This painting by Cornelis Monsma is spectacular and dramatic. Sometimes we have read and been involved in the story of Acts in the same way as a church. We shared with Acts 13 & 14 together recently and there were lots of comments:
we try so hard to be ordinary but we hear about the miraclulous acts of the apostles of Jesus and we want God to do that today - so the people we love will believe in Jesus
sometimes we so much long for others to believe in Jesus that we'll try anything to get them to...this linked for us with the story about the magic man in Acts 13 and look at our lives and the lives of those around us. We want things to be changed as if by magic.
some people are separated to God, as at the beginning of chapter 13, and this is worth exploring more - nuns & monks have that reputation but how about us, what if we saw ourselves as being set apart, both ordinary and extraordinary, like Jesus too?
we don't want to put people off Christianity but to be approachable - we don't want to be judgemental and distant but we also are people who are being transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ - how can we be both approachable and set apart? There is a struggle for us with this tension - living as Jesus lived, and as some of the apostles and early Jesus community lived in different places.
the early apostles who were sent out from the cosmopolitan Antioch went to visit and share the gospel all over the place, as the Holy Spirit directed but when they set off they went first to the Jews and then branched out to the Gentiles - how may this connect with our community?
God may be re-directing our church and just as Peter and Paul needed to be converted and converted again to re-tell their stories of Gods redirection so we are in a process of conversion as a community of faith and as individuals
we need to meet people and be with people, not do too many church things and programmes - this may be part of the new way with God - to relearn about being with God and not always doing for God. Our faith is not private but public so people will know when we are followers of Jesus because this is who we are - in words, actions and silence
a relationship with Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit are not negotiable in the new life; Barnabas and Paul rely on prayer, hospitality homes of those who welcome them, and the Spirits dwelling in them and on them. They go to be with good, ordinary people (of all kinds) and until they come to love Jesus, to be centred on the good news of Jesus, they are not Christian. They are good and ordinary people.
if the majority of our church want to go back to how the church was a long time ago we'll be building up brick walls for ourselves won't we? It'll be hard for us to decide what to do won't it - there are difficult decisions about how we are going to be in the present and the future as Christians.
the approach in chapter 14 on being sent out to different places, contexts and cultures to meet new people and share good news being with them is an interesting urban mission strategy - is it one for us?
people are set apart, sent out and filled by the Holy Spirit; they share the good news of new life, a new start, a new day for everybody where hope, peace, joy, justice and mercy flow - there are different responses to this - some persecute them, some attack, some respond warmly and others cautiously but all in some way are given opportunity to respond
we sense that God may be calling us to set some apart, send some out in the power of the spirit to plant Church in Wythenshawe in new ways and see what happens
we sense that God may be calling some to release and resource, pray for and support those sent out and continue to be Church where we are already planted
we sense Church emerging in several places - one Church of Jesus Christ, with variety of place and people and several church members are being called to this
the ways of chapter 14 suggest to us that people are sent out for a time and then return to Antioch from where they were sent
chapter 14 suggests that they relied on the Spirit more than we do but they also relied on the already established Church in Antioch and other places to support them
and they were persecuted, blest, the gospel spread and people's lives and communities were also changed for good and they were never the same again
A New Day for Wythenshawe, like the Acts people is emerging
