"May God Strike Me Dead ... "

Pastor Laura Guy

June 14, 2009

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. With all the wonderful, exciting things happening in the early church, why is there a story about death?
We backed up and read what was happening just before the story started, Acts 4:32-37. It says that Barnabas sold a piece of land and gave the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to the poor. Ananias and Sapphira must have heard about this, and witnessed all the admiration Barnabas received. They hatched a plot to also sell a piece of land, but they decided to give only part of the proceeds to the apostles. That way they could look spiritual and still keep some money for themselves.
We saw that when Ananias delivered the money to Peter, Peter knew something was wrong. In such a close-knit community where everyone depended on everyone else, Ananias was introducing deceit and greed. When Peter exposed him for what he was - held up a mirror to his life - the shock and shame of it cause Ananias to have a heart attack and die. The same thing happened to Sapphira a few hours later.
We thought about the ways people try to fool God - making excuses for why we can't do the things God is asking us to do. Often we end up in a rut - doing the same things we've been doing for years, not growing at all in our faith. We can lie to ourselves and others, but no one can make a fool of God.
We recognized that honesty with God is the only way to go. We can confess our doubts and our fears, but when we do, we have to expect God to say, "Let me help you with that."
We prayed that God would forgive us for all the lies we have told, all the excuses we have made.
We celebrated communion at the table of grace, which always triumphs over our failings.