Hey France!

The commentary that I read this morning on Acts 21 was to good to not share.  Agabus comes from Jerusalem and ties himself up with Paul’s belt in what the commentator calls symbolic prophetic action.  (Once again, this guy’s perspective is that of an Anglican Historian Clergyman!)

Many similar actions were taken by Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.  But, anyway, listen to this…. “Luke, reporting this, is quite happy to say that these warnings were given in the spirit, without telling us how he reconciles that with the fact that Paul is clear that it is his vocation (calling) to go.  Sometimes, it seems, the spirit gives people enough information to know what is likely to await them but leaves them with the responsibility of deciding whether or not to go anyway.  And Paul was settled in his mind: he had to go.”

Man, this is tough.  The Holy Spirit is warning Paul, Christian brothers and sisters are pleading with him, and not to mention he has already been warned many times throughout Acts up to this point by the Holy Spirit about situations that would have been perilous and has acted to avoid them and continue on his mission to spread the good message!  So the fact that Paul decides that he had to go at this point in the story is truly beyond my comprehension.  One would think (humanly), wow, I am so deeply connected with the Holy Spirit that He guides me here and He guides me there, but…..  Paul would go!

As a friend of mine once quoting Isaiah said, “I have set my face like flint.”  Paul had too.  So, what are the practical applications to all of this around the donut table after church?

There is a guy whose messages I enjoy downloading from the Internet.  They are definitely food for thought and maybe much more.  He has been on sabbatical for the summer and I am excited that he’s back!  In his message on Sunday he was critiquing the highly individualistic culture that we live in which permeates our church sub-culture through and through (of course there are some upshots to individualism as well; we are not lemmings after all).  However, when the speaker mocked an anonymous person for saying, “well, my worship style is…” (the speaker was explaining how in Philippians when it says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” it was a plural form of “your”, meaning salvation was to be worked out in a community framework), I found it to be an insightful critique of our little private IPOD world these days.  

Alright, so I’ve been enjoying reading a commentary on Acts by an Anglican Bishop who happens to be a New Testament scholar and historian.  I’m at the point where the author is touching on Pentecost; all the foreigners in Jerusalem start to hear about God in their own languages from the Christ-followers, and then some observers say these fellas are drunk at 9am!

So how does author NT Wright come at this?  Here it is: “Hardly surprisingly, to some it sounded simply like the slurred and babbling speech of people who have had too much to drink.  Again and again in Acts we find opposition, incredulity, scoffing and sneering at what the apostles say and do, at the same time as great success and conviction.  And again and again in the work of the church, to this day, there are always plenty who declare that we are wasting our time and talking incomprehensible nonsense.  Equally, some Christians have been so concerned to keep up safe appearances and to make sure they are looking like ordinary, normal people that they would never, under any circumstances, have been accused of being drunk, at nine o’clock in the morning or any other time.  Part of the challenge of this passage is the question: have our churches today got enough energy, enough spirit-driven new life, to make onlookers pass any comment at all?  Has anything happened which might make people think that we were drunk?  If not, is it because the spirit is simply at work in other ways, or because we have so successfully quenched the spirit that there is actually nothing happening at all?”

Boo-yah!  Them’s the tough questions.  I found this very well balanced.  Pretty fun perspective from a guy that writes a new book every other day, with every third book being a minimum of 1000 pages.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

Saint Augustine

Well said dude.

O Lord my God, to you and your service I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit. Fill my memory with the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of my heart and will center in what you would have me do. Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and let me by my life and speaking set forth your true and living Word. Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my vocation; in praises heighten my love and gratitude; in speaking of You give me readiness of thought and expression; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn to your blessed kingdom. All this I ask for the sake of your Son my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Wow.  If you like this, then please check out http://explorefaith.org/prayer/prayer/fixed/index.php for further goodies.  They have three times throughout the day that they refresh it with different material.  Sometimes I don’t have the words…..

Money is a good servant, but a terrible master.

Submission without commitment is nothing.

NT Wright is an insightful guy.  Recently, in his commentary on Acts (for Everyone) I found this to be a fun statement.  “There are, of course, no passengers in the Kingdom of God, and actually no ‘great’ and ’small’ parts either (or roles to play).”

Also, just before that, in his comments on Jesus’ ascension Wright makes some obvious and refreshing comments about worship and prayer.  (that I need continual reminders about!)  Listen to this…..  “It is precisely in worship and prayer that we, while still on ‘earth’….find ourselves sharing in the life of ‘heaven,’ which is where Jesus is.”  Wright has already shared about the fact that heaven and earth are more like different dimensions than they would be like a ‘place’ ie. I’m going over there to Australia.  He points out that that is the reason “why there was an inevitable head-on clash with the Temple, because the Temple was thought to be the key spot where heaven and earth overlapped.”

Sweet!  God’s Kingdom is coming into the world through the prayer and worship of His people.  Good reminder!

I Truly am small :-)  The Earth is that little blue dot!