Month: May 2022

The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." [Acts 16:29-31, NRSV]. In The Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s sacred historical and theological account of the early church, we encounter three miracle prison escape stories. In the first, [Acts 5:17-21], the apostles are arrested and locked in the public prison after performing many miracles of healing. Yet, during their first night of confinement, an angel of the Lord opens the prison doors,…

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you [John 14:26]. You might think it a bit odd, but sometimes when I read a pericope of Holy Scripture, my mind jumps back to a situation or to an event decades long gone. It isn’t so much that the verses themselves cause me mentally to recall the long-passed event. Rather, it’s in what I can only describe as the movement of the Holy Spirit—as presumptuous as that might sound—that my heart is “reminded” of the special moment in my past. That…

The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us [Acts 11:12a, NRSV]. There was an elephant in the living room, and it simply couldn’t be ignored. It had been some time since the authorities at First Church (Jerusalem) had heard from Peter. Everyone knew that he was impetuous, sometimes reacting without thinking, but reliable word had come back to James and the others in leadership positions within the Jerusalem church that Peter had overstepped his authority, that while he was out in the field, so to speak, he had baptized a few Gentiles and worse, he had entered several Gentile households…

Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord [Acts 9:40-42]. I’ve shared some poignant, pensive, and even painful stories with some of you concerning the slow demise of our dad, who died November 22, 2014. During the last half decade of his life, he suffered from dementia. The illness took a bit…