Bold Faith

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

January 19, 2014

Bold Faith

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John

and realized that they were

uneducated and ordinary men,

they were amazed and

recognized them as companions of Jesus.

“Whatever you do in work, at home,

in the community,

anywhere, everywhere,

always keep things crunchy.”

This was wisdom I learned from a man I worked for

some 20 years ago.

I was an editor with The Economist group,

and Nico Colchester was my boss based in London.

Nico had written an editorial a few years before

in which he turned the phrase, “keep things crunchy,”

urging his readers not let things slip into sogginess.

“Run your country,” he wrote,

“or your company,

or your life as you think fit.

But whatever you decide, keep things crunchy.”

I’ve always loved that phrase, that idea:

Keep things crunchy.

Keep things vibrant, lively,

the snap, crackle, and pop of life loud,

moving us,

never letting ourselves sink into complacency

or sogginess.

When Nico wrote his editorial

he had the business community in mind –

they were his audience.

But we need to keep things crunchy

here in the church, too.

We need to keep things crunchy by leading,

ministering, working and serving

with energy, intelligence,

imagination, and love.

Our new officers are charged

to lead with those qualities,

a charge that comes from our Book of Order,

a charge given to all newly

ordained and installed officers –

elders, deacons, and ministers alike –

in every Presbyterian church.

But those words aren’t limited to our officers.

Yes, it is how they are called to lead

as elders and deacons.

But it is also how you, I, all of us,

are to minister in the name of Jesus Christ,

serve in the name of Jesus Christ,

work in the name of Jesus Christ.

It is how you and I keep things crunchy.

To try to lead without energy,

intelligence, imagination and love

is to lead with sogginess.

To minister without energy,

intelligence, imagination, and love

is to minster with sogginess.

To lead, to minister

to work,

to serve in ways

that keep things crunchy

is to lead, minister

to work and serve boldly.

Now that’s not a word we hear used very often

within the church:

bold, boldly, boldness.

The word seems to suggest brashness, arrogance,

pushiness.

But yet we heard in our lesson

that Peter and John were perceived to be bold –

bold men,

and the way Luke, the author of Acts,

wrote of them, he clearly approved.

Peter and John were bold as they lived their faith,

shared their faith,

talked about their faith.

Their boldness surprised those who heard them.

Peter and John may have even

surprised themselves with their boldness.

They were, after all,

as we heard, uneducated –

they were fishermen;

they were not part of the inner circle of the religious elite.

They had not been trained in scripture,

the law, the Torah.

They were ordinary – ordinary men,

just like you, me, us.

Their boldness may have surprised those

who listened to them speak,

but it was their boldness

that made clear to all who heard them

that they were followers of Christ,

disciples of our Lord.

In speaking boldly, they spoke of Christ,

spoke of faith,

spoke of following, of serving.

Where did their boldness come from?

Did it come from their having spent time with Jesus,

from having been part of Jesus’ inner circle?

Did they feel themselves superior to others

because they had walked with Jesus,

shared meals with him,

learned directly from him?

No, their boldness came from God.

Their boldness came from God

through the Holy Spirit,

the same Holy Spirit each of us has,

that gift we are each given in our baptism.

Peter and John were filled with the same Spirit

that fills you, me, us,

here now, 2000 years later.

That very same Spirit calls us,

enables us,

empowers us,

energizes us,

even excites us.

                 

That same Spirit fills us with boldness to minister

with energy, intelligence,

imagination and love.

That same Spirit,

enables us to keep things crunchy,

keep things from getting soggy

as we work and serve,

as we minister and lead.

I think this year will be

a particularly crunchy year for us,

a year in which we are called to imagine,

boldly imagine,

as we think about new ministries,

new opportunities,

as well as new ways for us to enhance the things

we are currently doing

to make them stronger, more effective.

Our Stewardship campaign last Fall encouraged us

to be imaginative,

to think boldly,

and it was wonderfully exciting to hear and read

so many wonderful responses to that call.

We know, for example, that we need to raise money

to pay for the new roof we will need sometime

in the next few years, perhaps even before

we celebrate our 150^th anniversary in 2017.

Now, replacing a roof doesn’t sound

terribly bold or exciting;

it just sounds drearily necessary.  

But to install solar panels on the new roof,

as at least two different people suggested,

solar panels to collect the sun’s energy,

to use that energy to offset our electric bill,

to help us heat and light the building -

that’s thinking imaginatively;

that’s thinking boldly!

It wasn’t that long ago

that most churches had a lovely churchyard

off to the side, or perhaps out back,

a place for burials, a final resting place for members.

We don’t have a place like that –

but a group of folks have been hard at work

the past few months imagining how we might

create such a space,

how we might build a memorial garden of some sort,

a place for ashes, or perhaps a memorial plaque,

for someone whose ashes

have been scattered elsewhere.

The group hasn’t stopped there, though.

They’ve considered how such a place

might be a prayer garden as well,

with perhaps a labyrinth, or outdoor worship space.

They’ve been thinking imaginatively

They’ve been thinking boldly.

Installing automatic door openers for our entry doors

as help for the physically challenged doesn’t sound

terribly imaginative –

but to think that we could raise the funds we need

to replace the roof,

to install solar panels,

to build a memorial garden,

to create a labyrinth,

to install automatic door openers,

and other projects that excite us

is to think boldly, imaginatively.

As the children of Israel camped

on the east bank of the Jordan River

more than 3000 years ago,

following the end of their 40 years in the wilderness,

they looked west across the river

to the strange, new land that lay on the other side,

the land Moses told them would be their new home.

Surely they must have been excited about

the end of their journey,

that they would finally be able to settle

after decades as wanderers.

But they also had to be nervous,

uncertain, apprehensive about

what they would find in the strange new land.

Moses understood their fears, their concerns

their uncertainty, saying to them,

“Be strong and bold;”

These are God’s words to us as well

“Be strong and be bold.”

for as Moses reminded our ancestors in faith,

the Lord our God goes with us,

and he will not fail us or forsake us.

(Deuteronomy 31:6)

Let us all covenant together, all of us,

that we will all lead,

all serve,

all work,

all minister

with energy,

intelligence,

imagination and

love.

Let us all covenant together

that we will live our faith boldly,

because in doing so,

we’ll keep things crunchy.

AMEN