Episode 5 Sharing God's Love

Three acts into the 28 scenes of the Acts of The Apostles, Peter and John land in jail just like Jesus. They were arrested, jailed overnight, and dragged before the same court that crucified Jesus.  I don’t know about you, but I grew up hearing that preachers should avoid politics, stay away from trouble and stay out of jail! We did not talk about John Lewis’s “Good Trouble”. Our United Methodist baptism vows call us to “profess faith in Christ”; “resist evil, injustice and oppression”; and “surround each other with a community of love and forgiveness”.  Acts 3 weaves these three truths together, but often we look at personal faith, Christian community, and social justice as separate strands instead of an integrated tapestry of faith. Today, perhaps fool-heartedly, I am going to try to preach about the interplay of three parts of a good church, that we usually separate: social justice, personal faith, and a forgiving community.