Tag: Acts

Scripture: Acts 10.34-35
Peter said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Reflection: The Success of Redemption :: Throwback Thursday
By Jonathan Edwards

Soon after Christ had entered into the holy of holies with his own blood, there began a glorious success of what he had done and suffered. Never had Christ’s kingdom been so set up in the world.

The glorious success of the gospel among the Jews after Christ’s ascension, began by the pouring out of the Spirit upon the day of Pentecost. So wonderful was this effusion, and so remarkable and swift the effect of it, that we read of three thousand who were converted to the Christian faith in one day.

Thus the Christian church was first formed from the nation of Israel; and therefore, when the Gentiles were called, they were added to the Christian church of Israel, as the proselytes of old were to the Mosaic church of Israel. They were only grafted on the stock of Abraham, and were not a distinct tree; for they were all still the seed of Abraham and Israel.

After the success of the gospel had been so gloriously begun among the Jews, the Spirit of God was next wonderfully poured out on the Samaritans; who were the posterity of those whom the king of Assyria removed from different parts of his dominions, and settled in the land which had been inhabited by the ten tribes, whom he carried captive.

The next thing to be observed is the calling the Gentiles. This was a great and glorious dispensation, much spoken of in the Old Testament, and by the apostles, as a most glorious event. This was begun in the conversion of Cornelius and his family.

Thus the gospel-sun which had lately risen on the Jews, now rose upon, and began to enlighten, the heathen world, after they had continued in gross heathenish darkness for so many ages.

This was a great and new thing, such as never had been before. The Gentile world had been covered with the thick darkness of idolatry; but now at the joyful sound of the gospel, they began in all parts to forsake their idols, and to cast them to the moles and to the bats.

They now learned to worship the true God, and to trust in his Son Jesus Christ. God owned them for his people; and those who had so long been afar off, were made nigh by the blood of Christ.

The Call to Prayer
Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Judges 17 (Listen – 1:50)
Acts 21 (Listen – 5:55)

Scripture: Acts 20.21
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Reflection: Racial Identity Crisis
By John Tillman

No one is immune from the effects of race in our culture. As a child growing up in the late ’70s and early ’80s I experienced first the racial melting pot of Hawaii, and then the racial homogeneity of northern Arkansas. This caused unique problems in learning about and dealing with race. In Hawaii, many times, I was the one tormented for my differences. I went through a period when I hated my “yellow” hair that drew taunts and sometimes blows from my dark haired classmates.

Then in Arkansas everyone looked like me. Yet, majority status didn’t suddenly make me popular or accepted. If anything, I felt less popular, less accepted, and was more of an outcast than ever. I discovered it was better to be the haole kid than the new kid.

Many of the best lessons I learned about race came as a result of struggling with this confusion.

Dr. Nelson Hayashida’s book, A Stormy Road for This Pilgrim begins with the story of Dr. David Hirano’s family being separated by internment camps following the Pearl Harbor attack. It goes on to detail Dr. Hayashida’s own struggle to reconcile racial identity and inequity with his identity in Christ and the equity of salvation available for all. These are, of course, still relevant struggles today.

I have found not only my salvation but my help in Jesus Christ. Christ has revealed to me my “true identity,” an essential and fundamental base from which I’m learning to cope with ethnic anxieties and gain victory over apparent defeat.

In addition, it’s my prayer that the remarks I make in challenging ethnic minority Christians and Anglo-American Christians will result in better understanding on the part of both—for it is only in unison that Christians can bear witness for God’s greatest glory!

From the deep south, to Honolulu, to the heart of New York City, racism clings to all of us because it is embedded in the identity given us by our culture. Only the identity that Christ brings can begin to overcome our defective cultural identity and move us toward freedom and unity as believers.

The Refrain
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Judges 16 (Listen – 5:59)
Acts 20 (Listen – 5:47)

We take a look, this week, at the overarching theme in Acts of the Holy Spirit’s work to overcome racism in the early church and its implications for us today. — John

Scripture: Acts 18.6
When they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.

Reflection: Racism is Not a New Challenge
By John Tillman

In Dr. David Y. Hirano’s autobiographical account, included in Stormy Road for This Pilgrim by Dr. Nelson Hayashida, he discusses his role as a Japanese American minister attempting to mediate between White Christians in a Boston suburb and the Black Power movement.

While working in the local church I was also working for justice on the denominational scene. I thought that I, who was neither black nor white could mediate between the two.

The Black Power movement had a great effect on me. Even though I did it laughingly I could speak of “yellow power.” In working with black people I was finding my own identity. I began to see consciously the impact racism had on me.

No matter our racial identity—whether we are a minority or majority in our context—racism has an impact on each of us. Racism was a given in every ancient culture. (And if we are honest it is in ours as well.) The early followers of Christ were not exceptions to this cultural racism.

Many Jews, although a persecuted minority, had lost the original meaning of being chosen by God to bless the other nations of the world. Instead, being “chosen people” had become the root of an attitude of racial purity and exceptionalism. It is partly this exclusionary attitude that drives Paul, a “Hebrew of Hebrews” to abandon speaking to his own people about Jesus and to devote his life to ministering outside his race.

Dr. Hirano experienced similar frustration in his work to mediate racial tensions during the Civil Rights era, such that he eventually focused his efforts elsewhere.

The gains we made came hard and took a long time. There were people hurt by them and relationships were strained…if white racism was to be eliminated, then white people had to do the job themselves.

Dr. Hirano’s observation from the depths of the Civil Rights movement is still true today. The church—whether the early church, that of Dr. Hirano’s and Dr. King’s generation, or the church of our generation—doesn’t struggle with racism because Christians are racist, but because humans are.

Each generation must deal with racism. Racism is not a new barrier to Christianity or a new challenge that Christians must now navigate. Part of the story of Acts is the story of the Holy Spirit smashing every barrier between the message of the Gospel and the peoples of the world. One of those barriers was the racism of the early Christians and their surrounding cultures.

Our modern world would little care about racism if Christianity had not led the way slowly over 2000 years in proclaiming the equal value of all men before God. But gains of the past have been hard won and can be lost. We must continue to find identity in Christ and escape the cultural traps of racial identity or apathy. We must not fail to contend for the oppressed and to keep our hearts soft to cries for justice.

The Cry of the Church
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Judges 14 (Listen – 3:35)
Acts 18 (Listen – 4:06)