Book of Acts
Since I teach an adult (women's) Sunday Bible class, it seems reasonable that some of my posts should be about that. Today we began the Book of Acts. A few observations.
1. As with most things in the church, we are out of balance. Our doctrine of and openness to (I don't say usage, appropriation, or any other word that makes it sound like we are in control) the Holy Spirit is one of them, probably the largest. We either talk about the Holy Spirit (not it) all the time in search of some self-absorbed ecstactic experience or ignore the Holy Spirit, only mentioning in creeds or in passing. This has bugged me for years. We equate, I fear, the Holy Spirit control with borderline, unsocial behavior. We therefore (think we) have to keep the Holy Spirit at bay, which makes no sense based on John 14:16-18. I believe we are daily prompted by the Holy Spirit to do and say things that honor God and we generally disobey.
2. The kingdom of God didn't go away in Matthew 13. I struggle with this concept, but since Augustine, Luther, and Calvin did, I guess I'm in good company.
3. Acts 1 has a pretty revolutionary verse. The women who came from Galilee, and Jesus' mother, were meeting with the apostles and praying. HMMMM. I have to confess to a long-term gender-inferiority complex. It has only started to heal in the last couple of years. Basically it goes like that: Men are generally more valuable than women because (a) there are fewer of them and (2) if we let the women run everything, we'll have a weak culture. Therefore, I am less valuable because I'm a woman. Very wrong. It's getting better. This verse helps. And notice that Mary Magdalene is not mentioned here, at least not by name. I don't think she comes up again after the gospels. Take that, Dan Brown.
4. Sometimes I think it might be good to make decisions by casting dice or lots, considering how little we pray for real Holy Spirit direction for important decisions.
5. That last comment shows I can be snarky, and while that's a bad thing, it's wonderful that the apostles were themselves. They didn't obsess over being something they weren't. How refreshing.
1. As with most things in the church, we are out of balance. Our doctrine of and openness to (I don't say usage, appropriation, or any other word that makes it sound like we are in control) the Holy Spirit is one of them, probably the largest. We either talk about the Holy Spirit (not it) all the time in search of some self-absorbed ecstactic experience or ignore the Holy Spirit, only mentioning in creeds or in passing. This has bugged me for years. We equate, I fear, the Holy Spirit control with borderline, unsocial behavior. We therefore (think we) have to keep the Holy Spirit at bay, which makes no sense based on John 14:16-18. I believe we are daily prompted by the Holy Spirit to do and say things that honor God and we generally disobey.
2. The kingdom of God didn't go away in Matthew 13. I struggle with this concept, but since Augustine, Luther, and Calvin did, I guess I'm in good company.
3. Acts 1 has a pretty revolutionary verse. The women who came from Galilee, and Jesus' mother, were meeting with the apostles and praying. HMMMM. I have to confess to a long-term gender-inferiority complex. It has only started to heal in the last couple of years. Basically it goes like that: Men are generally more valuable than women because (a) there are fewer of them and (2) if we let the women run everything, we'll have a weak culture. Therefore, I am less valuable because I'm a woman. Very wrong. It's getting better. This verse helps. And notice that Mary Magdalene is not mentioned here, at least not by name. I don't think she comes up again after the gospels. Take that, Dan Brown.
4. Sometimes I think it might be good to make decisions by casting dice or lots, considering how little we pray for real Holy Spirit direction for important decisions.
5. That last comment shows I can be snarky, and while that's a bad thing, it's wonderful that the apostles were themselves. They didn't obsess over being something they weren't. How refreshing.
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