Imagine this story being told around the table at one of the many meals that Paul presided over, Luke sitting to one side and noting everything. People are eating, dipping bread into olive oil, picking over fish, and as they eat they tell stories of Jesus and the disciples, engaging in the kind of deep … Continue reading Acts 5:1-11 Learning to Live Under Discipline
It’s the generosity of the church that has always helped her to grow and give meaning to people’s lives. Long after the humble group of Jesus’ disciples had become the church of empire, long after Constantine and the great struggles over doctrine, long after the fall of the Roman empire in the west, it was … Continue reading Acts 4:32-37 Giving and Receiving
No sooner has the community of the first church come together than it is threatened and afraid. All these early Christians really want to do is wander about the temple praying and helping out the people who ask them for help. Their actions are so inoffensive that it seems almost impossible that they should be … Continue reading Acts 4:23-41 The Community Threatened
From the first, Luke was more than aware of the kind of egotism and vanity that can arise in communities. As he traveled with Paul, he was often in small rooms, eating dinner with friends, sharing funny stories, listening patiently to the concerns and worries of his dinner companions, and treasuring the moment when the … Continue reading Acts 4:1-22 Uneducated and Ordinary Men
There should be a word - one of those big, pretentious German words - for that joyous moment when you realize that you’re one of eleven billion people, and don’t have to be special. I first experienced this in my early thirties, and at first I was tempted to be depressed about it. Fortunately I … Continue reading Acts 3:1-26 Charismatic Leadership
KPB Stevens 