Today’s post is written by the Revd. Wilfred Robinson.  Wilfred, originally from India, serves as a minister in the Great Harwood Circuit in Lancashire, England.

Track One Reading:  Acts 26.1-32;  Track Two Reading:  Acts 26.19-32

Intro: These words are some of the most disappointing and sobering words ever recorded in Scripture. Before we look at the reasons that Agrippa refused to be saved, let’s first look at some interesting facts that helps put things in perspective.
A. The Messenger – the Apostle Paul
Agrippa couldn’t blame his lost condition on the preacher! God sent him the best there was, and yet he still refused.
1. The Messenger was Powerful vs. 22 (he had God helping him!)
2. The Messenger was Passionate vs. 24
3. The Messenger was Persuasive vs. 29
B. The Message – the gospel of Jesus Christ
1. The Message was a Testimony vs. 4-18 not hearsay, but personally experienced and proven in his life
2. The Message was Truth vs. 25
3. The Message was Told vs. 26

Some reasons why Agrippa probably wouldn’t get saved.
I. Pride
· Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
· Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
· Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
II. Position
· Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
· Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
III. Possessions
Turn to Mark 10:17-25
A. The Man was Searching vs. 17
B. The Man was Serious – he came running
C. The Man was Self-righteous vs. 20
D. The Man was Sorrowful
· 1 Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
III. Peer Pressure (Festus and all the others were sitting there watching him)
· Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

IV. Procrastination
· Acts 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
· James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeared for a little time, and then vanishes away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
· 1 Samuel 20:3 but truly as the LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
V. Conclusion: So what will be our response today to the gospel of Christ?

Today’s post is written by the Revd. Sarah McGiverin.

Track One Reading:  Acts 25.1-27;  Track Two Reading:  Acts 24.10-23

When I was 19, I was accosted by an evangelism team at the shopping mall.  I was on my way to a movie with my little brother, when this couple approached and asked me if I was saved.  “Yeah, I mean, I believe in Jesus,” I said.  “But do you speak in tongues?” They asked, and proceeded to tell my brother and I (in a creepily cheerful tone) that we were doomed to hell because we had not been given the gift of tongues – and that they sure hoped that we would come visit their church sometime, and be really saved.

This was the last straw for me.  I was through with church goers, and their self-righteous “Ask me why Jesus loves me better than you,” sales pitch.  And so about 6 years passed of me going to church maybe 3 or 4 times a year – trying this church or that church, and deciding (in my own adolescent self-righteousness) that they weren’t “getting it right.”

As I look back over the experience of trying to find my way back to church, it is probably more true to say that (for the most part) I went to a series of churches that were not particularly interested in me.  They were interested in themselves – in their programs, in their dwindling numbers, in their past glory, in their wants and needs.  If I was even noticed upon walking in the door, I was not noticed as an individual, but as a “young person” who might breathe life into the congregation.

But I didn’t have a lot of life to breathe into anything at the time.  I was floundering and needing help.  I felt lost – I felt insignificant in the eyes of God and the church and the world and everyone.  Saving me was really a simple matter of seeing me.

When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, what impressed her most of all was that, “[he] told me everything I have ever done!”  Jesus wasn’t speaking to her as a seeker, as a prospective member – he spoke to her as a person, as a particular individual with a unique life story.  Jesus saw the woman at the well, really saw her in particular, and she was saved in the seeing.

I was struck by how, in today’s reading, Paul doesn’t say any more about his faith than is appropriate to the occasion.  All he really says about the Way is that it is in continuity with Judaism.  Paul presents himself as a Jew who believes in the resurrection of the dead – a Jew just like those who seek to accuse him.

Paul knows why he has been brought before the governor – he is on trial.  He does not question Felix’s authority in this matter (though Paul could easily have done so, given his belief that the only law he was subject to was the law of Christ.)  His speech before Felix is appropriate to the occasion – he conforms himself to the situation at hand, and to Felix’s expectations – he is a humble supplicant before the power of Rome.

And because he meets Felix where he is, because he sees Felix for who he is, Felix opens the door to Paul – Felix seeks out Paul later and asks for his testimony at a later time.  Perhaps Felix was thinking, “At last, a reasonable Christian!  Not a raving lunatic, but someone who will answer my questions judiciously.”

This picture of Paul’s interaction with Felix is consistent with what Paul writes in his letters.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul writes about making himself “all things to all people” in order that some might be saved – Paul reaches out to those around him, meeting them as they are, looking for a point of contact, seeking what they have in common as a starting point for a new relationship.  (And in order to do this, he must begin by looking hard at the other, by assessing the situation, by seeing the individual before him.)  But in Galatians 1, Paul cautions us that it remains important in all things to remember that we do not live to please people, but to please God.  And so it is that Paul does not offer a bribe to Felix, though Felix continues to hope for one.  Paul will concede Felix’s temporal authority for the sake of the gospel, but he will not cross the line into dishonesty by buying his freedom under the table.

Christ reminds us that the very hairs of our head are numbered – that God knows us intimately, down to the (seemingly) most insignificant detail.  This is what it means to be loved by God – we are seen completely, and treasured in our entirety.  This is very Good News!

If we are to proclaim this Good News, we must do our best to live into it – loving the individuals who cross our path – who enter our place of worship! – as individuals – meeting them where they are, seeing them.  All those who have experienced God’s saving love are charged with proclaiming that gospel – but the medium is indeed part of the message.  A shotgun, one size fits all approach says, “you are just a number to us.”  Instead, if we reach out in love to real people with unique stories, conforming ourselves to their needs and expectations (as nearly as we may while remaining true to the gospel), if we find the starting point for a new relationship with the one who is aching to be seen, then the day will come when they ask us to tell the story we are burning to share.

Today’s post is written by Revd. Sarah Moore.  Sarah is a United Reformed minister serving in Darwen, Lancashire.  This post was supposed to have appeared yesterday, but I was travelling to Harrogate and didn’t get her post up yesterday.  My apologies to all the readers and to Sarah!

Today’s Reading for the post:  Acts 20.7-12

You can feel your eyelids getting heavy and you slump down in your chair.  If only the meeting would end and everyone could get home.  An experience that many of us can identify with, whether at a church meeting or a committee meeting for the bowling green, amateur dramatics, choir or many other voluntary groups.

Meetings going on too long when everyone is beyond their best is an occupational hazard of life in the modern church.  Acts 20 shows us that this experience is not limited to 2007 but was also an issue in the mid 1st century, within 30 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Paul, apostle, missionary and travel writer extraordinaire was in town.  Paul was the ‘must see’ Christian celebrity of his time and the community flocked to listen to what he had to say.

So, the good people of Troas gathered in an upstairs room.  It was the first day of the week; in our parlance this was an evening service.  The body of Christ in that place had met to break bread, as was their custom and ours.  Paul was speaking.  As the light faded, the lamps were lit.  These would have been oil lamps so the light produced would have been dim.  We are in a Mediterranean setting so the weather would have been warm.  A young man, probably a boy in his teens named Eutychus was sitting in the window.  As the evening drew on, Eutychus became more and more sleepy.  Like many young men, he was of few words so no one took much notice of him.  Paul’s sermon had a sophorific effect on Eutychus as he fell asleep and fell out of the window.  This might be the last thing Eutychus would do as he fell to the ground from the third floor and was picked up for dead.

Paul breaks off from his sermon, goes downstairs to check on the young man.  Paul declares that he is still alive, takes him in his arms and carries Eutychus back upstairs.  How embarrassing for Eutychus!  To fall out of a window and be carried back into the house by a visiting preacher is definitely not cool and would do nothing for Eutychus’s street cred.

The community return to their third floor room, have something to eat and Paul resumes his sermon.  Undeterred Paul preaches on until dawn.  We hear nothing more about Eutychus.

This passage that does not appear in our Sunday lectionaries (sadly since it has much to teach us) invites us to consider how we do meetings and more importantly the affect that our church life has on our young people.  Note that I am not referring to children and young teenagers here but rather to older teenagers and twentysomething adults.  Do our meetings go on and are sufficiently uninspiring as to send folk to sleep?  Church is supposed to nourish us for our walk with Christ and to equip us to speak of and live of Christ in our everyday lives.  If it is a drag, then we must take responsibility for the state that we’re in and work together to sort it out.  If we want to attract younger people into our fellowships, then we must be attractive to them.  We must order our church life so to show that faith is an attractive and vibrant way of living.  Being a follower of Christ is about being wide awake people of the day.  It should not be sending us off to sleep.

Today’s post will serve for today and tomorrow, and is written by the Rev. Mark Slaney, of Bamber Bridge Methodist Church and Trinity Methodist Church in the South Ribble Circuit in Lancashire, England.

Track Two Reading for Dec 24 & 25: Acts 17.16-34

Japanese Theologian and Missionary Kosuke Koyama tells of the impressive Swedagon Pagoda Temple atop a hill in Rangoon, Burma (scene of religious and political protest earlier this year). Koyama points out that there are two routes to the Temple. First, there is the tourist route. Tourists step into air conditioned lifts which swiftly raise them the 300 metres to the summit plateau where they step out, walk along air-conditioned glass tunnels and into the temple courtyard where they can take a tour as well as photographs before escaping the heat and humidity back in the tunnels and lift. Then, there is the pilgrim route. The pilgrim path winds and spirals its way right around the mountain, contouring ever higher until after three hours of barefoot walking in the stifling heat and humidity the pilgrim arrives at the plateau and courtyard, exhausted but welcomed to make prayer. One feature of the path is that the pilgrim cannot see the temple itself until almost reaching the top.
Paul was always a Pilgrim, never a tourist, prepared for the heat and hard work of Christian spirituality and mission. In Athens he had some time off, but tourism was the last thing on Paul’s mind. He looked around the city and ended up in the Aeropagus. His time in Athens as recorded for us in Acts 17 offers a great model for incarnational mission today :

v.16 – he looked around the place and understood it.
v.17 – he would discuss it with anyone who’d listen.
v.18-20 – he was prepared to accept the invitation onto another’s territory.
v.21 – he understood these people, they liked to gossip about new ideas.
v.22 – he understood these people, they were very religious.
v.23 – he took an everyday object they all knew to communicate the gospel.
v.24-26 – he reasoned an argument in their own mindset.
v.27 – he offered an end to the search.
v.28 – he quoted their own poets.
v.29 – 31 and a new perspective on what they already knew.
v.32-34 – you win some, you loose some.

What kind of Christian are you going to be – Tourist or Pilgrim?

Today’s post is written by the Revds. Jen Harner Sims and Michael Sims, a clergy couple from the Florida Annual Conference serving The United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches (West Palm Beach, FL) and Trinity United Methodist Church (Jensen Beach, Florida), respectively.  They share ‘virtually’ with us this time, after sharing worship with us this summer at Wilpshire Methodist Church.  

Track One Reading:  Acts 17.10-34; Track Two Reading:  Acts 16.23-34

Do we really understand the power of freedom that is found in relationship with Jesus the Christ?  In today’s verses, Paul and Silas were flogged, chained, and held within the innermost cell in the prison.  At what could have been their darkest hour (midnight in prison), Paul and Silas found great freedom.  Be careful in reading today’s text!  The freedom that Paul and Silas had did NOT come from the sudden earthquake.  Instead, there was an internal, spiritual freedom that they carried with them into their prison cell.  They were free to pray, to sing, and to share a witness to Christ with the other prisoners prior to the foundations of the prison being shaken.

Due to the freedom Paul and Silas had in Christ, we should NOT be astonished that they did not immediately run from the prison at the first moment they had to escape!  Their freedom in Christ kept them from “truly being imprisoned” and kept them open to loving others.  This freedom in Christ caused them to care even for the jailer who held them captive.  Paul, Silas, and the prisoners who had heard them sing “freedom songs” remained on the scene.

Paul and Silas begged the jailer not to take his own life.  The jailer was astonished by those who had such freedom and such love!  The jailer asked a beautiful question (one that we must all ask), “What must I do to be saved?”  And the answer Paul and Silas offered is transforming for each of us even today, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  The evening proved to be still young as Paul and Silas would spend the rest of the night sharing the story of faith in Jesus the Christ.  Ironically, on this very same evening, the jailer would wash the wounds of Paul and Silas and then; in a powerful, redemptive moment, Paul and Silas would wash (through the waters of baptism) the “wounds” of the jailer and his entire family.

At times, each of us mistakes our life circumstances for “imprisonments”:  from illnesses to the loss of a loved one to financial debt to children gone astray to world pressures.   Although, there are many circumstances in our life that do cause very real suffering, all those who believe in Christ may continue to pray, to sing, and to share of Christ’s love in and through these circumstances.  John Wesley said it well on his deathbed, “The best of all, God is with us.”  As we read the book of Acts during Advent, we must again acknowledge our great freedom—the best of all is that Jesus the Christ is Emmanuel—“God with us!”   We are not alone!  We have Christ’s transforming love in our life, and we have this same transforming love to share with others!  Whatever “prison” you find yourself in on this day, we pray that you know that Christ is with you, loves you, and will continue to use you to share His love with others if you might only give yourself to Him again on this day.

May God bless each of you and your families with a blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Praying, singing, and waiting to celebrate Christ’s birth with great joy!

Track One Reading: Acts 16:19-17:9; Track Two Reading: Acts 16.6-15

Today’s reading could have very well been the overarching theme passage for this journey we have taken this Advent. Walter Brueggemann sums up this passage when he writes, ‘Paul was ready for a vision. He was seeking a way of ministry “out of no way’ (‘Blogging Toward Sunday, 15 May 2007, http://www.theolog.org/). I think that accurately describes where we are, not only in Wilpshire, Mellor, and Langho, but the church as a whole. We have been trying different forms of ministry that we may not have felt ‘blocked by the spirit’, but it does seem like very little works: whether it’s trying to find folk to run the Alpha or hoping that those who use our building would come on Sunday mornings. We are waiting for a vision of some kind that will tell us where we can go, where we like Paul will find a receptive audience to the story of God’s love.

There are three things I would like to focus on in this verse. The first is that Paul knew his message. Brueggeman again writes to sum up Paul’s message, ‘The news is that in Jesus of Nazareth, the world has become open to God’s generosity; Paul’s listeners are invited to generosity based on God’s bottomless mercy’ (Brueggemann, ibid.). Do we know this message for ourselves and are we able to share it with others? I often make the assumption that everyone who comes to church understands what I’m talking about, knows the stories of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Peter, and Paul. A friend has often said that she grew up learning the stories in Sunday School, but not until she took the Disciple Bible Study course did she have a more ‘grown-up’ understanding of the Bible. I feel the gap between this even more so here than I did in the United States, where in most church adult Sunday School is assumed and in many churches in the UK seem to have an attitude that learning and Sunday School stopped at 18 and we grow out of it. We need to be constantly re-learning to stories in the Bible, always learning the stories of how God worked his plan. This is also a challenge to me and other preachers to continue to preach the stories on Sunday morning. Any of us – not just the ministers or church leaders – will be called on to share their faith.

The second thing I hear is what we have been doing all Advent: waiting for a ‘vision’ from God. It may not come in the form that it did for Paul (or Peter, who had the buffet lowered to him), but God will speak to us when we are open to God. We also must be willing to hear the answer ‘no’ when it comes. Paul tried a number of places before finally being given a ‘yes’ to go to Macedonia. We must be vigilant in listening to God – even after we get the answer! Our listening to God won’t stop on Epiphany.

The third thing I that I hear is that Paul went. He obeyed. He left where he was and went to Macedonia. He didn’t wait for the people of Macedonia to come to him. We can’t wait for those who believe the church irrelevant to finally make that walk across our door. Nor can we depend on parade or all-age services (statistics show that even if these services attract children, they don’t get the families there). We have to go, and like Paul, answer the need for help where they are. This is, in part, what I said earlier about giving up our reliance on ministries in which God may be saying no, but more than that, it’s listening to where God is saying yes and going to where God calls.

Today we welcome ‘virtually’ the Revd. Sarah Hamilton back to the United Kingdom. Sarah is a United Methodist Minister serving Advance United Methodist Church in Missouri. Before returning to the USA, she served as a minister in the Norwich Circuit in Great Britain.

Track One Reading: Acts 15:30-16:18; Track Two Reading: Acts 15:12-21

Wow. Conflict in the church. Who’d have thunk it?? That never happens! We’re just one big happy family. We love everybody within the congregation equally. We all have the same tastes in music. We agree on every point of doctrine. When things need to change, we consistently agree on the direction we need to take. We always agree on everything.

Yeah. Right.

Hopefully, you picked up on the blatant sarcasm in the opening paragraph. Anyone who has spent any time in the church knows that none of those statements are true. Yet when the subject of conflict within the church comes up, we all shake our heads, wondering, ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ We’re all Christians, aren’t we? We worship the same God, read the same Bible. We’re taught that this God not only loves us, but embodies that love. We’re about to celebrate God’s own initiation of that love, when we receive the Christ on earth. Therefore, as followers of this loving God, we are supposed to love one another. This is all right and good. God does love us and calls us to love one another. I wonder when love became synonymous with concord. Our personal relationships often involve some sort of discord—we don’t always agree with our spouses, children, parents, friends. Why do we consider it such a bad thing when Christians disagree?

Well, part of the problem stems from how we handle the disagreement. Let’s take a look at how the early church handled their disagreement.

The larger and bigger issue (the ancient version of Where does God want us to go?) has already been settled in yesterday’s reading. The Church leaders got together in Jerusalem, heard both sides of the argument, made a decision and notified the churches of that decision. Luke does not record the reactions of the interested parties—i.e. we don’t hear how upset the Pharisees were when the decision didn’t fall their way. Based on the information we have, this disagreement did not result in a church split.

In today’s passage, however, the picture isn’t quite so rosy. The tiff between Paul and Barnabas surrounded an issue of who went with them on their continued journey to spread the Gospel. Verse 39 records, ‘The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company…’ It must have been a painful split for those involved. Paul and Barnabas had worked well together in the past and probably had a pretty decent working relationship. To see that shattered and the two friends go their separate ways must have hurt both of them, as well as those friends and helpers surrounding them.

What have we learned, then? Sometimes conflict in the church can be settled with rational discussion and debate, as in the instance of yesterday’s reading. Other times, though, despite our best efforts we can’t reach agreement, as in the case of Paul and Barnabas.

We could look at this in one of two ways. We could see this as permission to give up when things get tough and go our separate ways. The proverbial, ‘I’m going to take my toys and go home!’ reaction. Perhaps. I’m not convinced. We could also read this passage as reminding us not to get caught up in the either-or argument—either one or the other. Sometimes a both-and approach works instead. Paul took his posse and went one way. Barnabas and his groupies went another. But they both preached the Gospel to those who hadn’t heard it.

Unfortunately, we do not hear how Barnabas fared without Paul. We do know that Paul had great success—‘the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.’ (16:5) Perhaps we could take a positive lesson from the disagreement between these two Christian men. The next time an either-or argument arises, take a minute and ask if it needs to remain as such. Can we have both traditional and contemporary worship? Can we meet within the church walls and outside them? Perhaps the Gospel can go forth from both places.

Not every disagreement will work out that way. It’s true that some disagreements, by their very nature, must be an either-or decision. But it’s a question worth asking, is it not?

Track One Reading:  Acts 15.1-29; Track Two Reading:  Acts 15.1-11

It seems that every church tells the same joke on itself:  How many [fill in your own church or denomination here] does it take to fill in a light bulb?  The response:  CHANGE???  It appears that every church has had difficulty with change, and the first Christians were no different.  The news of Paul and Barnabas’s successful missionary trip has reached Jerusalem and some are worried about Gentiles entering the community.  They immediately raise their concern, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’ (Acts 15.1).  Some Jewish believers want the Gentiles to take the full steps and become Jews.  For them, nothing has changed:  if Gentiles want to be a part of the community, fine.  But, they have to conform – they have to take on the mark of Jewish ethnicity.  God’s plan of salvation has always been through Israel, so only those who take on this mark can be saved.  This begins a heated discussion between these Jewish believers and Paul and Barnabas.

This becomes the defining moment for the early church:  just how much change can the young community endure?  Are there any limits at which there can be no compromise?  This is the matter we begin to touch on in the passage.  Luke, who has sent Peter off ‘to another place’ (Acts 12.17), brings Peter back for a final cameo to give his witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Gentiles.  But notice that Peter, the church’s first great leader and closest friend to Jesus, does not have the final word:  this must be sorted out by the entire community.  This is also a discussion that’s bigger than a simple, ‘Well, scripture says this, so that’s the answer’ (the ones who wanted the Gentiles circumcised may well have used this argument).

The issue of circumcision isn’t the central issue that it was in the first century, but we still have our own issues.  We have expectations of what makes a worship service, what a church should look like and how it’s used, or what kind of music we play.  Churches have split over the colour of the carpet.  How do we begin to address these issues?  How important are they?  And how will discuss them and come to a resolution?  Tomorrow, we find out how the early church dealt with this first huge hurdle.

Track One Reading:  Acts 14.1-28; Track Two reading:  Acts 14.21-28

In chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas encounter a pagan crowd who seemingly have little to no connection with the Jewish faith.  Here Paul can make no assumptions about what his listeners know, but he must respond when the people want to worship him and Barnabas as the gods Hermes and Zeus.  Paul stops the madness and preaches,

‘Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy’ (Acts 14.15-17).

Commentator David Cook observes, ‘There is no reference to the Old Testament, no reference even to Jesus.  This sermon is brief and makes no assumptions about the audience’s knowledge.  Paul speaks in terms the people would understand’ (David Cook, Teaching Acts, pp. 204-5).  Paul starts with the basics, acknowledges the creator, and says that they are not that creator – they’re just mortals.  Nor does he spout bible verses like missiles or flout Jesus’ name around.  Instead, he talks about what he believes they can all agree on – a creator god who gives witness to God with good gifts, rain, food, and joy.  Not pointing out their wrongs, but acknowledging the points of contact in what it means to be human.

In listening to Paul, I am reminded of our own situation.  We have for so long been able to depend on our Christian history where to be British or American also implied being Christian.  In both countries, this seems to be less and less the case (whether or not this is particularly a bad thing – or even if either country was really ever Christian – is another debate).  Yet, we still seem to maintain our churches and share our faith as if everyone who walks through the door should know what goes on.  The parody of this is found in the Mr. Bean episode where Mr. Bean goes to church.  He stands up at the wrong time, can’t find the right page in the hymnbook, and falls asleep in the sermon – all the while getting disapproving looks from the ‘regular’ church-goers.  Or take the ‘Four Spiritual Laws’ (isn’t that a great title?) – the tool for evangelism I was taught at youth conferences.  Bible verses and ‘church language’ flood the pages, assuming that all understand what kind of ‘wonderful plan’ God wants for every person and how ‘man’ is sinful without explaining exactly what we mean by ‘sin’ (and I guess women have the out here – just the men!).  We have a culture that increasingly believes that we have nothing to say to them.

How will we find our voice without using the same old language that we have always used?  How will we enable others to see that what we offer is not a boring hour on Sunday morning and a lists of ‘sins’ to be avoided, but a relationship with the creator of the universe, the one from whom all good things come?  There’s not going to be a ‘magic’ answer that will solve all our problems – no one programme, no one person will ‘fix’ it.  It will come when the entire community realises that it will take work, and be willing to risk leaving our church walls and getting to know others and where they are.

The chapter ends with Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch to report about their mission, Paul tells them, ‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.’  Evangelism isn’t going to be easy, and Paul and Barnabas recognise that, but as we see they are up to the challenge.  In fact, they look forward to it because they see the fruit of their risk:  God moving in the lives of the people who listen to their message.  Are we up to the challenge? Do we have a desire to see God move in the life of people in a powerful way?

Track One Reading:  Acts 13.26-52; Track Two Reading:  Acts 13.32-43

Paul and Barnabas lead an evangelistic team into Antioch where they meet with other Jews in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  There, they get a message from the synagogue leaders asking them if they have a word to share.  Paul, never one to miss an opportunity to say something, jumps at the chance.  His speech ties in to many of the themes we hear during Advent.  Historically in the church, yesterday began the reciting of the Advent ‘O’ Antiphons, proclamations taken from the Old Testament about the one to come.  This one to come, which we celebrate each year in Advent, is Jesus Christ, died and yet alive.

Paul’s message about the crucified Christ whom God raised may have been new to those listeners in our passage, but he has a common bond with them – the scriptures.  So he cites passages from the Psalms and Isaiah that Paul wants them to see as being fulfilled by Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  New Testament scholar Richard Hays describes what Paul is doing here as calling for a ‘conversion of the imagination’.  Hays doesn’t use ‘imagination’ to say that Paul wants them to pretend that Jesus is alive when he isn’t or that Paul wants them to pretend a fairytale is true.  Paul wants them to change their way of thinking, to read the scriptures in a new way with a new mindset.  He is asking, ‘If this guy Jesus who was killed as a messianic pretender was raised by God to new life, what might these scriptures mean?’  For Paul the answer is obvious.  Jesus was no pretender at all, but the rightful messiah who defeated death.  David, who uttered years before the words Paul quotes, didn’t fulfil them – he lies dead still.  These words, written years before Jesus, now take on new meaning as Jesus, unlike David, is alive now and offers us forgiveness as we repent and turn our allegiance to him.  Paul wants those in the synagogue to read the scriptures in light of the resurrection.  This may mean that they will have to read them in a totally different way – even in a way they never thought of.

For Paul, the resurrection is central to his thought.  It not only shows that Jesus is the rightful messiah, but is our hope that God will not abandon the world he created.  God will one day restore the world fully when the world’s true king will be revealed to all.  The message Paul preaches may not be unfamiliar to us.  The stories we hear at this time of year are especially familiar – so much so, they may not be able to speak to us.  How might hearing these stories of shepherd, angels, mangers, and wise men change if we read them in light of the resurrection?  What if we hear them not as sweet stories to be put away until next year, but we hear in them echoes of how the story continues?  How might our reading scripture in light of the resurrection lead to living our lives – both individually and as a church – in light of the resurrection?  That will take a conversion of the imagination to think this way.