Ever told someone "No" and they did it anyway with even more enthusiasm? Something like that is going on after the early church gets a slap on the wrist and a night in jail. But instead of fighting, fleeing, or disbanding -- their reflex is to lean into community, kneel down in prayer, and find themselves in the story that God is still writing. That's the reflex that's grounds and empowers us, too. When we get hit, do we fall back on community, prayer, and the story of God?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 4.23-31

// TAKEAWAY QUESTIONS: What's your reflex when you get hit? If not community, prayer, and Scripture, why not? What will you do to train your reflexes now before you take the next hit?

There's Tradition and then there's where the Tradition is headed. God was at work with a particular people in a particular way and then, in Jesus, the door got kicked wide open. So what happens when the movement of God bumps up against the Keepers of Tradition? Will they listen and go where God is nudging them? What about us? When we're faced with the unavoidable power of Christ, will we follow where God is leading us -- even if it's out of our own comfort zone?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 4.1-22

// QUOTE: "The gospel is not *partisan* -- it will not serve the partisan interests of a particular political party -- but it is intensely *political*. It's political because it poses a direct challenge to the principalities and powers and the way the world is arranged." // BRIAN ZAHND, Postcards from Babylon

A paralyzed man is dramatically, miraculously healed right before your eyes. How do you respond? Are you amazed?Suspicious? Peter is happy to explain. In fact, this has God's fingerprints all over it. So why are you so surprised?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 3.11-26

// PETER'S MESSAGE IN A NUTSHELL: (1) This has God's fingerprints all over it. (2) In fact, Jesus is God's fingerprint in a person. (3) So, change your mind about Jesus. (4) Because the story of God's blessing is summed up in Jesus.

// HEBREWS 1.1-3 (NIV): In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

This healing story invites us to give our attention, to give what we have, and to give outsiders a way in. Who are you invited to "See" this week? What are you invited to give in the name of Jesus? With whom will you walk toward Jesus? (Note that due to technical difficulties, the audio quality changes halfway through the recording.)

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 3.1-10

// QUOTE: "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity." (Simone Veil)

// QUOTE: "The path to prayer is a way that goes straight through, not around, human misery." (Will Willimon)

The Holy Spirit took a diverse community and united them into a new kind of kingdom family. All of a sudden, hundreds of people were baptized into the family name and then brought to the family table -- people who didn't look the same, think the same, or sound the same. We look at who they were, how they lived, and what it means for us today. The table is set and the invitation is open, so will we follow their example and stay together at the family table?

// OPENING PRAYER: "May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you." (Psalm 33.22)

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 2.40-47

When was a time you were convinced you were right, then became convinced you were wrong, and then you changed because of it? After the dramatic outpouring of the Spirit of God, this is the dramatic turn-around we see as a result of Peter's message to a curious crowd. They're "cut to the heart" and they're desperate to change. The good news for the crowd then is the same for us today -- there's always a next step with Jesus. So, what will you do?

// FATHER'S DAY PRAYER: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2019/06/prayer-for-fathers-in-our-lives.html

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 2.22-39

Everyone's talking -- on social media, in our real-life circles, and on the news -- but what about the Spirit of God? Surely God is speaking in and through this moment in time. Surely the One who spoke so long ago through poets, preachers, and prophets is still speaking. So, are we listening? In this message we explore the first half of the first sermon from the first preacher in the first church (that's a lot of firsts). Peter's sermon to a curious crowd is a response to the dramatic outpouring of the Spirit. We'd better listen up.

// OPENING PRAYER -- Lord Jesus Christ, who reached across the ethnic boundaries between Samaritan, Roman, and Jew; who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to the captives, help us to break down the barriers in our community, enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry, and free us to challenge and uproot it from ourselves, our society, and our world. (John Bucki, S.J.)

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 2.14-21

We've got to sit with the question the crowd, our country, and our world is asking -- "What does this mean?" In this message, we revisit the event at Pentecost and ask this question theologically, socially, and personally. The same Spirit has filled us and empowered us for the same truth-telling and barrier-breaking job. God is on the move to dismantle violence, oppression, and racism -- will we partner with him in his work? Will we listen and lean in or will we just keep explaining things away?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 2.12-13

// OPENING PRAYER: God of justice, peace, and righteousness, come into our midst this evening. Breathe your breath, your Spirit of prophecy, your energy, your enlivening, your imagination on us. Wake us up, open our eyes, unplug our ears, that we might hear, that we might see, that we might grieve, that we might dream, that we might follow the ways of your extraordinary kingdom. Amen.

// What does this mean THEOLOGICALLY?

1. The Spirit EMPOWERS us to do what we could not do on our own.

2. The Spirit MOVES us toward others beyond cultural barriers.

3. The Spirit UNITES a diverse community into a Kingdom family.

// What does this mean SOCIALLY?

// Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, by Emmanuel Acho (Episode 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8jUA7JBkF4

// Awareness -- Communication -- Empathy -- Kinship

// "Knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle." (Saying of the Asaro Tribe of Indonesia)

// KINSHIP is seeing humanity as a family. KINSHIP is the gift and the goal of the Spirit's work.

// What does this mean PERSONALLY?

// Honor every kingdom impulse.

// CLOSING PRAYER: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3.14-19, NIV)

Pentecost became the birthday of the Church when the Holy Spirit who was always present became resident within God's people. But they didn't stay in the room too long, this dramatic empowerment propelled them onto the street. This pathway -- from the room to the street -- is the same pathway the Church must take over and over again, especially today. (This sermon also includes a message regarding the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.)

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 2.1-13

We're not the first people to face an uncertain future. What we can do to find just enough light for the next step?

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 1.12-26

// QUOTE: "Some days, doing 'the best we can' may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn't perfect--on any front--and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else." (Fred Rogers)

// We need an ongoing commitment to communion (with God) and community (with others).

// We need to know what's been written before we write the next chapter

// Do what you can and let God do what you can't