Acts chapter six outlines the beauty and complexity of the church body, and, in a way, sets the tone for Paul to speak of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Although we find the disciples increasing in number, complaints begin to arise that the widows are no...  Read More

As a kid I was a habitual truth teller. Sometimes to a fault.Doubly gifted with “no filter” and “no indoor voice,” my uncanny observations about people around me in the grocery store were known to prompt a rapturous departure on the part of my family, leaving our fellow shoppers and clerks alike to wonder about the half-empty shopping cart, wheels still spinning, abandoned in the aisles. More than...  Read More

Acts 4 contains a passage that I go back to again and again in my own spiritual journey, because I long to be seen by others in the way Peter and John were seen by the leaders of the Jewish council.As the story goes, in Acts 3, Peter and John healed a lame beggar who had been lame his whole life and who had been begging at the temple gate for as long as anyone can remember. Those that frequented t...  Read More

With the resurrection of Jesus and the blessing of the Holy Spirit poured out on the disciples, the new body of Christ that we refer to as the church, is born. In Acts chapter 3, we continue to see what happens when this occurs and apparently, it involves dancing.I grew up in a faith tradition that frowned upon dancing, which is sad because the result for me was a tall, lanky, uncoordinated man wh...  Read More

The Holy Spirit was promised, and when it came, the language used was the language of “fulfillment”. These were literally the first words used in the second chapter of Acts. “When the day of Pentecost arrived,” or was fulfilled, the disciples were together in one place. They had not yet been dispersed by the Holy Spirit to go to the ends of the earth, rather, they were finishing their time in Jeru...  Read More

Welcome to the exciting reality of the book of Acts. It is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who want a faith that is stagnant and boring. We are introduced to the book of Acts through the “former” or “first” book; the Gospel of Luke. In Acts, we are now confronted with the fact that the Holy Spirit has been given, and because of that gift, we are in for quite a ride! The whole of th...  Read More