Dear Faith Family,
Well, we've done it. We've reached the end of the Book of Acts and, at least in the author's time, the end of the earth: Rome. Rome, the place where all roads flowed from and through and to...
And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him...He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 28:16, 31)
The witness of Jesus alive and Lord, having begun in Jerusalem, has reached all the way where Jesus said it would:
'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.' (Acts 1:8)
We've discovered quite a bit along the way from Jerusalem to the end, though perhaps not what we anticipated. We found no blueprints for worship, no step-by-step instructions for constructing an institution, much less a building, nor did we find a how-to for "doing" church.
However, we were given a vision of being the church through the stories of those whose lives and lives together were becoming the church all those millennia ago. In the Book of Acts, we see who we are to become as those gathered to Jesus together, marked by our loyalty and love for Him, and immersed, baptized, in His Life as we make our everyday lives with Him.
The Book of Acts ends not with a grand image of completion but rather a company of spiritual companions bound by circumstances, choices, and the providential Spirit, being who they were re-created and called to be "with all boldness and without hindrance." As we said on Sunday, the Book of Acts ends with the image of one bound and free.
Free in person and place. Free because he is bound…in God's Story and God's life, a baptized witness, gathered and gathering others to Jesus. That's where Acts ends...and the path we are taking up. Free in our persons and place. Free because we are bound in God's Story and God's life as baptized witnesses gathered and gathering others to Jesus.
So, before we get too far away from this image and these stories, I invite you to consider where the Book of Acts encourages us to pick up the path of those who have journeyed before us. Consider and share:
Looking back on your life, how have you recognized the ever-present, intimate, loving providence you are bound by?
How does being bound by the Spirit, free you? And what does it free you from?
As we ask these questions together, I pray that we may find ourselves bound and free as we live into all we desire and are made to be in Jesus.
Love you, faith family! God bless.