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1: A Postmodern Gospel?

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply 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 Jesus and God’s Spirit in a way that joined Jewish wisdom, global mission, and mystical experience. He believed that God was alive and moving through our lives, guiding people through dreams, visions, and unexpected ecstatic experiences. He saw God’s hand in the ever-expanding circles of the Jesus movement, beginning at the Jerusalem Pentecost and embracing Rome and beyond. As he penned the manuscript we now know as Acts of the Apostles sometime between 70-80 CE, Luke believed that he was part of a never-ending story of divine call and human response, unhindered by ethnicity, geography, or sociology. He visualized a faith with a moving center, initially revolving around Jerusalem but eventually embracing the whole Earth. He might even have imagined Christians like us, centuries later, telling and retelling the stories of Jesus and he wanted to give us a glimpse of how a small group of people were able to transform the world.

Luke saw the Jesus movement emerging in his own “postmodern” world, where old spiritual certainties were being challenged and people craved experiences of the divine to help them face the inevitabilities of aging and mortality. Consider the following descriptions of the first century Jesus movement as they relate to our own particular time. Do they seem familiar? Do they describe some of the challenges we face in our own pluralistic age? The technology differs, and so does our understanding of the universe and the nature of global communication, but we may have more in common with Jesus’ first followers than we previously imagined:

 The early church emerged in a pluralistic and multi-religious society, where it had to compete on equal footing with many other religious traditions. Today, we can no longer claim to be a Christian nation, we are multi-religious nation in which anyone with internet or cable television can become a global citizen. Christianity is just one option among many for the majority of young adults and many of their parents.

 The first Christians had to deal with their poor reputation. They were accused by outsiders of misdeeds such as: undermining Jewish identity, teaching lax morals, and worshiping a strange deity whose character was vastly at odds with the Greek and Roman deities. Today’s Christians need to respond to the perception, especially among young adults, that our faith is intolerant, reactionary, backward looking, anti-scientific, sexist, and homophobic.

 For Jesus’ first followers the world was in flux. Rome was at its pinnacle but soon would be declining. Signs of its ultimate demise were beginning to surface. The old order was dying, not unlike the economic and global transformations which foretell the eclipse of the American empire and the dream of “American exceptionalism.”

 Without fully formed doctrines, creeds, or structures, the early church – guided only by their experiences of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, stories about Jesus, and the Hebraic scriptural witness – made it up as it went along, creating new pathways where none had existed before, trying out new ways of leadership, spirituality, and mission. As Christians today, we have a tradition of two thousand years of doctrinal reflection, but may need to be just as creative in our theological reflection to be faithful to Christ today. There is no clear orthodoxy to guide our path and perhaps there never was a fully orthodox faith affirmed by all Christians, but many orthodox alternatives among the Christian stories about God, Christ, Spirit, atonement, and salvation.

These are exciting, but ambiguous times, for active Christians and spiritual seekers alike. The future we planned on thirty years ago, maybe even five years ago, no longer exists – technologically, economically, globally, or spiritually – and we must make plans for surprising and emerging futures, not knowing where the paths ahead will take us. To some observers, we are on the edge of a Great Awakening, the emergence of a global Christianity, integrating the best spiritual practices and philosophical insights of other faith traditions, science, and non-Christian media and literature to form “a new kind of Christianity.” Following Bishop John Shelby Spong, they know that “Christianity must change or die.”2 In fact, there is no alternative: change happens and shapes our lives and faith traditions even when they deny or denounce it. In spite of the challenge and discomfort of change, our sense of disorientation may be good news, for it calls us to honor the past and venture creatively toward the future with Christ as our companion. Beyond disorientation and dislocation, surprises of grace await as we lean forward to new horizons of faithful adventure.

Living in the Areopagus

In the mid 1970’s, when my teacher John Cobb penned his classic Christ in a Pluralistic Age, his vision of a growing Christianity, inclusive of multiple spiritual and theological paths was revolutionary.3 Today, Cobb’s imaginative vision has become commonplace, especially in urban areas and college communities. Peoples of all faiths and none at all are discovering that they live in a spiritual Areopagus, the marketplace of spiritual practices and competing religious systems. In the age of internet and cable television, this is just as true for Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Bozeman, Montana, Victoria, British Columbia, as it is in Manhattan or Washington DC. Not too long ago, peoples’ religious options were more or less limited to various varieties of Protestant, Catholic, or Jew. Even agnostics and atheists framed their objections to God’s existence in Jewish or Christian terms, and used the language of the Bible and theological reflection to challenge the existence of God and traditional moral standards

In this second decade of the twenty-first century, many people feel comfortable sampling the varieties of spiritual delicacies available in the spiritual smorgasbord. The possibilities are almost endless for the religious adventurer. There are few signposts to help the pilgrim find her or his way.

Despite its numerical, political, and historical advantages Christianity no longer can command the sole allegiance of twenty-first century persons but must compete on an even playing field with Scientology, A Course in Miracles, The Secret, the Dalai Lama, and Tai Chi.

The spiritual landscape is rapidly changing and the congregations and religious institutions that expect to flourish in the future must make it up as they go along, embracing the flow of life and the fluidity of doctrines and spiritual practices while affirming the wisdom of their traditions and founders. Consider the following statistics on North American religion garnered by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:

 Whereas thirty years ago, less than a quarter of Americans noted that they have had mystical experiences, today 50% of Americans admit to having transcendent spiritual experiences (near death experiences, encounters with spiritual beings, or a deep sense of God’s presence).

 30% of Americans state that they practice multiple spiritualities – they go to church and practice Hindu-based yoga; they join Zen Buddhist meditation with congregational leadership; and they practice reiki healing touch and other energy work and participate in Christian healing services. Traditional religious boundaries no longer apply to many of today’s spiritual seekers. The quest for authentic and sometimes ecstatic experiences of the divine drives them away from traditional worship services to experience God in embodied spiritual practices (for example, yoga and Tai Chi), silent meditation, and lively dance, movement, and music.

 The fastest growing self-described religious group is not the Mormons, Pentecostals, or Evangelicals, but the “nones” (not the religious order!) but people who are unaffiliated with any religious tradition, but still claim to be spiritually-inclined. Nearly 20% of the American population describe themselves as belonging to no religious tradition; the percentage is much higher among young adults, many of whom have attended church only for weddings and funerals and see the high holidays of Christianity primarily as opportunities for celebration, consumption, and family reunions.4

More significant for the future of Christianity, a variety of studies have noted that Christianity is viewed unfavorably by the majority of youth and young adults. Whenever I teach classes in theology – and theology simply involves our vision of God, the world, human life and its goals – I often ask the following question: “What would you think of Christianity, if all you knew about Christianity were headline stories about Qur’an burning pastors, preachers who inaccurately predict the end of the world, televangelists who blame the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina on God’s punishment of America for its immorality, and activists who protest the teaching of evolution in public schools?” My students typically protest: “I don’t believe those things; that’s not my religion!” Then I remind them that for the average North American, who has little or no experience of Christianity- and this would be the majority of young adults – this is virtually all they have heard about Christianity in the media. I also point out that when asked to describe Christianity, most young adults use terms like “anti-intellectual,” “intolerant,” “anti-science,” and “punitive.” No wonder many young people avoid our sanctuaries and worship services! No wonder so many young people, baptized and nurtured in the church, are no longer able to see the relevance or value of Christian faith in a world of countless spiritual possibilities and ever-increasing personal demands!5

On any given plane trip I take, I end up having a conversation with someone who describes him or herself as “spiritual but not religious.” When the subject of our conversations turns to science, spirituality, healing, and religious and sexual diversity, they are amazed, first, that I am a Christian and, next, that I am a minister of the gospel for whom Christ is the center of my personal and public life. Often, the last place some seekers look for spirituality and wholeness, much less hospitality and embrace of humankind in all its diversity, is in the church, even though this is – or should be – our primary message.

One-dimensional understandings of Christianity even occur among active Christians. On a recent cross country air flight, my first class seatmate, who attends a congregation pastored by a well-known Christian devotional writer, was astounded when I spoke positively about President Obama, health care reform, and marriage equality. On the other hand, many progressive Christians assume that all evangelical Christians are biblical literalists, social conservatives, and Tea Party members. The wondrous diversity and many “orthodoxies” of Christian history are overlooked by those who define Christianity in terms of one doctrinal or ecclesiastical tradition, assume Christian uniformity, and assert that authentic Christianity can be summarized by the ancient creeds, the four spiritual laws, or a particular view of scripture and planetary history.

What I’ve said may seem like bad news for the church, but it could be an opportunity for us to re-think our mission and renew our commitment to sharing the good news of an open-spirited, spiritually-sound, intellectually-lively, and socially concerned faith. For those who awaken to the surprising experiences described in Acts of the Apostles, we may be on the verge of a Great Awakening, emerging in the interplay of ancient-future-now spirituality and worship and Christian truth and practice with the profound insights of other faith traditions.

We Are All Theophilus

The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles are both addressed to Theophilus. Unknown apart from these texts, scholars speculate that Theophilus might have been a wealthy patron of the church and a Christian of Greek ethnicity. But, one thing we can be sure of is the meaning of the name, Theophilus: it is “God lover.” Could it be that the author of Luke and Acts has two images in mind with the salutation – a wealthy patron, recently converted to the faith, and everyone who reads his account of the life of Jesus and his first followers? More than that, “Theophilus” may embrace every seeker who comes upon the story of Jesus. Deep down all of us are guided by the sighs too deep for words, subtly moving us from aimlessness to adventure and meaninglessness to purpose.

Perhaps, Luke wants to remind us that we are part of a larger story, a narrative that includes Jesus and his Jewish parents, Jesus’ earthly ministry, and the many-faceted movement that bears his name throughout history. We are apostles, teachers, healers, witnesses, and seekers in our own time, sharing our stories, asking questions, pushing limits, and recreating the faith as our parents and their parents did. We are lovers of God who want to experience greater dimensions of wonder, energy, power, and love to bring life to our churches and healing to our world. Just as Jesus told his own followers that they would do “greater things” than he, Acts reminds us that the days of lively faith are in present and future not just the past (John 14:12). We are the Peters, Pauls, Lydias, Priscillas, and Philips of our time, creating the church’s story as we go along, just as our spiritual parents did. We can experience the same signs and wonders and mediate the same power to heal and transform as our parents in the faith.

Acts as a Pathway to Transformation

When I was a teenager, I recall a commercial sponsored by Kellogg’s Corn Flakes that invited the listener to: “try it again – for the first time!” The commercial implied that in a world of fancy tasting cereals, everyone thinks Corn Flakes is bland and boring; but taste it again and you will discover its good honest flavor.

Today, we need to invite seekers – and ourselves – to try the pathway of Jesus and the wisdom of our faith again – for the first time. I believe that Acts can provide guidance for people who are attempting to chart the church’s mission for the decades ahead, faithful to the good news of Jesus and open to the insights and challenges of a rapidly changing world. Paul’s experience in the marketplace of ideas and spiritual paths can provide wisdom for people seeking to experience God’s good news in our pluralistic and postmodern world.

Faith in the Marketplace of Spiritual Movements

The description of Paul’s message at the Areopagus rings a familiar bell for twenty-first century North Americans. Paul is sauntering through the marketplace of spiritualities – it could be Cambridge, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Madison, or Washington DC where I live. He is gazing at the seat of intellectual, political, and spiritual power and prestige. Statues are everywhere, not unlike Washington DC, London, Paris, or Beijing – to gods and heroes, sacred and secular, known and unknown – each portraying a certain vision of human life and ultimate reality. Paul is both amazed and scandalized at the panorama of diverse and conflicting spiritualities.

Jewish by upbringing and theology, Paul is overwhelmed by the thought of people worshiping objects that are less alive than themselves. Perhaps, he is amazed that people still worship gods such as Zeus who are not only promiscuous in their dalliances with human beings but also vindictive, angry, and punitive. Why would anyone worship raw power when you can experience God’s love? Why would anyone follow a religion of fear when he or she could experience God’s loving acceptance, grace, and companionship? Why would anyone exalt the gods of violence when the prince of peace welcomed them with open arms?

He engages in conversation with some of the local spiritual leaders and philosophers of the city. They don’t know quite what to make of his vision of a universal God, whose life cannot be contained by statues or institutions, and whose love was manifest in a suffering savior. “Tell us more,” they ask, because like our culture, they lived with gods aplenty – there as many religious options as there are cable or dish television stations.

Paul enters into dialogue, honoring their religiosity, affirming their quest, but suggesting another better alternative, the path of salvation and wholeness pioneered by Jesus of Nazareth who was unjustly crucified, but miraculously resurrected to bring healing and wholeness, transformation, and love to all creation. There is an “unknown God,” whose wisdom is luring us forward even when we are unaware of it, and this is the God Paul has experienced through his encounters with Jesus Christ.

Paul does not attack their spiritual quests in all their wild diversity – nor should we condemn the great religions of the world or the new spiritual movements of our own country. The God in whom we live and move and have our being is inspiring every person’s religious quest, even those we presume to be misguided and immature. Most people who follow these movements are seeking, like us, to experience meaning, healing, growth, and peace of mind in a complicated world.

What Paul does is affirm that the divinity revealed in Jesus Christ is present – albeit in disguise and hidden – in their quests for meaning and that Christ provides a way to the meaningful, affirmative, and healthy spirituality they seek. Christ is the reality beneath the “statue of the unknown God.” What they don’t yet know is the power of God that heals the sick and saves the lost and welcomes everyone to God’s banquet table!

Paul does something unique in scripture: he quotes directly– and this is the only place in the Bible – from another religious tradition and attributes the qualities of another god to the God of Jesus Christ: using a hymn of another faith, he affirms that “the reality in whom we live and move and have our being” is the Parent of Jesus Christ. God is not partial to one people or punitive but seeks the well-being of all of us. God is as near as the breath we take and God wants us – all of us, friend and stranger, Christian and non-Christian – to have abundant life.

The conversation concludes with some of Paul’s dialogue partners scoffing, but others wanting to continue the conversation. “We will hear you again about this,” they promise. Our witness as Christians is both a scandal and an invitation. It is offensive to those who worship the gods of power and prejudice. It scandalizes those who can’t imagine a faith without fences and boundaries, welcoming male and female, Jew and Greek, friend and enemy, stranger and neighbor, gay and straight.

Our witness is beginning, not the end of the journey; perhaps, Paul learns something important from his Greek companions. In quoting their philosophers, he may have discovered that the Christ he proclaimed was cosmic as well as personal and global as well as local. He may have found that the wisdom of Christ transcended any particular tongue or ethnicity, including his own form of Christianity.

Practical Wisdom from Acts of the Apostles

The Areopagus is the postmodern, pluralistic age in which we live. We cannot evade it, deny its significance, or denounce its spiritual impact; rather we must be transformed in relationship with our world. We must seek spiritual, theological, and technological renewal to respond to the innovations in our environment. Here Paul provides practical wisdom for congregations and spiritual leaders.

First, Paul is a keen observer. He doesn’t bury his head in the sand, delivering his message to people in the abstract. In the words of psychiatrist-spiritual guide Gerald May, he pauses, notices, opens, stretches and yields, and responds.6 Revelation is always personal and historical, and so is the sharing of the good news of God’s love and transformation. Paul’s mindfulness, which includes not only his observation of the many Athenian shrines, but also his distress at certain practices, enables him to deliver an authentic and personal message.

When churches open their senses to the varieties of spirituality, culture, and ethnicities in their context, they can truly dialogue with their neighbors. “Christ is the answer” only when we know the nagging questions and deep hungers of those around us. Spiritual maturity emerges from common ground in our current setting, not the abstractions of a timeless message. In fact, the timeless message is always historical, the uncompromised gospel is always contextual, and the eternal truth is always relational and timely.

Second, Paul affirms a point of contact with his listeners. He is not preaching to a godless world, but a god-filled world. Isaiah proclaims that “the whole earth is filled with God’s glory” (Isaiah 6:3). If we live and move and have our being in God, then there are no godless places or people untouched by divine revelation. We may worship things less alive than ourselves, forgetting our fullness as God’s beloved children – consumption, nationalism, success, sensuality, scripture, church, and creed – but even in turning toward lesser objects, God is still touching us and luring us toward wholeness. The point of contact shapes our message: Paul uses Greek concepts in the Areopagus and throughout his writings, and his understanding of the extent of God’s grace and love is transformed in the process. Sharing good news involves receiving as well as giving. Paul learned something important about God and humankind that illuminated his message to the cultural elites of Athens.

Third, dialogue may include challenge. There is much to affirm in the marketplace of ideas. We can appreciate and employ spiritual practices of other faith traditions as well as various practices from other Christian traditions. But, our dialogue needs to be mindful and critical. For example, I have appreciated the insights of the popular new age text, The Secret, especially as these relate to the power of the mind to shape reality.7 I believe that our thoughts and practices can transform our attitudes and interpretations of life events. However, The Secret’s assertion that we “create” the events of our lives in their entirety and are somehow responsible for success as failure, health as well as illness, substitutes an omnipotent mind for an omnipotent god. Although our spiritual practices may shape our well-being, cancer, abuse, and natural disaster come upon the spiritual as well as the unenlightened. Today’s Christians may appreciate the ardor of fellow Christians, for example, those who affirm the “prosperity gospel,” the belief that God wants us to be successful and that our success mirrors the quality of our faith, while critiquing the implicit – and explicit – materialism and consumerism in this “gospel” and its temptation to blame the victim for her or his failures. In the case of The Secret and the “prosperity gospel,” we can affirm the importance of spiritual growth, faith, and positive attitude without assuming an exact cause and effect relationship between our spiritual maturity and our prosperity and health.

Hospitality does not require acceptance, but it does require respect, care, and listening. Paul observed and listened before he spoke to the Athenian intellectuals, shaping his message in such a way that what he learned in Athens enabled him to share the good news in life-changing ways.

Transforming Acts

Acts of the Apostles is an adventure in theospirituality, the joining of theological reflection (our vision of God and the world) and spiritual practices that make God come alive for us. Grace abounds and God is constantly calling to us, often in “sighs too deep for words.” Our spiritual practices are ways we can pause and open, and then respond to God’s call in our lives. The biblical tradition, and most especially the gospels, affirms the role of human decision-making in opening a door for greater intensity and clarity of God’s presence in our lives. When we ask, seek, and knock, we gain inspiration and insight and enable God to be more active in our lives and the world.

Acts is an invitation to spiritual practices. While Acts is not a “how-to” book, the words of Acts point to life-changing spiritual disciplines. Accordingly, each chapter will conclude with a spiritual exercise, illuminating the scripture and enabling us to experience the realities Luke is describing in the early Christian community.

Opening to the Spirit. Gerald May sees the practice of pausing, noticing, opening, stretching and yielding, and responding at the heart of our spiritual practices. In this exercise, take some time to reflect on your environment – the context of your work, home life, play, and spirituality. You can do this sitting in a comfortable chair or walking in your neighborhood or near your church or place of employment.

Prayerfully take a few deep breaths, awakening to the presence of God’s Spirit in your life. Breathe the Spirit deeply in and exhale into the ambient environment. Slowly notice what’s around you – trees, shrubs, flowers, buildings, and people. Take time to consider the people in your environment. What do you know of them in terms of religion, occupation, family life, values? What do you intuit to be their challenges, joys, and sorrows? Take time to notice their expressions, pace, companions, etc. Open to their lives, not assuming that you know what is good for them. Prayerfully ask God how best to respond to the persons in your immediate environment.

At the very least, you can bless the people that you meet, noticing the “ordinary” people in your life (store clerks, toll booth operators, receptionists, co-workers), and blessing them, and placing them in God’s care.

When we are connected to God, we are connected to others. When we are connected to others, we are connected to God. In the spirit of Paul’s affirmation: “in God we live and move and have our being,” experience God in every breath and in everything you see. Experience the events and encounters of your life as windows into God’s presence. Experience your connection with God in everything and everyone.

Transforming Affirmations.

Spiritual affirmations are ways that we connect to the deeper realities of life. In repeating spiritual affirmations, we reframe our lives and renew our minds. We are no longer conformed to false limitations, but are “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” Spiritual affirmations heal both the conscious and unconscious minds, and open us to divine insight, energy, and inspiration.

In this chapter, we will focus on three affirmations emerging from Acts 17. Repeat them several times each day, especially when you feel yourself being trapped by unhealthy behaviors or limitations.

God is the reality in whom I live and move and have my being.

God is near me at all times.

I am God’s child. I am God’s offspring.

I treat everyone as God’s beloved child.

Manifesting Mission.

Mission takes many forms, some are primarily theological and evangelistic, while others involve social concern and justice. Today, we know that our mission is, first of all, where we live and not some far off place. Being faithful to the Way of Jesus involves walking the talk and talking the walk. What we believe shapes our behavior, but our beliefs are made flesh in everyday life. The love of God is not just a theological doctrine, but the inspiration to a life of reconciliation and healing. Believing that God speaks through young and old, male and female, slave and free, challenges us to honor and respect the rich diversity of human experience. Affirming that God is the reality in whom we live and move and have our being inspires us to become God’s partners in healing the earth.

As a matter of personal reflection, consider the following: If someone were to ask you, “What are your deepest beliefs?” how would you respond? What beliefs or doctrines most shape your understanding of God, the world, humankind, the meaning of life, and the afterlife?

Acts of the Apostles is clear that doctrines are symbiotically related to behavior. Our doctrines emerge from spirit-centered experiences. Our experiences are clarified by our beliefs and take shape in practical application. Accordingly, what behaviors might your beliefs inspire in the areas of:

 Personal stewardship

 Care of family and children

 Marriage and other significant relationships

 Community involvement

 Political involvement

 Care of the Earth

 Response to diverse opinions

 Ways we respond to personal or global conflict (violence, reconciliation, consensus, peace-seeking balanced by appropriate protection).

 Involvement in justice issues – first-hand support of vulnerable people and/or political involvement to achieve a social order more reflective of Jesus’ values.

1 Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper One, 2011).

2 John Shelby Spong, Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2009).

3 John B. Cobb, Christ in a Pluralistic Age (Westminster/John Knox, 1975).

4 For an excellent summary and analysis of the current religious situation, see Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2012).

5 Gabe Lyons and David Kinnamon, UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks of Christianity and Why it Really Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007).

6 Gerald May, The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to the Love You Need (San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1991).

7 Rhonda Byrne, The Secret (New York:Atria Books/Beyond Words, 2006).