Rochester, MN UCC - "The Promise is For You" - Acts 2:14a, 36-41

In the mid-20th century, church attendance became a sign of social status and respectability in the United States. Getting dressed up in your finest church clothes and being seen at the right church on Sunday morning was an indication that you had your life together. You were at church among all your other righteous and morally upstanding neighbors. This cultural understanding of church as a marker of social status left many with the impression that they were not together enough, not wealthy enough, not righteous enough, not good enough, to be in a church on Sunday morning.

 It's important to note that church did not begin with these connotations. Our text from the second chapter of Acts this week contains parts of the very first Christian sermon ever preached. It is given by the apostle Peter in the temple complex right after the Holy Spirit has descended on the disciples and caused them to speak in tongues. The sermon is preached to the very people that worked to have Jesus crucified and cheered on his death- what one might call the most unrighteous act of all time. We might expect the topic of this sermon to be condemnation; focusing on the just punishment for these terrible acts. But that is most decidedly not the topic. In this first Christian sermon, Peter offers baptism, salvation, and the very presence of God in the Holy Spirit to those who crucified Jesus Christ. He says to them, “"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him."

 In that first Christian sermon, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not offered to the pure and self-righteous. It is not those who have their lives together that are welcomed into the new family of the church, but rather those who know how they have fallen short, those who know that they need forgiveness, those brave enough to seek a second chance. So it is today as well. The Church is not for the perfect, or the upright- if such people can even be found. The Church is for us. It is for those who struggle, those in need of forgiveness and love, those who desire to be transformed. We come as we are- confused, grieving, doubtful, lost, angry, even wracked with guilt. And we are offered grace, forgiveness, love, and a new life guided by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God for the church of Jesus Christ.

 Pastor Andrew Greenhaw