Young fisherman made good...

Acts 5:12-16 (NRSV) Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured. This text comes right after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira: that story that may not be one of the most gentle to use in a stewardship campaign.  Ananias and Sapphira, at a time when all were giving everything they had for the common purse or common good of this new church of Jesus' followers, held back and were struck dead.  It certainly did a lot to cement Peter's rep!  The line right before this text begins is:  "And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard these things."   Peter's come a long way from the brash young disciple who denied Jesus.  Now in his presence, followers drop dead from guilt of keeping money away from God and Peter's very shadow heals the sick.  Yep, he's certainly come a long way. I don't think the point of Ananias and Sapphira is to guilt or scare us into sharing our bounty with the Lord or to present Peter as a fearful tyrant who kills guilty followers.  I'm not a big believer in using fear to "seize" a church into right behavior.

Instead the point is I think recognizing that everything comes from God to begin with.  "Our" bounty is not ours.  We are stewards, or caretakers, of it.  And when we share our treasures (and for that matter, our talent, and our time), amazing things happen.  Sometimes dreadful things - dreadful things like we realize that we are someone completely different than we thought we were.  We are a new creation.  We are someone God is working on and in, like a potter with clay, molding us and re-creating us.  

That can be harrowing stuff.  When suddenly you realize that the things that were important to you once are no longer.  When perhaps those things are now an anathema to you.  When your friends are no longer the same people.  When suddenly in church you look up at the cross and feel the desire to fall on your knees as you realize the enormity of everything Jesus did AND everything Jesus is.  It was perhaps too much for Ananias and Sapphira.  They were so attached to their old life that the good news of the gospel was more than they could fathom.  It was dreadful to them.

Change is never easy.  Especially when it is change within ourselves.  When we feel our hearts warm and grow and become new, it can be more than a little disconcerting.

But we have Peter as an example of what can come of it.  Young fisherman made good.  Leading a new people to a new way - to a new life.  God can work changes too grand to fathom sometimes. But faith and trust and hope push us on as we grow into the new creation we are becoming.  Just ask Peter.

Good and gracious God, stand by us as we feel the earth under our feet shift as we grow into our new selves, a process begun at baptism and worked on us our whole life long.  When things get disconcerting or scary for us, comfort us and give us courage to go on.  Remind us always that all things work together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. Amen