Good morning. Today we get to return for the second time to the New Testament Book of Acts. You know, historically there has been something of a dispute over what the book should actually be titled. One early manuscript simply calls it “Book of Acts,” “praxeis” in the Greek. Which begs the question, of course… what/whose “acts?” An even earlier and consistent tradition of the Church is to title it “The Acts of the Apostles. (like our pew Bibles).” Which clearly puts a huge emphasis on human behavior, but may undersell God’s role.

For that reason, down through history many have argued it should rightly be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” This changes the emphasis to the divine activity, but may leave out the human participation. John Stott, the British pastor and theologian says we can’t give up on either the human nor the divine emphasis, and that we would be more accurate to call it “The Continuing Words and Deeds of Jesus By His Holy Spirit Through His Apostles.”

But even he says that would be ridiculous. Still, the question is worth us keeping in mind- The Book of Acts. Whose acts? Who are the main actors?

Last week we touched on a couple of pieces from chapters 1 & 2, including the story of Pentecost. But what I wanted to make sure we acknowledged from the beginning was that this story of the early church, first things first – begins with Jesus. The church starts with Jesus. And when we left this church at the end of chapter 2 last week, it was with a lovely picture of cozy community, people sharing possessions, worshipping, hosting one another in homes.

This morning I want to read a section from the opening of Chapter 3.

Reading: Acts 3:1-10

“Oh, beautiful.” (SNEER) When a driver cuts me off with a horrifically terrible display of driving and I say “that’s just beautiful!,” the disdain in my voice contrasts the word, beautiful. I mean that was the most unattractive, incompetent, unpleasant driving I’ve ever seen and it disgusts me.

But if I look out over Puget Sound, or see Mount Rainier sticking up in the distance, or watch a movie that moves me and I exclaim “Beautiful!,” you know what I mean. Attractive, pleasant, maybe even stunning. When Bono and U2 sing the song “Beautiful Day,” at the Super Bowl or in a concert, they are hinting at the idea that beauty is something beyond just what one loses, deeper than outward circumstances. Beautiful.

But when this writer Luke talks about the Beautiful Gate of the temple in Jerusalem, what is he talking about? We’re not 100% sure, but most likely it references a specific Gate, an eastern entrance to the temple grounds. Historians say the entire gate was lined with Corinthian brass, a substance at the time that was valued far more highly than either silver or gold.

So the scene that we are reading about is set first in front of the massive Jerusalem temple, the symbol of religion, the elaborate sacrifices and the mammoth institution, and second in front of this shining and incredibly lavish/expensive gate. It is here that our second look into this book of Acts begins.

A couple months ago Anne and I went down near Pioneer Square one evening to visit an art gallery. As we waited for a light, we looked across the street and noticed a pretty large number of homeless men who looked like they were waiting for services at a nearby Union Gospel Mission outreach. Three or four of them were wrestling with a very large cardboard box, like a huge refrigerator box. They had it on the sidewalk and up against a building behind them and it became apparent that they were shaping it so that a couple of them could sleep in it for the night.

That’s when we noticed the building behind them. It was a pretty high-end furniture store, and each one of the large display windows was almost exactly the same size as the guys’ refrigerator-box sleeping quarters. Inside each of the windows was an elaborate display of a living room- beautiful wood rocking chairs, luxury sofas, brass lamps, pictures on the wall, oriental carpets.

I’ve been struck ever since by the juxtaposition of the two scenes, both identical sizes. A living room any of us would love (and do) have for comfort…and a living room made out of cardboard for a night’s sleep on the sidewalk. Such a contrast.

I wonder if Peter and John noticed anything like this contrast as they headed into the temple. On the one hand, the luxurious extravagance of the Gate Called Beautiful with it’s pounded brass. And in front of it, this 40-something year old man with a congenital condition of some kind from birth that had never allowed him to walk.

He was a familiar sight, carried there each day by friends or family to ask for money as people headed to church. He is outside the gate. He is outside of the culture economically- a beggar. He is outside his society because of his deformity. He can’t get into worship, he can’t serve in the temple because he is “blemished. He is an outsider.

Peter and John were going for afternoon prayers. They noticed something, whether the man’s plight or the contrast with the gate or a nudge from the Holy Spirit, because they stopped and looked at him. He thought they would make a donation.

Instead, Peter says “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he takes the man’s hand and raises him up (and yes, in case you are wondering, this is the “resurrection” word of the New Testament) and immediately, Luke the Doctor tells us the medical details- the man’s feet and (technical language) ankles were made strong. Strong enough to handle these seven verbs. He jumped, he stood, he walked, he entered the temple, he walked, he jumped, he praised God.

People saw him walking and praising, they knew exactly who he was because he was outside the Beautiful Gate every single day, and they were filled with wonder and amazement. Four times Luke uses the word “walk,” almost like he is still incredulous himself. This is a guy who had never in his life walked…who now walks. Beautiful.

So, what does this story have to do with being church? Well, certainly Peter and John are representative of the community of faith. And in fact, there is a lot here for us. But I also need time to tell you a little about what follows this story, so I want to just underscore three things:

1. Though Peter is the main figure at this early point in the church’s story…he doesn’t go alone. And he doesn’t minister alone. John and Peter go together. The church works best…when it goes together. Sometimes that is cumbersome, and awkward. But usually we work best when we don’t work alone.

Tonight after the evening service I’m flying down to San Diego for my annual 3 days with my covenant group. These are three other guys I went to seminary with - in Princeton we met as a couples group for awhile, and the four of us in school met regularly as a study group. And since we all graduated, we’ve gathered every single year…for 14 years.

The group is very spread out. One guy is teaching theology at Baylor down in Waco, TX. Another is teaching high school Spanish and Bible at a Christian High School in Chatanooga, TN. And the other is a Presbyterian pastor back in Red Bank, NJ. We always read a book or more together - this year Mirror to the Church by Emmanuel Katongole and 3 short stories by Flannery O’Connor.

And there is of course a lot of silliness that goes on, whether it’s telling bad jokes or arguing over the golf scores or whatever. Things are embellished beyond belief. I think I told you when we were in San Diego two years ago, and in the car headed to the grocery store, and I commented that I wanted a good cup of coffee. One of them said “Oh, Safeway has a Starbucks kiosk in it.” Noticing that there was a Starbucks store on the corner at the long red light we were at, I calmly said something like “Oh, kiosk coffee isn’t as good (I mean, I’m from Seattle, I know these things), I’ll hop out here and meet you at the store.”

Well, for the last two years the story has continued to grow, and now our emails have veiled references to “the time that Dan hopped out of a moving car at 35 mph in traffic because he just had to get to a Starbucks.” Lots of fun. But also an amazing way to follow Jesus…together. This group has worked through, prayed through, cried through a variety of huge issues in our 14 years. Challenge. Love. Confrontation.

One year, I remember, after hearing from someone contemplating a change in careers for about three days, the rest of us finally looked at him and said “Do you realize that every time you’ve talked about this, the only factor you mention is the financial one? Aren’t there other pieces to this decision too?” His mouth dropped open. He had no idea he’d been so focused. We do better together.

Last Tuesday night our Session (elders) met, and a good chunk of our meeting was devoted to praying and talking together about the transitions here with my move in the fall. I was so grateful to have that whole team working on it together. Different people noticed different things, articulated different things, prayed different things that others wouldn’t have if they were alone. Being church is not a solo person occupation. Normally, the church is better together. It’s beautiful.

2. We might learn something from this man who was healed. The story says he was asking for alms. Any little contribution that might help him buy food or lodging, anything that would help him survive. That’s what he was asking for, just a few coins, a little money. What he received was what he longed for but didn’t ask for – his healing. What a picture- jumping, walking, going to worship, praising God.

It made me wonder about our prayer. Made me wonder if we ask not just for what we think it is possible we might get…but if we dare to ask for what we long for, for the desires of our heart? Do we dare to pray big prayers, or shy away so we won’t be disappointed? I believe God invites us to ask, to knock, to persist. Remember Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…”

If we did lean into God’s abundance and not just our own scarcity, would we get it? I have no idea. Would we be surprised? I think at least sometimes. It’s not a formula that says “pray like this and you receive it.” Sometimes we receive, sometimes we get something different, sometimes it feels like we don’t hear. This man asked for very little - he was after all an outsider. What he received was an invitation to come inside. Beautiful.

What is the church’s story? Chapter 2 ended with a picture of the cozy community sharing everything, hospitality, praying for each other, worshipping. Then all the sudden the abrupt reality of the real world hits Peter and John. People isolated, in need physically and economically and spiritually. And it begs the question- what exactly does the community of faith have to offer the world?

By and large the mainline church in the U.S. has moved towards considering social programs and causes to be the main component of its witness. And certainly engagement with poverty, with homelessness, working against racism, caring for the environment are all incredibly important for every Christian.

But I think Peter and John’s actions here point us towards something else as well. The church has a different story, a different power than the world. In the name of Jesus we are equipped with the dynamis, the power of God’s Spirit to stretch out our hands- in healing, in prayer, in pointing others towards Jesus. We get to participate in the ministry of God that longs for people to come and know Him. We participate in God’s ministry. As one scholar says about this story, “the power was Christ’s, but the hand was Peter’s.”

Last May, Time Magazine ran an article about Yukio Shige, a 65 year old retired Japanese man who hangs out near the western coast of Japan north of Kyoto, near some basalt cliffs named Tojinbo where people regularly jump to their death- a huge problem in Japan. He watches for telltale signs of people in despair, approaches them, makes conversation, sometimes takes them to his office and fixes tea and chats.

In the last 5 years, he has talked nearly 200 people into considering other remedies, merely by letting them know they are important, that somebody cares about them. When his cellphone rings, the ringtone plays “Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” On the fifth anniversary of his work, he received a 3-page handwritten letter from a man he had helped who thanked him for providing an awareness of the love that surrounded him. “I want Tojinbo to be the most challenging place- not where life ends, but where it begins.” The power was Christ’s, but the hand was Peter’s. Or Yukio’s. Or yours. Beautiful.

3. Just to fill in the story a bit. Immediately after Peter and John’s healing encounter with this man, they are surrounded by a huge crowd. As he did in chapter 2, Peter again is filled with the Holy Spirit and stands to speak to the people. Eighteen sentences worth of a sermon. The crowd is joined by the religious leaders of Jerusalem- elders, scribes, Sadducees and eventually representatives of the high priest.

Their responses couldn’t have been more diametrically opposite. The crowd of people, knowing who the man who had been healed was, seeing him standing there, hearing Peter’s very direct explanation of Jesus’ death and resurrection and call to repentance- responded. Many believed, in fact several thousand more.

But the religious leaders of the people, paralyzed with the realization that a miracle had happened, and that these men teaching were uneducated, ordinary people…had them arrested and told them to quit speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus. And Peter and John, after telling them that they had no choice but to share what they had seen and heard…went back to the rest of their community and began to worship God, praying for more boldness and for God to do more miracles.

You can’t read the story without asking yourself, you and me, who are part of the church, who claim to be part of the family of God: which response do we have to the Spirit of Jesus at work? Are we in any way like the Religious, who can’t bring themselves to see God working in new ways and instead try to stifle the good news? Or are we like the crowd, open and responsive to what God is doing? Beautiful.

Having sorted through the story quite a bit, it strikes me that as with the picture in Pioneer Square, this picture is a picture of utter contrasts. In the shadow of the huge architectural wonder of the temple, they called the gate Beautiful because of the value of the precious metal lining the archway. But what captivates me is what was going on just outside-

- a broken man healed.

- an outsider brought inside

- the community of Jesus is empowered to share its story…a power very different than the world’s power. A story very different than the world’s story. Beautiful.

Let’s pray.