Sunday Sermon Thoughts: Red Hair and Orange Pants

The guest speaker today strode out on stage wearing only slightly less orange than a traffic cone. His hair was red and his name was Mike. Maybe we're related? Carrie seemed to like him. She was ready to run up on stage and give him a dollar.

First, the orange.

The bright clothes were part of an attempt to gather funds for hungry children. The pastor's wife didn't like him wearing orange around the house, so he figured, "How can she say 'no' if it's for work and charity?"

Carrie wanted to pop up in the middle of the service and give him a dollar. She would have, too. I hesitated. Carrie went up after the service to talk to the speaker and he said it would have been awesome.

Oops! I told her next time if she really felt called to it she could be bold.

Which was, ironically, what the sermon was about: being bold.

The pastor, Mike (great name), spoke about how boldness was part of God's plan and that boldness was what helped the church survive. Boldness was how Rome went from trying to eradicate Christianity to Italy possessing more crosses and churches than anywhere else in the world. Rome is but a memory. The Colosseum today is surrounded by crosses. The Pope leads a Good Friday procession from it.

Mike began his story in Acts; The history of the church. Peter and John were arrested for telling the Good News. The Jewish ruling council threatened them before releasing them.

The "first prayer" of the church written in the Bible:

...Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness (Acts 4:29)...

How prayers have changed. Most people pray for safe travels or for blessings, but those are not usually bold prayers if you live in the United States. Our average citizens are far richer than most of the world. Our roads have rules, cars with air-conditioning and heated seats, and emergency services if needed. Other parts of the world have lions, tigers, and insurgents on dirt roads without a McDonald's in sight.

Mike followed the story further into Acts. The apostles are thrown in jail again (Acts 5), escape, and get into their usual shenanigans (aka talking about Jesus). The officials who go to arrest them are afraid of the crowds, but the apostles go to the Sanhedrin anyway. The Sanhedrin tells them to stop talking about Jesus, flogs them, and then the boys are off and at it again.

Bold.

The men were motivated not by religion, but by an event they witnessed. Jesus died and rose again. They were not to be deterred.

Mike moved on to challenge everyone. Boldness means saying something when it may be easier to say nothing. What do you do when you witness an injustice? What do you do when someone asks you about what you believe? Have you ever asked anyone "What do you think about 'the church thing?'" Do people know what you stand for?

Then Mike had some hilarious stories. Boldness gone wrong, but better than nothing perhaps! You can look up the video for that. It's bedtime for me.