Jeremiah 6:16-19

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17Also I raised up sentinels for you:
‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words;
and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.

Whenever I hear the word "crossroads," I think of Bone Thugs N Harmony's song/video that came out the year I graduated from High School. You can watch it here: Watch YouTube Video

In this song the “crossroad” mentioned is the crossroad where life meets death, the place where actions of the past determine the (eternal) present. The video features the angel of death coming to take mortal souls. At the end we see a multitude of white-robed figures marching up a mountain together. It's a Hip-Hop litany of sorts, a tribute and memorialization. The first stanza by Bone asks the question "tell me what you're gonna do, when judgment comes for you.” The fourth stanza by Krazie includes the phrase "and we pray and we pray and we pray, everyday everyday everyday."

This song/video makes concrete the issues raised in Jeremiah’s proclamation to the people of Zion. All the prophets—now and then: religious, hip-hop and secular—know that our decisions at the crossroads determine our future.

Therefore hear, O congregation: it’s wise to pray, everyday.

Peace,

Emily Joye

We have reached the end of the Acts of the Apostles. It feels a little anticlimactic without a rousing speech from Paul commissioning the rest of us to continue running the good race and fighting the good fight the way many of Paul’s letters do. Acts ends with Paul busy doing the very things he has done all throughout his ministry: preaching about the Kingdom of God, teaching people the ways of Jesus, and supporting the believers.

That may be the final important lesson for us to learn from the first church. As followers of the Way, we don’t need to be preoccupied with writing the last chapter of our own life stories. The last chapter shouldn’t be any different than the middle chapters. Of course we may find ourselves in different places with different people in our lives and different sets of challenges to face, but if we are faithfully following in the way of Jesus, there ought to be a consistent storyline throughout our lives. No matter where we go, no matter who we are with, no matter what the circumstances we face the same qualities of Christian character ought to be visible. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul referred to those qualities as the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Those qualities are included in the words that surround us every time we gather in the courtyard at church. Like Paul’s story in the book of Acts, they are the qualities that should consistently define our life together and our individual lives as we follow the way of Jesus.

As you come to end of the Acts of the Apostles, what are some of the lessons you have learned from the stories of the first church?

The final chapter in the story of the first church reconnects us with the first chapter of Acts. The story began with Jesus commissioning the disciples saying, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Paul’s commitment to be a witness for Christ has taken him a long way from home. Throughout his journey, he seems as drawn to Rome as Jesus was to Jerusalem. Rome for Paul was like Hollywood for a movie star or Broadway for an actor or Wall Street for a stock broker. It was the locus of power in the Roman Empire. It held the greatest risk for Paul, but also the greatest opportunity.

And yet in today’s text we are told that the first thing Paul did when he arrived in Rome was to repeat the same failed pattern that he followed in every city he visited. He called together the Jewish leaders and gave his testimony before them, hoping that they would recognize him as a faithful Jew and be convinced of his testimony that Jesus is the messiah. We can hear in their opening greeting that Paul is preaching to a deeply skeptical audience: “we would like to hear from you what you think, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

Today we face a similarly skeptical audience as we seek to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the residents of Battle Creek. Research tells us that the views that people who are thirty and under have of the church are extremely skeptical. About eighty percent of them don’t belong to any faith community and the three most common perceptions they have of the church are: 1. It is judgmental, 2. It is hypocritical, and 3. It is anti gay.

The last chapter of the book of Acts ends in the same place where we find ourselves today. We have our work cut out for us as we seek to overcome the skepticism of a public that is waiting to see if we actually believe and are committed to living out the message of God’s redeeming love that we proclaim in the name of Jesus Christ.