April 11, 2021
“When Kindred Live in Unity (Psalms) or
The Believers Shared their possessions” (Acts)
Acts 4:32-35
John 20:19-31
There once were two villages separated by a river. In one of these villages lived a man and he was the only one in his village who knew how to make chairs. He carefully guarded his secret way of making chairs. He was afraid to teach others because he thought that they would not make the chairs correctly.
Over time, all the chairs in the village were built by this man, but he still worried. What if someone found out his secret? What if someone else came to the village to show people how to make such nice chairs? He grew to be suspicious of people. If he saw anyone with some wood, he feared that they might be making a chair. He would ridicule them and warn them not to make a chair themselves.
People in the village gradually became unhappy and frightened. They stayed away from him. The still went to him for chairs, but they did not like to be near him for long. While the young people wanted to work with him, they were too afraid of him to ask. He never shared his secret with them and eventually some of them even left the village.
In the village across the river there lived a very different man. He also knew how to build very good chairs. But this man did not keep his knowledge a secret. He wanted others to learn how to build chairs as he did. So, he told everyone who came to him exactly how he built such nice chairs and where to get the wood.
Soon the younger people in the village were also making chairs. Sometimes one of them would discover a new way to improve the chair. They would show the good man and then he would tell him to show the others. In this way, the chairs in this village kept getting better and better. People from other villages would come to watch as he and his young craftspeople worked under the big morula tree. They laughed and told stories as they worked together.
When people praise the chairs, he would laugh and say, “I did not build these chairs alone. These young people have improved my chairs. I am getting old, but these you will continue building better and better chairs. I have given my skills and knowledge to them and they have given their love and friendship to me. Together we have done far more than if I had worked alone
I love and question this line from the Call to Worship…it is from Psalm 133…”How very good it is when Kindred live in Unity.”
“Kindred, Live in Unity”I am rather in the mood to say…good luck with that one. I like to think that I am being realistic and yet still open to being optimistic.
We are in the Sunday after Easter…the Book of Acts tells of the believers sharing all their possessions for the good of all. Psalms talks of Unity. 1 John tells of things in common and joy complete. In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to His Disciples and they believe and Thomas gets his chance and he believes and the Holy Spirit is received and basically…the Disciples get their marching orders. This weeks four Scripture passages leave us breathless. There is no rest. There is no down time for the Disciples. These are not really marching orders…these are orders to begin to sprint. To get out there…and deliver the message that Christ lives and because He lives…we too have a greater life.
Here is an odd thing which I experience every year immediately after the Easter Season. Immediately after Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and two Easter Services. I have done that sequence of Holy Week events for over 40 years and every single year the same thing happens to me the next morning.
You would think that I would rest easy on that Monday after Easter Sunday…content with a week’s worth of Holy Stuff. I would think that I would rest the rest of a child. But every year…on the day after Easter…I awaken around 4 am Monday morning…even if I am not going into the office. Am I that dedicated so I want to impress you? Maybe it’s the cappuccino’s that I have had the past week.
But, here is what I have come to understand about myself. After reading and meditating on all this Holy
Week stuff…it occurs to me…that Holy Week and Easter Morning itself is hardly an end of things. It is just the beginning of the message.
It occurs to me, that somewhere in my subconscious, my heart and mind are telling me that…now the work really begins and now we are empowered by Christ to demonstrate what a message of Christian Unity really means. Does it mean to convert the whole world? Or does it mean to demonstrate to the whole world what it means to follow Christ. There IS a difference.
I vote for the latter. Let the actions of your life speak for themself. Walk the walk, as they say. I especially enjoy the passages from the Book of Acts over the next two months…for we get to read, almost in real time, about the forging of a Christian identity. It’s a good story.
Prepare yourselves for the story of the disciples moving out into the world. And as for the story of the two men who built chairs. One kept his trade secrets and because of those actions…he lost his village and his leadership. The other craftsman couldn’t wait to give it all away…all the knowledge, all the camaraderie, all the skill. And in the end, the result of givin all of himself and his knowledge to others…was to keep it the people together.
So Jesus gave them their marching orders. No wonder I can’t sleep the morning after Easter. And what I want to know is…how could you possibly sleep either?