New chapters are exciting, but also a bit scary. Moving to college was an important step for me, and it was part of being able to do things on my own. The disciples face a new chapter of their own that begins in the book of Acts.
Crossroads: Be
It is difficult for me to slow down, relax, and just spend time with God. In fact, I usually measure the success of my days based on how productive I was and the amount of work I got done. Sitting and just “being” doesn’t seem like a great way to find success.
Formations 04.30.2023: When Our Work Is Done
This week’s lesson shows us the church from a different angle. Revelation 7 gives us a vision of the “church triumphant,” worshiping God in heaven once their earthly work is done.
Formations 04.23.2023: The Power of Belief
There is really no way to win an argument against someone’s faith. Atheists and agnostics and others have tried for centuries to discount the beliefs of those who follow Jesus.
When Acts Just Ends
The book of Acts, which concerns the early church, seems like this, especially as it nears its strange conclusion. Leaving Athens, fortunately, Paul was able to start churches in Corinth and Ephesus.
Connections 01.12.2020: Too Small for Walls
The Newseum in Washington, D.C. closed its doors on December 31, 2019 after eleven years of operation. I hated to see this happen.
Formations 01.12.2020: Cultural Awareness
During my sophomore year of college at Mercer University, I served as a teaching assistant for the freshman experience class. First-year students took this class to establish an initial community of friends and begin exploring different ways of thinking and looking at the world.
Crossroads: Ascension
When I went away to college, I only moved to the other side of town. But even though I was still in the same town, my mother still had to leave me at Mercer. After we finished getting my stuff unpacked, there came a time when she had to go and I had to stay. She gave me a big hug and left me.
Connections 06.09.2019: All Flesh
When the Holy Spirit fell on the gathered believers on the day of Pentecost, they began to speak in the languages of the people who had come to Jerusalem from many other countries for the festival.
Formations 05.19.2019: Teamwork
My campus ministers in college were a husband-and-wife team who shared between them responsibilities for the spiritual care of students on two campuses in neighboring cities.
Formations 05.12.2019: Jason and the Others
In this stage on Paul’s journey toward preaching in Rome, we encounter a verse that questions the arc of Luke’s two-volume history.
Formations 05.27.2018: Live by the Spirit
Unlike many friends and most of my family, I don’t consider myself a news junkie. Mostly, I limit my news intake to one podcast each morning. I trust it to tell me what I need to know…
Connections 04.29.2018: Where It Starts
When Philip met the Ethiopian on the desert road, the eunuch was reading the passage in the Isaiah scroll that talks about the suffering servant. When the Ethiopian asked Philip about the identity of the servant, Philip answered him, “starting with this scripture” (v. 35).
Connections 04.22.2018: Questioned because of a Good Deed
Like many faithful followers of Jesus over the centuries—people who took a stand for those who were oppressed and hurting—Peter and John were arrested and tried. And for what reason? Because they helped someone in Jesus’ name.
Connections 04.15.2018: The Source
The Flint River flows not far from where I live in Central Georgia. Its headwaters are in Hapeville, Georgia. The river begins as groundwater seepage that goes into a concrete culvert and then under the runways at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Fifty miles or so later the water from several creeks has joined with that seepage to form the beautiful Flint.
Formations 12.24.2017: A Song of Joy and Sorrow
Because I live a few blocks from a hospital, ambulance sirens, and the occasional helicopter, form one pitch in that harmony of creation I hear. For what they signal—coming help and immediate danger—these sounds are above all interruptions demanding drivers to make way.
Formations 11.26.2017: Innocence, Guilt, and Technicalities
The first time I heard Les Misérables, I was fifteen or sixteen. My mother had picked me up from school. Somewhere between learning it was her favorite musical and the grocery store, I asked her what it was all about. She began with the bishop.
Formations 11.19.2017: Faith and Violence
Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great and a nephew of Herod Antipas. The book of Acts remembers him mainly as a persecutor of the early church. Somewhat like the Apostle Paul, this king’s zeal for the law was apparently what drove him to persecute the church.
Connections 06.04.2017: The God of All People
This morning as I write, the screen is blurry through tears. I can’t stop thinking of an arena full of excited, joyful young concertgoers who had no idea of the horror that was about to unfold when their show ended. Last night (May 22) in Manchester, England, yet another terror attack claimed the lives of innocent people—this time following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande.
Formations 05.28.2017: The Lord’s Will Be Done
About poems, the poet Richard Hugo says there are two subjects—the triggering and the real. The triggering subject compels the poet to write, but poets must uncover the real subject as they write. Though the triggering subject is necessary for creation, Hugo recognizes that writers’ perceived responsibility to it may stop a poem before it even starts.
Meanwhile…
All Philip knows as he starts walking is what the angel said: At noon, take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza (v. 26). Most of us get a gentle nudging, an inkling of what God wants us to do. Philip got a timetable and directions.
Formations 05.21.2017: Anonymous Strangers, Angels, and Pixies
I’ve never (that I know) met an angel. The closest I can claim was more of a pixie. Here’s how it happened. I had a pretty rough time my first semester or so. I was living farther from home that I ever had before. I struggled with some of the new concepts and approaches my professors were teaching me.
Formations 05.14.2017: Philip’s Samaritan Ministry
This week’s text begins when Philip, scattered from Jerusalem with most of the other followers, goes down into Samaria. Immediately he starts preaching and healing. There’s great rejoicing and unity. Even Simon, who had been practicing magic and confusing the citizens, believed Philip and was baptized.
Connections 05.14.2017: Stones
The symbolism and wordplay in this text fascinate me. In verse 4’s simile, Jesus is “a living stone,” and in verse 5’s metaphor, Christians are “like living stones.” Now, you know and I know that stones can’t live. We also know that we’re in the realm of symbols here, and in a symbolic world, stones can live if that helps the writer make the desired point.
Formations 05.07.2017: Unsung Heroes
The Jenco Awards are cash awards for people in Appalachian Ohio “who have performed visionary leadership in the service of others in the region.” The award was founded in 2001 by Terry Anderson, a journalist and former Athens County, Ohio resident. They honor Father Lawrence Martin Jenco, a Catholic priest.
Crossroads: Waiting
Have you ever had to wait for something that you were sure was going to happen? You wait with nervous anticipation, excited and scared at the same time. I went to Paris when I was 16.
Crossroads: The Presence of the Holy Spirit
Several years ago on a weekend retreat, I gathered with a group of teenagers in a dimly lit room to share an Agape Love Feast. Earlier, we had set up the room with candles, a plate of bread, and a large cup of grape juice.
Formations 05.22.2016: Casting a Vision
One of the key skills of any leader is motivating his or her team, and there is no shortage of advice about how to do it. Much of this advice, however, though true, is also rather basic.
Formations 05.15.2016: Unfamiliar Truth
C. S. Lewis, himself a Christian convert, wrote some pretty original and fantastic fiction, most of which didn’t even take place on this planet as we know it. The books in his Narnia series were the first stories I remember my parents reading aloud to me when I was a kid.
Formations 05.08.2016: Tongues of Fire
In today’s text, the Spirit comes attended by astounding supernatural phenomena that capture the attention of the pilgrims in Jerusalem. These phenomena do not automatically inspire faith, however; some onlookers wrote the whole thing off as the disciples simply being drunk.
Crossroads: Doing What’s Right
In November 2014, a 90-year old pastor was arrested in Florida for feeding the homeless. You read that correctly: he was arrested for trying to help the homeless. The city of Fort Lauderdale passed a law saying that it was illegal to share food in public.
Formations 05.01.2016: Biding our Time
On an average day between 6:30am and 7:30am, you’re probably waking up and getting ready for the day. Then you either head to work, run errands, do housework, or take care of others in your home.
Uniform 11.29.2015: Teaching God’s Word
When Paul’s missionary partners Timothy and Silas arrived in Corinth, they found him “occupied with the word” (v. 5; NRSV supplies “proclaiming,” which is not in the Greek text). What was he doing with the word with which he was occupied?
Formations 11.22.2015: The Greatest Commandment
“What is the greatest commandment?” the legal expert asked. It was the perfect opening. If Jesus had wanted to say something like “All Scripture is equally important,” there was his chance. But he didn’t take it, because he didn’t believe that was true.
Uniform 11.22.2015: A Pathway for Sharing Christ
Derbe. Philippi. Thessalonica. Beroea. Athens. And on and on the journey goes. Paul and others made the trip without jets or cars—and probably even without horses.
Uniform 11.15.2015: From Derbe to Philippi
The late comedian Mitch Hedberg talked about people who helped their friends move. “I like to help my friends stay,” he deadpanned. I think that one of the basic questions of the Christian life, not to mention of human existence, is whether we should go or stay.
Formations 11.08.2015: “My Feet Are a Big Fabric”
The Universal Translator is a staple of the Star Trek science fiction franchise. It is a device that instantly translates speech from one language to another, allowing Captain Kirk and his crew to communicate easily.
Uniform 11.08.2015: A Fence around the Kingdom
Women deacons weren’t widespread at the time, but the church my mother attended had made the change to their constitution, ruling that the office of deacon was open to qualified “people” rather than just “men.”
Uniform 11.01.16: God Releases the Captive
Peter was in jail, bound by chains, surrounded by guards, and in danger of being executed. He was in those dire circumstances because of his faithfulness to Christ. Many Christians around the world experience persecution because of their faith.
Uniform 10.25.2015: A Help or a Hindrance?
When someone is doing a truly good work, most of us want to help them—or at least not hinder them. This time last year, I worked at an annual fundraiser for a local nonprofit that helps families with children who have cancer.
Uniform 10.18.15: Peter Takes a Risk
Sometime back in the mid-1960s, a friend of mine invited me to accompany his mother and him on a trip to one of the beautiful state parks in our state. The main event on our itinerary was swimming in the park’s lake.
Uniform 10.11.2015: A Credible Witness
Few childhood stories have lessons as powerful as that of the boy who cried, “Wolf!” Most of us are familiar with the tale: Assigned with the task of keep watching over a flock of sheep, a boy finds the job boring and thankless.
Uniform 10.04.2015: The Spirit Is Not for Sale
“Simony” isn’t a word that we hear every day. As a matter of fact, I might never have heard it had I not taken Church History in seminary—or if I didn’t watch “Jeopardy.” Simony is the buying and selling of church offices.
Uniform 09.27.2015: Dancing in the Silence
At a Baptist Student Union meeting in college, I heard a charming story about a dancer who was on stage, in the middle of a performance, when her music stopped. If you’ve ever stood in front of a crowd for any reason, you can imagine how she felt: heart pounding, stomach clenching, face flushing.
Uniform 09.06.2015: Praying for One Another
In a song of my generation, the singer pleads, “Tell me what you want and I’ll give you what you need.” I’ve learned over the years that my prayers often go like that—I ask God for what I want and God gives me what I need.