Blowin' in the Wind Edition

Batten down your hatches! I'm glad Rocky and I got our (deliciously muddy) romp in the woods done yesterday afternoon. We both might blow away today! By the way, has anyone seen a green AC unit cover flying around? If so, send me an email. Mine is "blowin' in the wind." Speaking of which. . .



Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Weds, Feb. 11- What would happen to the Israelites if they worked on the seventh day?
Exodus 35:2, “For six days, work is done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of Sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.”

And here's the question of the day:
Thurs, Feb. 12- What did the lame beggar ask of Peter and John? What did the lame beggar receive instead?


And here's the reflection of the day:
Congratulations to all those who have been wading through the last 13 chapters of Exodus--two more chapters tomorrrow and you're done with it! It's a little repititious, I know. My sermon on Sunday is going to paint the BIG PICTURE for you about the tabernacle and why it's so important. So if you're still wondering why, hopefully you'll be in worship on Sunday. If not, I'll be sure to post the sermon. I hope it helps!

As we find ourselves at the end of Exodus, so too we find ourselves at the beginning of Acts. Here is the beginning of the church and the initial way the first church sought to live out the gospel: preaching and teaching, fellowship, sharing communion, and praying together.

The first two chapters of Acts tells us about Pentecost and its effect on the people. Spiritual experiences--like Pentecost--seem to come and go quickly. We are not used to seeing spirituality on a long term basis. But that is what Acts seeks to do: provide a vision of the ongoing embodiment of the gospel, not just gospel in fits and starts.

In Acts three, the gospel has moved from the crowds to the temple--the heart of worship--"where the gospel would do its work and encounter opposition" (Willimon, Acts, p 43). The disciples are preaching the gospel as the fulfilment of God's promises to the people of Israel. (We will see how the Jews react to the gospel a little later on.)

Willimon tells us that the gospel is the power of God which creates healing, astonishment, or anger, depending on the situation. In Acts 3, which we read today, the power of the gospel has created both healing and astonishment.

Peter and John, being faithful Jews, go up to the temple at the time of prayer when they stumble on a man who was lame from birth begging at the temple gate. Willimon writes, "The path toward significant prayer is a way that goes straight through, not around, human misery" (p 44).

The lame beggar has no way to supprt himself, instead relying on the crumbs thrown to him from others. He can't even make eye contact with the disciples. I'm going to make a little interpretive leap here and suggest that he was probably so beaten down by the circumstances of his life, that he can't even imagine asking for healing--not from God or from the disciples. He asks only for alms, but he receives physical and spiritual wholeness.

This is where the gospel goes; this is what the gospel does. Church isn't so much about handing out money to people in need; it's about pointing out the wholeness in Jesus Christ that God offers to everyone. The path to significant prayer--to significant ministry and mission and kingdom building--is through human misery and hopelessness and defeat. Human misery is like a magnet for the gospel; Jesus came to seek out the least and the lost. That is where Jesus is and where the church should be too.

Where do you see human misery? Can you see the gospel at work there? Is God calling you to be a part of it?

Allison