Here in chapter 6, the guys who are the preachers and teachers of the word really aren’t gifted at serving the needs of the followers, and at administering the church.  So they elect people to do this so everyone can be serving in the area of their giftedness.  That makes sense.  And then we see a group that is complaining about how things are being done and then instigating an issue to get rid of a gentlemen named Stephen.  Based on everything that is said about Stephen in the text, it seems most likely that these folks didn’t get something they wanted, and they did what most of us do...the pouted.  Except, they pouted in a way that brought Stephen in front of counsel in a sort of trial.  I am going to guess, and this is conjecture, that at about the time things are heating up, over the next couple of chapters, between Stephen and the counsel, these guys felt about as sorry as did Judas after the guards showed up to seize Jesus.

At any rate, this is a product of a human church - in-fighting.  Last night, I was watching another documentary on Disney+; it was about the supposed Tomb of Christ.  It was fascinating.  The thing that I can’t see past though are the groups of people that have designated themselves as protectors of this tomb.  And I don’t want to tread on the faith of others, I just can’t help but look at these groups and wonder, “Would this has pleased Jesus?”.  These groups are very elite, very educated, very repellent of others, not diverse (it is all old white guys), and some of the stuff they do seems a little fanatical.  Again, I don’t want to step on their faith; I was just disappointed at this group being represented as “Christians” by National Geographic.  It appeared to be nothing like what’s been described in Acts 1-5, and much more like the extreme versions of what we see starting to happen here in Acts 6.

I would fully grant that the church should have boundaries, and edges.  There does need to be a way to mark someone as ‘in’ or ‘out’ in some way or another.  As Jesus-followers, we are to hold each other to a standard to which the rest of the world doesn’t answer, so there has to be a clear line marking that commitment.  At the same time though, Paul and clearly teaches us that we are to be in world, though not of the world, and I am not sure that much of what is in today’s churches really serves any purpose other than to scratch the emotional itch of those inside the church, and to creatively shield them from that which they’ve truly been called while helping them FEEL good about the way they are living their lives.  The reality is, this is so hard to get right.  This is all so personal.  God has a calling for me, and for which I am the only person who can truly step into that calling.  Perhaps one of the big ‘ah-ha’ realizations that we can glean from church is that we still need our savior to return.

Bottom line for me today - people aren’t perfect and churches aren’t perfect; we are called to love others in spite of that imperfection.  We are called to a perfect imperfection...to keep moving forward in following Jesus even though we can’t really ever get there...remembering that there really isn’t a destination though; it is in the journey that we meet and experience God.