The first chapter of Genesis says God spoke creation into existence, which seems to mean at the beginning of things, God’s Words empowered primordial stuff to start getting organized into the universe. No one can guess whether that means God actually articulated word sounds, or God’s creative thoughts got things moving, or something else completely beyond human comprehension. But something happened by God’s power that humans identify as being like words calling creation into being. And it was so.

Then thirteen or so billion years later, God’s something like word-speech-idea-power took human flesh and was born a person named Jesus, in first century Palestine. His followers believed he had a unique (meaning only one) connection to the divine. He was more than a person with great ideas who taught others about God. He embodied something sacred. And in the millennia since Jesus walked in the flesh, the church has existed to carry on his ministry, convinced his presence and power are available among them as Spirit. One can think of the Holy Spirit as God’s energy. Because God is loving, creative, goodness, God’s church exists to bless the world, by sharing the Word of God – God’s words-ideas-speech. By the Spirit, the church becomes servant of God’s Word, sharing a vision of the community God wants on Earth, witnessing to Jesus Christ and serving the world.  

But each congregation witnesses distinctly. Think of how many different congregations there are just in Sarasota County? Hundreds. People choose to go to one rather than another for particular reasons. One group might be attractive to young people because they have an active youth program and teenagers want to make new friends and do fun things. Another congregation might have a drop-dead gorgeous sacred music program with monthly concerts which members may attend for free.

Three of us from St. Andrew attended the Florida Conference Annual Gathering this weekend. The keynote speaker and preacher for the event was Vince Amlin from the Still Speaking Writers Group. He co-pastors a congregation in Chicago which he described with a whole list of attributes including: anti-racist, story sharing, truth telling, beer brewing, queer, pop music singing, lifesaving, bar church. Yes, they worship in a bar. Somewhere in the mix of descriptors, he mentioned their amazing worship, the sense of the holy that breaks out from time to time, their commitment to Jesus Christ, and their dancing. Not many churches can match such a portrayal. Truth be told, not many believers would be interested in attending there – although I bet some from St. Andrew would

Churches attract people because of their mission work, their music, their clear proclamation of the Good News of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, their after school athletic program, their young parents’ group, the Sunday school activities, their after worship brunch, a commitment to unhoused people, architectural beauty, or something completely different. Every church has a personality, a culture, and activities that attract one person and not another. Sometimes their testifying to Jesus Christ is overt and sometimes it’s almost a secret. Each congregation is distinct in how (and in fact whether) it witnesses to Jesus Christ.

So, what about St. Andrew? You knew I would get there. If someone asks, what is distinct about our congregation, what would we say? Articulating how we witness to Jesus Christ in ways that are different from other congregations may not be as easy as we wish it were. In fact, for some of us, figuring out our personal commitment to Jesus Christ, our belief in the Holy Spirit’s ability to empower us beyond what we can do by our own power – these can reflect significant growing edges. Maybe some of us find it difficult to invite someone to St. Andrew because we can’t really articulate what makes us distinct from any other church in Sarasota. Of course, we feel great about what we think of as our extravagant welcome; we love our after-worship Brunch; but what makes us distinct as a church? How do we show the Good News of Jesus Christ?

If some of us find it difficult to say how St. Andrew feels or thinks about Jesus, maybe I am not doing my job of teaching the faith. I’ll try to do better. So to start, here are a few thoughts. Those things I said about Jesus earlier, manifesting the word or ideas of God, are good starting points. God is love. God’s energizing power for the world is the Holy Spirit, so as a church we are invited to tap into that holy power which enables us to do more good than we can ask or imagine. When we open our doors, our hearts, and our lives to any person God brings onto our path, we need to claim that the welcome is extended in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. I’ve heard people say they could not welcome certain people if they came to the St. Andrew door. They don’t even want to try. But the Holy Spirit could absolutely assist with such resistance. Of course we may not want to welcome them, but we should and we can, with the help of the Spirit.

Someone else in the congregation has admitted she works on being able to pray for the well-being of a particular person she finds very difficult not to feel contempt for. And she has struggled to be successful, trusting the Holy Spirit is strengthening her. Like this person, there are many things we cannot do on our own, but we can do things through the power of the Holy Spirit who strengthens us to do as Jesus directs us. We extend care for others; we give with generosity; we seek peace with enemies; not by our own power, but through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. St. Andrew might work on being a little looser in admitting we gather in the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work among us. Who knows what she might have in mind for us next? What might be the next distinct thing about St. Andrew, carried out in the name of Jesus Christ?

[1] William Willimon, Acts (John Knox Press, 1988) Interpretation A Bible Commentary, 60.