Speak and Alternative Word!

Bishop Robin Dease, Georgia Episcopal Area
Celebration of Ministry Service, Friday May 30, 2025
Susquehanna Annual Conference

Scripture: Acts 4:1-20

I remember serving as a Police chaplain in the Charleston area of South Carolina. As a police chaplain, I would do late night ride-a-longs with law enforcement and we would be called to shootings, suicides, vehicle fatalities, and other life-threatening situations.

One night we were called to a car accident, and the EMS rushed this gentleman to the hospital. The officer and I had to go and inform the family. As we escorted them to the hospital, I asked the officer to give me some time to spend with this waiting family as they had no relationship with a pastor or a church.

The officer said he would continue his beat and come back for me in an hour or two. The family and I waited. And waited. They knew the situation was dire. This family’s eyes stayed glued to the emergency room doors as they waited to hear some hope from the doctor.

Then the doctor appeared telling them it was a very bad situation, but their loved one would live and the road to recovery would be a long one. As a police chaplain, I learned that many people live their lives this way. Each day they confront some crisis, some unexpected life event, some calamity. and in the face of it feel powerless.

They sit watching and waiting for a word that will make a difference. And the only thing that will give some relief, or help them to place one foot in front of the other is an authoritative word that will proclaim some Good News. For people in pain, the preacher has the chance to make a difference.

In this pericope [from Acts] read for your hearing, Peter and John are confronted by the religious leaders after healing a man and preaching Jesus’ resurrection. They arrest them, hoping to silence them. Though threatened, they boldly declared that they could not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard.

You must understand after the ascension of Jesus; the people were spellbound at the preaching of Peter. And in response to his preaching, they wanted to know, “What shall we do?” For the first time those who listened to Peter believed they could change. Maybe they believed they could live transformed lives in meaningful ways.

People actually pay attention to what we say in a manner that is qualitatively different from how they listen to entertainment and the mass media. And they listen to us without the cynicism and skepticism that they hear in the news, watch on the screen, or receive from political leaders. We must then tell the story with authenticity and with our own true voice.

Today, as in the days of Jesus entrusting the truth to his apostles, the government officials are saying, keep silent. The leaders tried to silence them, but they declared, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” When God calls us to share His truth, obedience must outweigh fear.

Peter, once afraid (denying Jesus three times), now speaks courageously before the same authorities that condemned Christ.

And it wasn’t just Peter’s words that empowered the people. I think it was also his presence. Because the people began to bring their sick and lame into the marketplace in hopes they could be healed just by Peter’s shadow resting on them. And then one man is healed. He is restored. 

We need to live the Gospel daily, showing others what love and justice look like in practice.

You and I must speak an alternative word to what we are hearing today. We have a serious challenge to speak a relevant word in a nation that seems to tolerate millions of people being unemployed, uninsured, mentally [ill], lacking adequate housing, health care, and education. In the midst of national tumult, in the medium of international violent uproar, these are issues of justice. Decisions which result in the profit of the few at the expense of many cannot and will not stand.

There seems to be a complicity of voicing hate and cruelty toward people of color in the town square, schools, sports, restaurants, stores and town hall meetings. People are being openly despised and abused every day.

The pastor must confront and empower those to whom they have been sent to remember that they too are made in the image of God.

Notice, I said speak, not preach. Because the preached word is relegated to Sunday worship by the Pastor, but by virtue of our baptism, clergy and laity alike are ministers of the Gospel and are called to witness!!! Because the Power of the Church is in our witness and the blood of Jesus Christ.

God in God’s infinite wisdom has seen fit to ordain those who have been rejected in this world to lead the revival of love, justice, and mercy that we so desperately need. We have an alternative to religious nationalism, and racism, and sexism when we join God in this work.

God calls you and I to be bold. Boldness in faith doesn’t mean the absence of fear—it means choosing obedience to God despite fear. Peter, once afraid (denying Jesus three times), now speaks courageously before the same authorities that condemned Christ.

And in this beloved UMC, I am seeing United Methodism has become too comfortable with its politically correct norm and too timid with its mandate to preach love where there is hatred, peace where there is want, and sow seeds of unity where there is division. In times of division, speaking an alternative Gospel calls us to embody the teachings of Christ in ways that promote healing, unity, and hope.

Their courage came from their relationship with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, not their own ability.

People are dying for God’s Word. Now remember, no one was ever saved by a speech. Something more than a good message is needed.

Remind people that God is in the neighborhood. That the Jesus that went through a rough Friday got up on Sunday and is able to heal and save. You can do it for you have been called for such a time as this.

May it be so in your ministry and may it be so in mine.

Watch the Celebration of Ministry Service HERE.