Sunday, October 13th: "Step Up Step Forward: Loving the Neighbor on Our Doorstep"

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First United Presbyterian Church

“Step Up Step Forward: Loving the Neighbor on Our Doorstep”

Rev. Amy Morgan

October 13, 2024

Acts 3:1-10

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2 And a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4 Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Peter said, “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.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Last week, I was in an online group with several pastors from all over the country – Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina. We were asked to come up with a story about our church that shared the mission, vision, and values of our community. This is the story I told them:

The church I serve knows that the reason it exists is to love the neighbor on their doorstep. 

A few weeks ago, a man came into our sanctuary before worship, very upset and tired. I spoke with him for a bit, as did several folks in the church. And then I invited him to rest on one of the couches upstairs during the worship service. After church, another man walked in off the street with his dog. Folks invited him into the fellowship hall to have something to eat and drink and cared for him and his dog. One person brought in dog food and toiletries for the man the next Sunday. 

But those weren’t the only neighbors we loved that day. We had a new attender hosting coffee hour, and several visitors looking for spiritual direction and connection to a loving community, and folks embraced and welcomed and affirmed them. We had kids returning to worship, and folks jumped in and volunteered to care for them, too. When I looked around at coffee hour that morning, there weren’t clusters of old friends huddled together. There were invitations for new folks to sit and share their stories, and long-time church members spread out among them. 

When I finished telling my story, there was a shocked silence. Then everyone tried to speak at once, which is disastrous on Zoom. But ultimately, the other pastors all expressed amazement at this community. The group leader, who was teaching us about fundraising, said this story made him want to lean in and hear more and fund this community! One pastor messaged me in the chat: “This is truly the CHURCH. Praise God for the work of this community.”

Ya’ll, it feels good to pastor this church. I loved hearing this high praise. But what I love more is that this is a true story, and this was not an exceptional story about this church. It’s what we do, week in and week out. We love the neighbor on our doorstep. 

Sometimes that neighbor is literally on our doorstep, and we invite them to worship and fellowship with us and help them find resources in the community. Sometimes that neighbor is living in an apartment downtown, and we invite them to connect with people and share their life with us instead of being isolated and alone. Sometimes that neighbor is several states away, worshiping with us online, and we sing with them and pray for them. This church has a very big doorstep. 

Wherever our neighbors are, whoever they are, this community of Jesus-followers knows that we have been gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love them, to seek their wholeness, to walk them toward abundant life, to restore them to relationship with God, creation, and humanity. I know that we all appreciate the excellent music, joyful fellowship, meaningful relationships, and engaging faith formation this church offers. But we also know that the church doesn’t exist to sustain those things for ourselves. If we are not loving the neighbor on our doorstep, we have no reason to exist, because clearly the singing, praying, connecting, and growing isn’t equipping us and empowering us for ministry. And we know that the whole point of everything we do is to love those God places on our path. 

This defining characteristic of our church is important as we explore the story from the book of Acts we read today. 

There is a man who has never been able to walk. He’s been dependent on others his entire life. And it may seem like a kindness that the people of his community carry him to the gate of the temple at the time when it is most lucrative to ask for alms. I’m sure they thought it was really a nice thing to do. It was the only means of income this man could access. They took time out of their busy lives to carry this man from his home, and presumably, back, every day, so he could make a living. Perhaps they felt this was empowering for him, to earn a wage, of sorts. Perhaps they felt this was generous. 

But ultimately what they are doing is depositing something broken on the doorstep. The man doesn’t get to go into the temple to worship and to be part of the community. He is left outside on the doorstep. 

And then Peter and John come along one day. The man lives into the only reality he knows, begging them for alms. And then there’s this fascinating moment where Peter and John “look intently” at the man. The word used here in Greek is not the normal word for looking at someone or something. It comes from a word meaning “to stretch or strain” and implies someone is completely fixated on, fully occupied by the object of their gaze. 

When Dean was a couple of months old, I was holding him during one of my seminary classes. He was facing out from me, because he was alert and curious. And suddenly the professor stopped her lecture mid-sentence when she saw Dean. I thought I was going to maybe get in trouble for bringing a baby to class. Instead, she said to the class, “If any of my students ever looked at me the way that baby is staring at me, my life would be complete.” We all looked at Dean’s face and saw that he was completely transfixed by the professor, and we knew what she meant. Babies and children have that way of staring at you with total fixation that just makes you feel like the most interesting person in the world. 

This is how Peter and John looked at the man laying on the ground in front of them. Their attention on him was so intense, it was like they were stretching and straining toward him with their focus. 

Peter doesn’t ask the man to return this intense gaze. He simply says, “look at us,” with the typical Greek word for looking. The English translation says the man “fixed his attention on them,” but the Greek word here means to “hold fast,” as though the man has grabbed the disciples around the ankles, waiting for them to give him something. 

I’m belaboring the Greek words in this text because what they convey is that this little moment is about so much more than looking with the eyes. The disciples are reaching out to this man with their attention. And he is pulling them in, holding onto them for dear life, with his. 

But the disciples are not going to give this man what he’s expecting. They have no silver or gold, no alms or financial support to give. This isn’t because they forgot to bring their coin purse that day. They aren’t refusing to give this man money because they’re afraid he’ll blow it on drugs and booze. They don’t have any private funds because, as it tells us earlier in the book of Acts, the Christian community shared all things in common. If alms were to be given, it would be through the newly appointed deacons, not by individual disciples. 

But this doesn’t mean Peter and John have nothing to give this man. In fact, what they give him is far more valuable than all the money in the world. Peter tells him in the name of Jesus to rise and walk. Not only does the man rise and walk – he jumps and leaps. And he goes with them into the temple to worship and praise God. Peter and John love the neighbor on their doorstep.

There are people in our community who, while they may have two perfectly healthy feet, are not able to walk on their own. There are people disabled by despair or debilitated by anxiety. There are people incapacitated by addiction or paralyzed by shame. There are people impaired by loneliness or weakened by trauma. There are neighbors metaphorically laying on every doorstep in Loveland. 

There are people begging for someone to see them, to reach out toward them, to give them their full attention. The obvious need might be financial or physical. And there are fantastic non-profit organizations and government agencies that do a great job of tending to those needs. But what they can’t do is create the kind of community that will love them unconditionally. And that is what we all need to truly be whole. 

When we talk about “Stepping Up and Stepping Forward” this stewardship season, we are not asking for folks to step up their pledge so the church can keep existing in the future. We are inviting all of us to step up and use the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit so we can step forward toward the neighbor on our doorstep. This community has incredible gifts – for healing, compassion, encouragement. We have gifts of wisdom and beauty and joy. Every single one of us has been given gifts by the Holy Spirit. And it takes all these gifts to be the church that makes other pastors amazed. It takes all these gifts to raise up our neighbors who have been deposited on the doorstep, to enable them to walk, and jump, and leap, to worship and praise God and be restored to community. It takes all these gifts, the gifts given to each and every one of us, to be the church that exists to love the neighbor on our doorstep. 

To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.