Jesus’ Ministry
February 8, 2019

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe. –1 Corinthians 15:2-11

It is important for followers of Christ to tell our stories. Recently, I have been working with several people in my church on a particularly challenging issue. You know those problem/solution episodes that seem to move one step forward and two steps back. One of the people trying to make a difference shared her written list of answered prayers related to the issue. Her sharing her observation was encouraging and inspiring.

I stumbled on to the connection of Acts 1 with Acts 2 some years ago and now suggest to people caught in a spiritual funk that they read these two chapters together. Acts 1 is the report of a church board meeting. The Disciples had finally recovered enough from their shock/grief to realize they have a mission to complete. They added some new leaders to replace ones that were lost and set out to fulfill their mission when suddenly chapter 2 happens. It was so astounding we even assigned it a name we call it Pentecost giving an ancient holiday new life. It reports the coming of the Holy Spirit. When I read these two chapters together, I wondered, was God patiently waiting to say, “OK it is time, let’s go” for the Disciples to indicate their readiness to take up Christ’s mission?

Is it time for us to step out in faith and spread God’s love to the ends of the Earth?

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, here we are albeit with drooping hands and weak knees* but we are ready to join with you and say, “Let’s go”.

*Derived from Hebrews 12:12

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.