SUMMER IN ACTS: WHAT IS GOD UP TO?

This summer, we're diving into the Book of Acts. Not merely as a historical archive, but as an invitation to ask the questions the early disciples are learning to ask.

The disciples didn't begin their journey as masters of faith, if that was even their goal. They were learners, often confused, meandering, always wrestling with what it means to follow Jesus through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit leading them in new ways. And at the heart of their experience is a simple question: What is God up to?

This question becomes transformative. Before it is a purpose question, it is an identity question. Before “what do we do?” they are learning to catch up with “who are we in this crucified and risen Christ”? When the disciples ask questions, they're not just seeking information. They are clarifying new, received, not achieved, identities in Christ through the Spirit. Question become an opportunity, an opening for the Spirit to reshape them and their understanding of who they are being called to be as the church in the world.

We're exploring Acts through the lens of curiosity. Ours is a curiosity that is not the kind that doubts God's faithfulness, although that may be present in various ways, but the kind that trusts God enough to post the hard questions. What does the Spirit's elusive and often invisible presence actually look or smell or feel like? What kind of a community is the Spirit creating, and how might it be similar or different than the communities we create? What does it mean for us to be church now, in this moment, with one another, in our daily lives, and among our neighbors?

The Spirit in Acts isn't tame, domesticated, or predictable. The Spirit disrupts expectations, crosses boundaries, moves the marginalized, creates new possible futures, and persistently asks: Who are we? Who are we becoming? Where is God leading?

I look forward to joining with you in worship this summer. Come with your questions. Come curious. Come ready, alongside the people of the Way in Acts, to discover what it means to be a people created and sustained by the Holy Spirit, learning together what God is up to in our midst.

What is God up to in you?
 
This Coming Sunday’s Text: Acts 1:1-11 – For further exploration use the link and scroll down to Contemporary Commentary: http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/acts1a.htm.

Peace, Pastor David