First Baptist Church Of Memphis

No doubt you have either heard or read the one about the brick layer who was injured on the job and filled in the “cause of accident” blank on his insurance application “trying to do the job alone.” The insurance agency writes back asking for clarification, and his response is a three-stooges-esque comedy of errors as he tells the tale of trying to lower a barrel full extra bricks off a roof top by use of a rope and pulley. The gist is that as the weight of the barrel changes he is jerked first up and then down by the rope, hitting the pulley at the top and the bricks at the bottom and the barrel going both ways. The ending indignity is that injured and out of his mind, laying on the pile of bricks, he looses grip of the rope and the empty barrel lands on him. He ends his reply to the insurance company, “So like I said, I’m through trying to do the job alone!”

My thoughts on this day after Pentecost are ones of “Whew!” (Imagine back of hand wiping forehead as one collapses in chair.) This past Lent and Eastertide we have considered some significant challenges, of what it mean for the gospel to be unbound in and through the ministries of FBC. In Unbinding the Gospel, Martha Grace Reese confronted us with the necessity of once again putting words to our faith, to find the motivation and ways and opportunities to invite others to join us as followers of Christ and as members of the FBC family. And then in Eastertide we saw in the book of Acts how the early church became ever more inviting, welcoming, inclusive, evangelistic in the best sense of the word. The challenges these studies posed are many, and they are multifaceted. They are personal, group, communal, and institutional. And they are hard. They will require much of us on all levels. But you know, they are good challenges too. They are honest and true and often times fun. And as someone very wise once told me, “You can do hard things.”

This is especially true when you consider that we do not do it alone. We do things backwards in Eastertide as we journey through Acts. In Eastertide, we see the disciples change from a frightened group of followers, huddled together in an upper room, into a dynamic, outgoing, inviting force that turns the world upside down (Acts 17). It’s a truly remarkable transformation, and so by the end of it, if not sooner, questions are begged: How did this happen? How did these people change? They couldn’t have done this by themselves. What got into them?

And then Pentecost comes along to reveal to us how this all began, to reveal what got into them, to reveal that they most certainly did not do it alone, and, most importantly that we are not alone either. Pentecost teaches us that they did what they did, and that we do what we do, and we will rise to the challenges before us in and by and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. And as Jesus pointed out, “all things are possible with God.”

And so, today I’m taking just a moment to rest in that good news and be thankful that we need never feel as if we are having to do the job alone. That there is one with us who promises never to leave us or forsake us, who is able to help us meet every challenge.

Grace,

David