Any interrelated group of people can function as a “body.” What makes the #church the #BodyOfChrist is the power of the #HolySpirit to disrupt the world’s power structures.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/08/15/a-funny-thing-acts-19/

It’s more or less impossible to properly interpret the #Bible without an eye for irony. This week, the defenders of the status quo create an uproar by falsely accusing others of being disruptive while completely missing the way they’re actually turning the world upside down.

#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/08/07/a-funny-thing-acts-171-9/

#Freedom in the #Bible is not about turning prisoners into runaways so much as turning jailers into hosts. (I do wish the Bible were more explicit about what it means for enslaved girls after their exorcisms.)

#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/a-funny-thing-acts-16/

Keeping #faith in a relationship is not about how you think or about following a list of rules, but it should tangibly shape both your attention and your behavior.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/07/28/a-funny-thing-acts-15/

#Prayer often has to do people with asking God for help, and #God often has to do with #neighbors asking each other for help.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/07/17/a-funny-thing-acts-10/

To be the church (called into being by Christ’s mission) means to be sent into the places where death reigns, bearing the power of resurrection.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/07/10/a-funny-thing-acts-936-43/

The church is called to be transformed, which means we have to be willing to recognize that we don’t know all the answers.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/a-funny-thing-acts-9/

The world teaches us that some people are useful but not to be loved and included as they are. The catholicity (universality) of the church insists that loving people precisely as they are is exactly the point.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/06/26/a-funny-thing-acts-8/

I can’t predict when your group’s honeymoon period is going to end, but I can tell you it will happen when people start to suspect there isn’t enough food (or table fellowship) for everyone. This may be exactly when the Holy Spirit will create something new.
#PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/a-funny-thing-acts-6/

The church’s obedience to God by serving our neighbor actually sets us free from every lesser authority.
#PeopleOFMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/06/13/a-funny-thing-acts-5/

When loyalty to our neighbor asks for something we don’t have, there’s grace in sharing what we do have anyway. #PeopleOfMission #NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/06/06/a-funny-thing-acts-3/

“The church does not have a mission. The mission of Christ has a church."

While the #NarrativeLectionary leaves us to our own devices for the summer, I’m preaching a series from Acts. I’m calling it #PeopleOfMission and connecting each passage to a section of the #PCUSA Book of Order. We happen to do some of our best theology in the legalese.