Grace
To not take ourselves too seriously but take seriously the time God has graced us with.
Readings
Devotion 1 – Bold witnesses
Take some time to still your hearts and minds before reading the passage.
Read: Acts 14: 1-7
Ask:
- What stands out to you in this passage?
Prayer of confession:
Eternal God,
We have answered your call, and have said that we will follow You.
And now we are afraid
That we have involved ourselves in a life
That is too much for us.
Help us to a firmer resolution,
To follow our Lord closely,
That life shall not crowd Him from sight.
And, as we keep You in view
Put strength in our feet and joy in our hearts,
Amen.1
1. T. Falla, (ed.) Be Our Freedom Lord, Adelaide: Lutheran Publishing House, 1981, 251.
Devotion 2 – Cross Cultural Blunders
Take some time to still your hearts and minds before reading the passage.
Read: Acts 14: 8-20
Reflection from Jim Reiher:
So how does this rather sad story encourage me? Well, I am a bit of a master at cross-cultural blunders. I have offended a number of people on a number of occasions and I have said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, and embarrassed myself too many times to remember. I have thought I was wishing Indian Fijians a warm welcome, and found that I mispronounced the words and was cursing them with one of the worst insults you can say to an Indian! I have crossed my legs in the presence of Korean men older than myself. I have sat on the floor and revealed the soles of my shoes to Thais. When I thought I was offering to be ‘bold’ in front of a group of Filipino teenagers, I was saying a word that in their language meant that I wanted to be ‘naked’ in front of them. I have misheard people with accents and made a fool of myself trying to say the same words back. For example, I once called a pet dog of Sri Lankan hosts ‘Jesus’ for a week before I found out his name was actually ‘Caesar’.
I have made mistakes, and at times I have been utterly unaware of the cultural practices and sensitivities of so many people.
Here in Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas blew it too! Only their mistakes and lack of local understanding had bigger implications. They so confused the folk of the town they were visiting that the people there turned against them altogether!
If the great Apostle Paul could make cross cultural blunders – and yet keep going – well, so can I! If Paul could make such a monumental mistake like this one, then my smaller mistakes are simply good stories to tell, and look back on, and even laugh about.
I will aim to learn from my mistakes, not repeat them, and move on. I will not be turned off befriending those from other cultures, religions, and ethnicities. I will just accept the fact that I will make (new) mistakes, and I will get over it and keep going!2
Ask:
- The grace this week is to not take ourselves too seriously. What cross-cultural blunders have you made that you can now laugh about?
- What cross-cultural challenges do you face at the moment?
2. Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary. Dandenong: UNOH, 2014, 134-135.
Devotion 3: Continue in the faith
Take some time to still your hearts and minds before reading the passage.
Read: Acts 14: 21-28
Reflection from Charles Spurgeon:
Paul and Barnabas encourage the believers to “continue in the faith” despite the serious costs involved, including many persecutions, which mark our entry into the Kingdom of God (22). Charles Spurgeon writes: “Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but a continuance in the same as long as life lasts…Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage… Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good, and that you want rest. He will endeavour to make you weary of suffering. He will whisper: “Curse God, and die.”..Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armour, and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end.”3
Ask:
- What will help you this year to persevere in the faith?
Prayer of confession:
Eternal God,
We have answered your call, and have said that we will follow You.
And now we are afraid
That we have involved ourselves in a life
That is too much for us.
Help us to a firmer resolution,
To follow our Lord closely,
That life shall not crowd Him from sight.
And, as we keep You in view
Put strength in our feet and joy in our hearts,
Amen. 4
3. C Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Daily Readings, London: Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1953, 295.
4. T. Falla, (ed.) Be Our Freedom Lord, Adelaide: Lutheran Publishing House, 1981, 251.
Devotion 4: Controversy in community
Take some time to still your hearts and minds before reading the passage.
Read: Acts 15: 1-29
Reflection from Jim Reiher:
The Jerusalem Council was quite a victory for Paul. More importantly, it was a massive victory for a broader more culturally sensitive response to conversions of different people groups.
By verse 22 the meeting of apostles and elders seems to have ‘opened up’ for other Christians, because now, ‘The apostles and the elders with the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas’. They would be delegates who would present the decision with a united front.
Big disagreements and controversies will come and go in the life of the church. But we can work through them, just as the first Jewish Christians did here. In working through them we can either seek to be bigger than our own bias, or we can stay entrenched in our already worked out worldview. We can be bigger than our own upbringing and cultural conditioning, or not. We can be bigger than our own ‘all worked out’ theology at times too, or not. If we allow the wisdom and stories of the Christian community to guide us, as they do here in this story, we too can rise above such cultural constraints.
We know from other scriptures that the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of Scripture must also inform and guide us. We see reference to the Scripture even here in Chapter 15 as James summed up the final decision (15:16-18). We also see a reference to the Holy Spirit working with them in reaching their decision (15:28).
Right here in this chapter, clearly the sharing of stories, the wise reflection and genuine grappling of the mature members of the Christian community, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit, all contributed to them finding the right decision.
When we do that too, like the church back then, we can also ‘be glad’ (15:31).5
Ask:
- In your ministry team or church group, does there tend to be a certain bias in the way in which controversies are settled (eg. a bias towards sharing stories, reasoning, Scripture, revelation from the Holy Spirit or dominant leadership)?
- How could the group’s approach be more balanced?
Communion Prayer
Saviour,
You have conquered tears by your crying,
Pain by your suffering,
And death by your dying.
We come together before your cross
To remember your suffering
And to realize afresh the wonder
Of your compassion and love.
Stop our endless chatter and argument
That we may taste the silence of your surrender
To the Father’s will.
As we share in your body and blood
Let us determine
To follow your way of life
To be faithful witnesses to Your love
In this neighbourhood
Bringing glory to Your name forever.
Amen. 6
5. Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary. Dandenong: UNOH, 2014, 139.
6. Paraphrase of: T. Falla,(ed.) Be Our Freedom Lord, Adelaide: Lutheran Publishing House, 1981, 270.
Leave a Reply