Second Sunday of Easter
April 15, 2012
“Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together” (Acts 4:32-35)
As many of you may know, for the last couple of years our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been organizing its work under the banner of “Witness, Mercy, Life Together.” You can see the symbol that is being used for this emphasis on your bulletin insert, encircled by those three terms. But this is more than a slogan in a marketing campaign. No, “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” really describes what the church does, whether on the national and international levels, as our synod operates, or on the local level, as, for instance, here at our own congregation.
“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: I guess first we should define what we mean by these terms and how they’re being used. “Witness” means the testimony that is given, specifically, telling the good news about Jesus–bearing witness to Christ and the salvation that is found in him. “Mercy” is the term used to cover works of Christian love and service that benefit persons in need in a very practical way. And “Life Together” refers to the church’s common life as brothers and sisters in Christ, our unity as God’s family in the life that we share.
Now turn again to your bulletin insert, to the other side, and you’ll see a symbol for each one of these three terms, along with a corresponding Greek term from the New Testament. For “Witness” you see the Greek word “Martyria,” because “Witness” or “Testimony” is how that word is always translated. Next you see the word “Diakonia,” which is generally translated not as “Mercy” but as “Service.” However, “Diakonia” still is a good word to associate with the church’s works of mercy, since “diaconal” ministry is practical service done for the neighbor in need. Finally, you see the word “Koinonia,” “Fellowship,” the “Common Life,” the “Life Together” that the church shares. “Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: “Martyria, Diakonia, Koinonia.” Whichever way you say it, these words describe what we do and how we live as Christ’s church.
But then this is nothing new. In the Book of Acts, we see a church that can be characterized by those very same words. You know, we refer to that particular book of the New Testament as “The Book of Acts” or “The Acts of the Apostles.” But what kind of “Acts” were they? As we look at our text today, I think we will see that these “Acts” are “Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together.”
St. Matthew Lutheran Church 