Opening Acts

Good morning everyone,

Today we dive into the Acts of the Apostles. The lectionary turns to Acts in the Easter season, so we're getting a head start during Lent. Acts is a wonderful book chock full of insight and encouragement for any church seeking revitalization or renewal. It's also a book many of us have only read short pieces of, so it's a great candidate to read all the way through. Acts is the sequel to Luke's Gospel; the first sentence here introducing the book echoes the opening verses of Luke that lay out the purpose of that book. And while Luke closes with the risen Christ going up into heaven, Acts opens with the same story.

Jesus is the character to watch in Luke and the Holy Spirit fills that role in Acts. The whole book is about how the Spirit works through the church. Our opening passage gives the pattern the story will follow: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Theophilus, the person to whom both Luke and Acts is dedicated, is something of a mystery. The name means, "Lover of God," and scholars aren't sure if he was a real person of if Luke uses the name to bring any lover of God into the story. Expect to find Acts exciting and challenging and try to read with the question: What does the Spirit want to say to me and our church."
Blessings on your reading,
Sam


Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”


6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”