Transforming Acts. Bruce G. Epperly
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distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with certain Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” At that point Paul left them. (Acts 17:16-33)
Living Acts
Acts of the Apostles is a living gospel. It is good news for doubters, seekers, and believers who have discovered that their vision of God and the spiritual adventure is too small for the universe revealed in the Hubble telescope, Higgs Boson particles, evolutionary science, and the varieties of global and local spiritual experience. Acts of the Apostles is good news for those who want to join head, heart, and hands in an intellectually-solid, spiritually-inspiring, and socially-active faith. The message of Acts can breathe new life into congregations, inspiring them to go beyond their comfort zones to become agents of divine hospitality and justice. Acts is about experiencing God’s Spirit in surprising moments and ordinary places.
In looking at Acts, we discover that the good news of God’s all-transforming and all-embracing love resonates with the postmodern emphasis on experience and story-telling. Acts reminds us that our individual stories and the narratives of our communities are as important and as meaningful as the large stories others claim apply to all humankind without exception. In sharing the stories of Paul, Lydia, Philip, Peter, Cornelius, an Ethiopian eunuch, and the healing of an unnamed slave girl, Acts invites us to claim our stories of seeking and finding and seeking again. It challenges us to listen to God’s call in the voices of those who have left the church, who find the church irrelevant and intolerant, and who struggle to discover new ways of following Jesus. Today, some of the most ardent seekers of new images of Jesus and healing visions of God are to be found in the church or at its spiritual edges.
Judy knocked on my study door one bright spring day. When she told me that she was going through a spiritual crisis, I suggested that we take a walk in the neighborhood adjoining the seminary where I taught. One of my brightest students, destined to be an inspiring and compassionate pastor or professor, Judy confided that she had lost her spiritual center. “Jesus is still important to me, but I’m struggling with what it means to be a Christian. I no longer find inspiration in liturgical worship and, apart from your classes, no one in the church or seminary talks about prayer and meditation or has a clue about how to integrate spiritual practices into congregational life. When I hear what some of my fellow Christians say about God and salvation, even in my own congregation, I’m embarrassed by their uncritical belief that God’s in control of everything that happens and that God’s plan includes causing cancer, birth defects, and earthquakes that kill thousands of people. I still read the Gospels but I find my inspiration these days in reading the Dalai Lama, the Tao Te Ching, and poets like Denise Levertov and Mary Oliver. I want to be faithful to Jesus, but there are so many spiritual paths today; I wonder how I can be an honest pastor and also share my spiritual life with my congregation.”
Later that week, I ran into Matt, a layperson who had sat in on a few of my classes. He, too, was struggling with his faith. Like Judy, he was in search of what Brian McLaren describes as a “new kind of Christianity.”1 He had found the worship at his mainstream congregation uninspiring and had begun to attend a megachurch on the outskirts of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As we sat in the Adirondack chairs at Franklin and Marshall College, Matt confided: “I don’t know what to do. I like the sermons at my home church, but worship is lifeless. The folks seem to be in a rut and don’t want any surprises or displays of emotion. Singing How Great Thou Art is as bold as these people get! In contrast, the big church sure has spirit, and I love the praise band and congregational singing, but the sermons are dreadful. There’s a lot of Jesus in the pastor’s sermons, and I like that, but lately he’s been slamming gay and lesbian people, social welfare programs, and the use of contraceptives. I can’t talk politics there or say a good word about health care or gun control. If I mention President Obama’s name, folks respond with contempt and question his faith and patriotism. Despite their literal understanding of scripture, they don’t mention the Prophets at all and seem to be a local branch of the Republican party! Where will I find a church that has solid theology and inspiring worship?”
Judy and Matt are representatives of a growing number of restless seekers within and beyond the church. They want integrity, authenticity, spirituality, and liveliness. Sadly, many mainstream and progressive congregations have open theologies but boring worship, while many conservative churches have lively worship services but narrow-minded, hate-filled theologies. Moreover, many congregations are conflicted about what’s most important – spirituality or social concern. To some Christians, spirituality implies a naval gazing retreat from the world. To others, social action without prayer and meditation is polarizing, trendy, and superficial.
As I reflected on how to introduce the wisdom of Acts of the Apostles to the readers of this text, I had Judy and Matt along with countless other seekers in mind. I wanted them to see that they don’t have to choose between action and contemplation; that intellectually solid faith can also be lively and spirit-centered; and that Christianity can widen, rather than shrink, the circle of welcome and hospitality. I wanted to share an experiential Christianity that affirms and embraces the gifts of head, heart, and hands; a faith that takes prayer and justice-seeking seriously.
I believe that Acts of the Apostles provides a fluid, open-spirited, and holistic faith for twenty-first century people as well as a vision for congregational transformation and renewal. Anything can happen to those who follow Jesus. Life is adventurous, surprising, and interesting. Worship leads to mission and mission challenges narrow-mindedness and self-imposed limitations. For those who embrace the spirit of Acts of the Apostles, worship will never be boring and every day will be a holy adventure.
Acts As A Twenty-First Century Gospel
As I turn the pages of Acts of the Apostles, I am tempted to exclaim “It’s déjà vu all over again!” The world of the twenty-first century and the world of the first century look surprisingly similar. The author of Acts, most likely the author of the Gospel of Luke, was a keen observer of the spiritual landscape of his own time. As he pondered writing the sequel to his gospel account of Jesus’ life and ministry, I imagine that he saw God’s presence in the adventures of Jesus’ first followers as they journeyed into the Mediterranean world. I suspect that he experienced first-hand the pluralism, uncertainty, relativism, and change that characterized the first decades of the Jesus movement. He had been touched by