This is our annual Novembering service where we take time to be with one another as we mark the passing of family and friends of those in our body. We also desire to acknowledge together the many other losses people have experienced in this past year, loss of health, jobs, community, independence, and many other forms of losses. We hold these special services to honor and remember those we love, invite God’s healing presence into those tender places of grief and loss, and be reminded of the solid assurance and hope of Heaven.
Back in Jerusalem, the apostle James is arrested and killed by Herod. Peter is also arrested by Herod, but an angel releases him. James and Peter both lived with open hands to the work of God. One is not “rescued;” one is“rescued.” Meanwhile, Herod and the Jewish people, grasp for power and control, holding on tight to what they know, but all that comes is death. When we live a surrendered life, God can use our living and our dying to advance the God’s work.
Dave Brickey brings the message, of the Holy Spirit’s whispers that led Dave, Stefanie, and their children to this point, to this place, at this time.
Barnabas dared to follow God across cultural and religious lines, bringing his gifts of faith and encouragement to nurture and strengthen what God’s grace had brought to life. It’s an apt topic this week as we bless our students, parents and educators and seek to partner with God out in the actual world. His grace is at work all around us!
Do you have any idea what Shark Week has to do with the Peter/Cornelius story of Acts 10-11? Kati Beasley sees the connection and will share that with us this Sunday! Scientists assisting the birth of shark babies offer a potent parallel to Peter’s holding space for what God wanted to do, even when Peter didn’t know at the outset what that would turn out to be. Peter’s obedience, openness, and willingness to be awake and let God do the work is a great invitation for us, a reminder that God is at work in so many places, and we’re called to pay attention.
In keeping with the summer study in Acts, Maureen Pranghofer shares some of her life journey. She opens up about growing up with major physical challenges; and how the twists and turns of life brought her to a place of forgiveness and healing.
Luke puts dramatic demonstrations of power (a divine healing and a miracle) in context. Powerful displays like these are included in the “everything” in Matthew 28:20; and are to be part of the “normal” Christian experience. However they also can take attention away from the really big deal, a person coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
Is anyone beyond the reach of Jesus? Should we ever give up hope on anyone? Today in our study of Acts we come to one of the most dramatic conversion stories in all the Bible. It reminds us to hold out hope for everyone and how to pray for and walk with those we might think are beyond the reach of Jesus.
Today we hear the story of how God used a waiter named Phillip to bring the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Phillip did so by using a simple principle Jesus taught – look for and lean into people of peace. Maybe if we practice this principle, God can use us to bring the good news of Jesus to the ends of our worlds too.
From the large-scale stories of earlier chapters, with thousands of people coming to faith, the focus narrows in chapter 8 to a single individual, Simon the sorcerer, and his heart’s deep needs for attention, affection, and approval. Peter’s rebuke sounds harsh, but it actually offers hope – to Simon and to all of us who are still have those captive and bound places within us.
After the stoning of Stephen, a great change occurred in the early Church as they were sent out and shared the Good News wherever they went (Acts 8:1-4). What does it mean to be sent out and scattered? How can we see ourselves as sent while serving, in conflict, in running errands, having family time, at work, in traffic and in these chaotic times in history? The good news: We are sent into the ordinary by the extraordinary Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit...and God's work is not done!
What is our mindset about the sacred? Where do we believe God is at work and to be worshipped? At the church building? Everywhere? If we say, “everywhere,” then why do we gather for collective worship?
Seeing needs and inequities when they occur, then responding in ways that remedy those difficulties, is a significant characteristic of God’s people. The young church in Acts 6 offers us a model for meeting practical needs with care and sensitivity as they addressed the discrimination and neglect of a vulnerable population within their congregation.
