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
Now we come to one of the clearest parallels between Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both books have baptism scenes just a few pages in. In the Gospel, it’s John who baptizes, and his baptism is one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In Acts, it’s the apostles who baptize, and … Continue reading Acts 2:37-47 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
My grandmother often told the same stories over and over again, to such an extent that we made up a joking diagnosis for her, saying that she had RSS, Repetitive Story Syndrome. My daughter has begun to point out my own tendency to repeat stories, and has also begun noticing when she does this. All … Continue reading Acts 2:14-36 The First Retelling
KPB Stevens 