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French Hours

Got The Time?

French Hours

September 3, 2006

Text: Acts 4:32-5:6

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33 With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. 35 They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need…  

But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; 2 with his wife's knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 "Ananias," Peter asked, "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!" 5 Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. 6 The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

NRSV 

      I took our two kids to Ronnie’s to see a movie a while back.

      When I’m able to pay off the MasterCard, I’ll take them again.

      For tickets to a rush hour show for two children and an adult, with minimum popcorn and soda, the tab was still around $30.

      Why? Why is it so expensive to go to the movies? Why is it necessary to charge for a popcorn and coke what you’d pay for a whole meal at some places?

      Because it costs so much to produce a movie now days.

      Why does it cost so much to produce a movie?

      One reason could be the high salaries demanded by some actors—you know, like the salary my twin brother Mel Gibson used to demand.

      But there’s another reason—and you might find it surprising.

      Seth Godin, a management consultant, found that a movie produced in Hollywood is actually done quite efficiently. [Source: Fast Company, 8/04, p. 93] You have different groups working together like a well-oiled machine: the lighting, sound, catering, producing, directing people usually all get along. They have high union-quality standards, they know their tasks, get them done, and don’t criticize each other in the process.

      So what’s the problem?

      Lunch.

      These different groups are bound by work rules and policies. And on a movie set, one rule they’re bound by is that after a certain number of hours, at a certain time, everyone will stop for lunch. Not just a granola bar, but a full scale lunch. “It’s astonishing how well fed everyone is on a movie set,” Godin said.

      Then, after the prescribed lunch break, work resumes. However, the loss of time and momentum is huge. It can’t be made up by staying late, because if you stay even a minute past the cutoff point, everyone gets a significant overtime bonus.

      So, Hollywood is very efficient. It’s just that it takes a long time to produce a movie—and the costs go up.

      Make a movie in France, though, and things are different.

      Writer-director Joel Schumacher filmed the popular movie Phone Booth over there.

The entire shoot took only ten days. By contrast, the more average Hollywood movie, Almost Famous, took 92 days to film.

      What’s the difference?

      Schumacher called it “French hours.”

      You still have all the movie-producing groups involved in the shoot as in Hollywood. There are similar work policies. But there’s a key difference. On the set in France, if every single person agrees, you can film a movie without lunch breaks. They’ll serve food all day long, and you’ll eat when the job allows you to, not when you want to. Things move more quickly this way. You don’t lose momentum. Also, there’s more of a sense of teamwork and satisfaction, knowing that everyone is sacrificing a bit in order to produce a movie they believe in.

      A quality movie is produced in a shorter time period, keeping costs down while everyone takes pride in a job well-done.  

      Hollywood hours vs. French hours.

      The early church, from the very beginning, said it was going to follow French hours. It’s described beautifully in Acts:

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

      This “whole group” was composed of a lot of different people. Wealthy and poor. Free and slave. Smart as a tack people, and dumb as a brick people. Eventually it would include moral ex-Jews, and immoral ex-Gentiles.

      These different people had different outlooks, different needs. BUT something had happened to them that put their own needs and agendas into perspective. They had been overwhelmed by the Gospel. What God had done in Jesus made their hearts joyous, and they couldn’t wait to share that Good News.

      So, they suspended the rules. They were all “of one heart and soul.” They said they’d grab lunch when they could. They put aside their differences, their self-interest, and asked: “What can we do to tell others that Jesus lives? What can we do to help the Kingdom of God come more fully into this world? What can we do to make THIS movie?”

      Even more impressive is that these early Christians weren’t just working on the movie set. They were financing it as well. People sold land and homes, putting the proceeds in a common pot. That money would underwrite the project—it would help the poor among them, and fund mission work. Selling land and homes was their way of saying, “There is no more, ‘This is my stuff, you can’t have it; this is my property, don’t get on it.’ Now we are brothers and sisters united in a mission—in making the greatest movie ever! And…we’ll grab lunch when we can!”

      Yes, they all believed in French hours—all, that is, but one couple.

      Ananias and Sapphira.

      They sold their land, probably because everyone had. They wanted to be one of the crew. Their heart, though, wasn’t really in it. They weren’t really convinced about the project the church was starting. If it failed at the box office, then what would they have to fall back on? It would be prudent to hold some back, for their own self-protection.

      Remember Peter’s response to this? He wasn’t mad that they held some back. He was mad that they wanted to put on a front that they had given all they had for this movie, when really they hadn’t. This couple wanted to show they had no reservations about the project—when in reality, they weren’t too sure.

      Peter says, “How dare you lie to the Holy Spirit!” Ananias falls down dead, and his wife soon follows.

      Now, I know this story sounds a tad brutal on first reading. It seems like it’d be the key Bible passage used by the Bruno and Guido School of Church Fundraising—you know, “Hey! How much you say you give to church? Bruno! Guido! Over here!”

      But it is possible to see this passage in a different light.

      If anything, the Holy Spirit put Ananias out of his misery.

      Ananias was dead long before he died. His body’s death was just a formality. Because when you hold back, when you live your life defined by rigid rules of protectionism and entitlement—by the “here’s mine, and there’s thine” philosophy—and when you’ve compounded it with a good dose of hypocrisy, wanting to look virtuous and generous when you’re not: you’ve closed yourself off to life. Your spirit’s shriveled up. You’ve withdrawn—your soul is already in the coffin, and is just waiting for your body to catch up.

      So, the lesson from Ananias and Sapphira is this: Do you want to die before your time? Then guard the rigid rules that protect you, protect your ego, protect your stuff, protect your sense of what’s “fair.”  Throw in the emotional energy it takes to maintain a Christian front, and you’ll be dead in no time.

      Or do you want to live? If you do, then suspend the rule of self-protection, of self-entitlement. Give yourself to a higher calling. Give yourself to the movie God’s producing.

      When God calls you to do something that challenges your self-interest. When God asks you to apologize to someone, when your pride says “No!”…When God calls you to call someone you’ve given the silent treatment to for years…When God asks you to change your lifestyle so that you can give more time or money to a project that will make a difference in someone’s life…When God asks you to take a job on the set here in this church…When God asks you to stand up to what you know is wrong, regardless of the consequences:  It’s easy to withdraw into self-protection. It’s easy to do the Hollywood hours thing—“Aw, too bad, gotta break for lunch!”

      But remember—you want to LIVE!

      When God calls you to do something that’s not in your best interest, from now on say, “GREAT!” Accept the challenge. Because God’s inviting you to life. Give yourself to a cause higher than yourself. Allow yourself to be driven from looking out only after “me and mine.” Get lost in God’s project, and grab lunch when you can.

      That is living by French hours.

      That is living a Christian life.

      Today, as we go into the rest of this service, I want to give you a sentence to remember. I want this to be what you think of as you sing the hymn of preparation for communion. I want this to be on your lips and in your heart when you take communion, when you sing the closing hymn, and when you leave this place.

      This is what you’re to hear in your mind and echo in your heart, and let it affect you every day this week:

WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR ME IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR GOD!….

      And…what’s important for God?

      Jesus summed it up best on the night in which he was betrayed:

      “A new commandment I give you—that you love one another, even as I have loved you.”

Last fall I was walking the labyrinth at the Mercy Retreat Center. While I was doing it, I saw bumblebees and butterflies delicately touching the same lilac blossom. They were joyfully, unconsciously going about doing their work, fulfilling their vocation, giving God pleasure. There was no sense of “turf,” and no rigid rules to follow. As you receive communion today, the rules have been suspended. This is a “French hour.” We are all butterflies and bumblebees, feasting on the Lord’s bread and cup.