Writing the Next Chapter - July 29
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96; Judges 3:12-30; Acts 1:1-14; Matt. 27:45-54
As I read Acts, I feel a loss for words. I want to write something profound. I am finding the rhythm of reflecting every two to three weeks for six consecutive days to be both life-giving for my spiritual life and an increasingly daunting challenge. Some days it comes easy. A word or phrase emerges from the reading and a whole narrative is constructed, or a memory washes over and the words begin to flow easily from my fingers.
Today is not that day. I have sat, prayed, daydreamed, and drifted off down many different avenues and I still feel empty. The irony of this is not lost in our Acts reading. The evangelist Luke, and the author of the Gospel of Luke, is beginning to write a new story. In the very first verse, he shares that he has already written all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day he was taken up to heaven. He is starting a new story here. And it will take us through Europe and Asia Minor and tell us the unbelievable story of the early church.
We as Christians focus so much of our attention on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christ is paramount to our faith and Luke wrote the longest of the four recognized Gospels. It is the only place we hear the story of the good Samaritan and the story of the prodigal son. But we are reminded today that the story as told by Luke wasn’t over yet.
As I struggle through these words and my own attempt to tell a story, we are reminded the story was yet complete when Luke wrote his first volume. Much more of the story still needed to be told. We needed to learn about Stephen and his faith. We needed to learn about how the disciples grew in their understanding of God or how Lydia was moved to be baptized, or Paul was in prison, or Saul became Paul, or the great shipwreck at Malta. Those stories are foundational to our faith and they all came after the story of Jesus.
As these words slowly come out, maybe there is a call for all of us to be reminded that our story has yet to be written, but it too matters. The way you and I respond to God’s love is a part of the next volume to be written, to share the faith for the ages to come. How we reach out in love, how we follow the Risen Christ, how we renew and grow in our faith, will be the next story told. It is a holy story about God’s love unfolding in this world and the next chapter is about you and me.
-John+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Do you have a faith bucket-list? What are the stories you would like to make come alive?
Daily Challenge
If you are up for it, have fun trying to write your own obituary. If that is too daunting, try making a list of five things related to your faith that could a faith bucket-list.