Join us this week as we continue our “Disorganized Religion” tour of Acts. We meet on Thursdays at 7:30pm CDT at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, in Oak Park, Illinois. If you’re unable to be with us in person, catch us online via FB Live.

The Unsung Heroes of Acts

Tim: This week we’re taking a break from our chapter-by-chapter tour of Acts to focus on  the portrayals and treatment of women in the Luke’s account of the church’s earliest days.

Shea: From the beginning the writer wants us to see women were essential to this story. The Early Church could not have survived without their leadership, prayer, and material support.

Tim: Yes! And this is foundational to Luke’s theology. The pivotal principle in his two-part work, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, emerges when Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters… Even upon my servants, men and women” (Acts 2:17-18).

Shea: Gender parity is one of the most subversive aspects of the Jesus movement. As we say so often at Gather, “all” means ALL, and that’s Luke’s message from start to finish. That’s why he begins the Jesus narrative with Mary, not Joseph. It’s why he frames the nuances of ministry and discipleship in the sisterhood of Martha and Mary. It’s why he foregrounds the female witnesses to the Resurrection, while the two male disciples on the Emmaus Road become confirming testimony.

Tim: Once we get into Acts, a number of women—who are not identified as wives or mothers—make deep impressions. They provide housing for the apostles. They also move and flow in the same power of the Holy Spirit that drives the Early Church’s male leaders.

Shea: They’re the unsung heroes of Acts. But what’s interesting is that we probably read these texts very differently than Luke’s intended readers. We tend to assess gender parity in scripture “by the pound.” How much is said about the women versus the men? Who gets a name and who doesn’t? Who gets to speak and who remains silent?

Tim: Based on those criteria, Luke doesn’t fare very well, because he definitely spends a lot more time on his male characters than he does on his female ones. Although he does give many of the women names, which is an important leap forward. If I’m hearing you correctly, though, you’re suggesting there may be another way to look at the women in Luke-Acts?

Shea: Yes. First, we need to use what the great feminist Bible scholar Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza calls a “hermeneutic of suspicion.” We have to question why Luke is presenting women as he does. Second, we have to remember something that Luke’s first readers couldn’t forget. Women ran the house, managed the budgets, provided for guests, and bore responsibility for the household’s reputation. And where did the church come to life? In houses…

Tim: So you’re saying it’s a mistake for us to overlook where the church comes into being and who’s responsible for making that possible.

Shea: Exactly. The women of Acts are important to Luke because, without them, there would be no story. It’s just that simple.

Tim: We’ll continue this conversation in a special on-line study of the Women of Acts that will post this coming Thursday. Join us via FB and chime into the conversation!

This week Gather will meet on FACEBOOK ONLY for a discussion of women in Acts. While we won’t meet in person at Pilgrim Congregational Church, we look forward to a lively conversation unfolding online!

Tough Love? Not Here

Tim: It’s a big week!

Shea: Yes, it is. On Thursday, we’ll look at one of the most influential moments in the history of the church.

Tim: The conversion of Saul, Christianity’s greatest enemy, into Paul, Christianity’s greatest theologian…

Shea: Then, on Sunday, July 14, we’ll have our Sunday worship experience, “Fearless!”

Tim: I’ll be preaching from John’s first letter, which indicates the same arrogance and bigotry that drove Saul of Tarsus to persecute the Christians continued to threaten the church.

Shea: With one important difference: the bullying appears to happening from within the community, not from outsiders. There are people who claim to have spiritual knowledge and wisdom, but they’re using their own doctrines to instill fear in the hearts and minds of gullible believers.

Tim: And 1 John’s writer wants nothing to do with these fear mongers. In fact, he calls them “antichrists,” not in the apocalyptic sense; rather, the ease with which they weaponize faith exposes their lack of love for those they presume to lead.

Shea: The writer says if they can’t love, they bear no reflection of God. You can’t scare folks into following Jesus. That very premise is so flawed it exposes the bully behind it.

Tim: There’s no such thing as “tough love”?

Shea: Not here—not in the Jesus movement. Nowhere do we find any kind of credence given to scaring folks into faith.

Tim: What about “loving the sinner, hating the sin”?

Shea: Bully logic. Yes, love the sinner, if that means you love everyone. But we’ve all met spiritual bullies who claim to love people, all the while obsessing with certain sins in order to make themselves look more holy. Look, Saul of Tarsus claimed to love his tradition so much he had to murder and attack the Christian “sinners.” He had sin on the brain and it made him a bully and fear monger. But God quickly turned that around.

Tim: Before long we hear St. Paul say, “I can be the smartest guy in the room and have all kinds of spiritual gifts. But if I don’t have love, I’m nothing” (1 Cor. 13).

Shea: That’s the core message of 1 John, too. Don’t bring all that fear up in here. We’re loving on one another, because we love God, who is love.

Tim: Stop! You’re about to preach my Fearless! sermon. And I’m thriled you’ll be with us in the room to help minister. We’re going to come out of the worship experience newly emboldened, free, and full of love.

Shea: Amen!! See everyone online this Thursday and in person on Sunday!

Don’t miss Gather this week. On Thursday evening at 7:30 pm CDT, we’ll continue our tour of Acts, focusing on Saul’s conversion (Acts 9). Then on Sunday, July 14, we’ll come together for another inspiring worship experience called “Fearless!” at 5pm CDT. We meet in person in the chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL, and online via FB Live.

Perfect in Love

It is a perilous time in these United States. As we prepare to celebrate our nation’s independence from foreign military rule, the Commander in Chief is gearing up for a Fourth of July rally that features armed soldiers, tanks, and other weaponry on parade. This is not the typical American celebration with fireworks sealing a day of picnics and baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Rather it’s a putrid show of might typically staged by dictators and tyrants. The point is to make people afraid and it stinks.

We who follow Jesus innately know that fear and freedom don’t go together, because fear (not hate) is the true opposite of love. That’s why this ridiculous macho display of military power, culminating on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial no less, would be laughable if it weren’t so hideous.

Not that we haven’t seen it before. There’s a long American tradition of making people afraid in the name of love, with most of it happening in Christian circles. The thinking seems to follow a highly suspect logic: because we love you and because you aren’t following our path, we will do everything we can to scare you into conforming to our beliefs. Why? Because God loves you and will do everything possible to scare the hell out of you. (Take that last phrase literally, because that’s what they mean.)

What kind of love is that? How can love that wields a sledgehammer be liberating? Such an idea is nonsense and everyone knows it.

But let’s not lean too heavily on what we know and understand, since scripture advises against it. Rather, let’s hear from St. John, who wrote these words to the Early Church: “We have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love” (1 John 4:16-18).

Because God is love, God doesn’t need to resort to fearful threats to win our love and loyalty. That kind of nonsensical thinking is the stuff of thugs and bullies. In fact, God’s love works in the opposite way. It reassures us that we are spared punishment. “We may have boldness on the day of judgment” is how John puts it. We have no reason to fear! And freedom from fear sets us free to live whole and truthful lives.

This Independence Day, I encourage us all to turn our backs on the adolescent hijinks talking place on the Washington Mall. Such fear tactics hold no fascination for us. Instead, when we look into night sky and marvel at the fireworks displays, let’s rejoice in our freedom of fear made perfect in love. That’s something to celebrate!

Join us on, July 14, as we celebrate faith-based freedom with our monthly Sunday worship experience. This month’s theme is Fearless! and we will rejoice in the liberating power of God’s perfect love. Service begins at 5pm in the Chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, in Oak Park, IL. It will also be available via FB Live.

Philip and the Non-Exclusive God

Shea: Our tour of Acts brings us to Philip, a figure I know you love. Give me three reasons why.

Tim: Number one: like Stephen, who you brought to life so well last week, Philip starts as a deacon, who makes sure everyone gets fed, regardless of how they identify. When he moves to Samaria, that same ethic infuses his approach to ministry.

Shea: And Samaria wasn’t a prime assignment.

Tim: Not at all. Like the Jews, the Samaritans were a Semitic people whose beliefs were deeply rooted in the Law of Moses. They often referred to themselves as the Lost Tribe of Israel and made the same claims about God’s favor and presence that Jews made. Of course, this was problematic, because a big part of the Jewish identity rested on belief in God’s exclusive favor toward Israel and God’s singular presence in the temple of Jerusalem.

Shea: So there’s a big tug-of-war going on.

Tim: And it often got really ugly, like Jerry Springer Show ugly, with Jews and Samaritans fighting over God as if God were a two-timing lover. Philip walks right into this firestorm and the God he presents is a non-exclusive God who doesn’t play favorites, a God of Jew and Samaritan, a God of all. This message resonates so powerfully that revival breaks out in Samaria.

Shea: Philip crosses physical boundaries that divide Judea and Samaria, and he crosses religious boundaries to deliver a gospel of radical inclusion. I love this!

Tim: The writer of Acts actually uses words like “united” and “undivided” to describe Philip’s impact. It’s a beautiful thing. The second thing I love is Philip’s realness. He arrives in Samaria and bumps into a wizard who’s got everyone’s attention. Philip doesn’t confront the man. Instead he just does what he knows to do and the people recognize his authenticity—even the magician converts!

Shea: And the third thing you love about him?

Tim: Philip embodies his witness. He’s sent to an Ethiopian eunuch who’s heading home after worshiping in Jerusalem. In every way, the eunuch is an outsider to Jewish eyes, a foreigner, an asexual, non-productive male, and a high-ranking official in a matriarchal culture. If Philip’s concerns were who does and doesn’t belong to this movement, he’d never speak to the eunuch, let alone baptize him. But when the eunuch offers him a ride so they can discuss scripture, Philip hops right on. He doesn’t care who may or may not see him riding shotgun with a non-hetero person of color. His work is to serve, to feed, to gather folks into God’s kingdom. And that’s what he does. I love Philip!

Shea: How can you not We’ll dig into this with more insights during our study. I’m looking forward to it!

Tim: Me too!!

Join us this Thursday at 7:30pm CDT, as we continue our “Disorganized Religion” summer tour of Acts. We meet in the Chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, Oak Park. And if you’re unable to attend in person, you can find us on FB Live. See you this week!!

From Waiter to Martyr

Tim: I’m so excited to have you with us in person this week!

Shea: It’s always great to come home and be with all the Gather family in the room. And I’m especially excited about bringing this week’s lesson about Stephen.

Tim: He’s a fascinating character. It’s too bad that he’s mostly remembered as the first named martyr in Acts. There’s so much more to his story!

Shea: Yes there is. He begins as a waiter, making sure that the Gentile widows in the Christian community are provided for. That’s an interesting job from a number of angles.

Tim: I’m intrigued that creating a wait-staff as a ministry is the first administrative task the apostles undertake. It’s not what most of us would put at the top of the list. We’d be looking for worship space or hiring musicians or printing bulletins. But they pull together a group of young ministers whose primary job is making sure folks get fed.

Shea: And their focus isn’t on feeding the ministers. They’re concerned about the Greek widows—the outsiders—getting care. Once again, the message comes through loud and clear: There are no cultural or gender divisions in this community!

Tim: There’s also this really powerful attention to the physical body—another hallmark for first-century Christianity.

Shea: Which is why Stephen’s martyrdom as a stoning victim is so poignant. Here is a man who’s calling has centered on attending to physical needs and he suffers one of the most brutal types of execution.

Tim: I never considered that before! His witness is fully embodied, in service and in death.

Shea: So much so that we need to pay very close attention to him. When Christianity lives too much in our heads or our hearts, when it’s overly intellectualized or emotionalized, it loses its balance. The body is the site where all of that comes together.

Tim: That’s also why the table becomes the fixture of worship. It replaces the altar, where bodies are sacrificed, to transform the Christian community into a place where bodies are nurtured.

Shea: So much good stuff this week! I’m thrilled to be able to be with everyone in person and online to explore it all.

Tim: It’s going to be a terrific study!

Join us this Thursday at 7:30pm CDT, as we continue our “Disorganized Religion” summer tour of Acts. We meet in the Chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, OakPark. And if you’re unable to attend in person, you can find us on FB Live. See you this week!!

Talking the Walk, Walking the Talk

Shea: Between last Thursday’s Bible study and Sunday’s Pentecost service, we’re off to a strong start with our tour of Acts.

Tim: The opening pieces are all in place: Jesus’s commandment to be witnesses, the ascension, Pentecost, and the beginning work that builds on these events.

Shea: It happens so quickly! And it’s so thick. Every detail carries very weighty significance. The first readers caught a lot of nuance we can’t access directly from the page. That’s why this study-tour is so helpful. For instance, it really helps to see the importance the writer places on the disciples’ being Galilean Jews.

Tim: In today’s context, they’d belong to the Make Galilee Great Again set. Knowing that enables us to appreciate the extraordinary transformation they undergo. They begin as fearful, suspicious, and even resentful folks. And who wouldn’t be, given what’s happening in their land and what they’ve just gone through? Yet they end up fiery heralds of radical inclusion, embracing many of the people they once viewed as adversaries and sinners.

Shea: Heralds—I like that! It interests me that the same writer who gave us Luke’s Gospel also wrote Acts since both books begin in a comparable way. A divine disruption occurs in a humble setting among humble people and changes everything. An angel announces the coming of Christ, Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Tim: And both narratives come with a lot of speeches to explain what’s behind these events. In Luke, the angel, Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah give speeches. In Acts, Jesus, the two men in white, and Peter do the same thing.

Shea: It’s an ingenious technique. The writer talks the walk before the action starts. Mary explains that the child inside her is part of God’s plan to restore equity. The poor will be exalted while the rich will be brought low. Peter tells mystified onlookers at Pentecost that God is throwing open the doors of grace for everyone, not just a select group of folks claiming divine favor due to ethnic and religious heritage.

Tim: “All” means ALL, y’all!

Shea: Amen and ashé!

Tim: When I talk to folks about Acts—not to suggest I talk about it all the time (although I sort of do)—these early scenes are what they remember most. But things get real interesting after the writer flips the switch from “talking the walk” to “walking the talk.” That’s when the real drama starts!

Shea: And that’s where we are this week. The post-Pentecost big starts define the way things will go and have gone to this day. It’s like dominoes. Everything starts falling into place very quickly. This is going to be exciting.

Tim: Just you wait!

Come be part of our “Disorganized Religion” summer tour as we walk through the Book of Acts step by step. We meet each Thursday night at 7:30p CDT, in the chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, Oak Park. If you can’t be there in person, you can join us online via FB Live. See you soon!

Out Loud

Tim: Pentecost Sunday this weekend—my favorite Christian holiday!

Shea: Gee, I wonder why… Maybe we should be 100% transparent and disclose we both come the Pentecostal Church.

Tim: A tradition we both cherish. I don’t think it would be any exaggeration to say we’re both shaped by a Pentecostal ethos and passion.

Shea: Of course, we wouldn’t say it that way in a Pentecostal context. We’d say, “We’ve got the Holy Ghost and fire!”

Tim: Amen! When Pentecostal fire is instilled in you, no matter where you go, you’re never far from Acts 2 and the fire poured out at Pentecost.

Shea: Nor should we ever stray from it—and I’m not speaking as a Pentecostal. I’m coming from the most universal, catholic perspective imaginable. If we read scripture correctly, to be truly Christian is to be fervently Pentecostal.

Tim: I hear you you saying “Pentecostal” is bigger than how it may have come to be defined in American Pentecostalism. It’s deeper than the ecstatic worship style and supernatural demonstrations that became associated with the Pentecostal “brand.”

Shea: Precisely. And we should be clear: we’re not diminishing or doubting the validity of any of the hallmarks of 20^th-century Pentecostalism. Having grown up in the tradition, we both know how real and powerful it is.

Tim: Am I hearing a “but” or “yet” coming?

Shea: While we could never dismiss phenomena associated with the modern American Pentecostal movement, sometimes we miss bigger lessons in the story, mostly because it generated a lot of clichés we accept without question. So meaning has got lost.

Tim: How about an example or two?

Shea: We like to say Pentecost is the Church’s “birthday.” But the Church was already alive before this event. It’s more like the Church is outed at Pentecost. They can’t contain the power and witness given to them. They can’t keep quiet. Pentecost is when the Church comes out loud.

Tim: And why is that?

Shea: Well, we like to say that everyone there is “filled with Spirit”—even Luke, the writer of Acts, says that. But we know from the Gospels the disciples are already Spirit filled. Pentecost is when they realize what’s happened to them. It’s not for nothing that the Spirit manifests in a heady kind of way: something that sounds like a powerful wind blows past their ears, something that looks like fire dances on their heads, languages they’ve never learned come out of their mouths. If they couldn’t get it in their heads before, they know for sure. They’re full of the Spirit!

Tim: And we’re launching Gather’s first Sunday worship experience on Pentecost.

Shea: That’s right. We’re celebrating the fact that we are Spirit-filled and we know it. We’re not hiding behind anything or anyone any longer.

Tim: We’re coming out loud!

Shea: Amen and ashé!

Don’t miss Gather’s VERY FIRST Sunday worship experience on Sunday, June 9, at 5pm CDT. We’ll be joining our voices and spirits in the Chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street in Oak Park. If you can’t get there, find us online at FB Live!

Conflicted

Tim: Our time with The Beatitudes is winding down.

Shea: We could have used another few weeks, because there’s so much to unpack!

Tim: What was especially exciting was how tiny epiphanies kept breaking through—quiet aha moments that put things in perspective.

Shea: Like last week’s recognition that Jesus isn’t talking about different groups of people. He’s summarizing characteristics and circumstances that define discipleship.

Tim: Which raises some very big questions. Can we embrace poverty to make room for God’s abundance? Will we master meekness, becoming ever more gentle even as we grow strong? Can we sustain a constant craving for justice, living with insatiable hunger and thirst? These questions define a true disciple of Christ.

Shea: And this week we have the final three sayings, which many find most difficult.

Tim: Why do you say that?

Shea: We’re looking at peacemakers, those who are persecuted, and finally Jesus’s warning that people will bully and tell lies about his followers. Given he’s talking to his disciples early on, it’s a rather unorthodox recruitment strategy!

Tim: That’s true. But Jesus often reminds his followers of the price they’ll pay. So he’s actually setting a precedent here. He’s letting them know there are going to be struggles and conflicts, within their group and from without as well.

Shea: It’s interesting that he saves that for last. I’d be tempted to put it out there right away and close with the “good stuff”—the hungry being filled, and so on.

Tim: Remember: Jesus is an expert community organizer. His leadership skills are unequaled. When we read these final three sayings closely, we see there’s more going on there than high-flown idealism. He’s training his folks.

Shea: You mean Jesus is picking up a guitar and leading a chorus of “Give Peace a Chance”? Just kidding…

Tim: Peace is never a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t mask complacency or coercion. But here Jesus is really lifting up gifts we need to survive conflict. He’s telling us, “Learn to build bridges, endure harassment, and outlive lies. And perhaps most important, learn to transform your anger and injury into joy and gladness.”

Shea: If only we could be on that hillside and get a sense of how the disciples feel…

Tim: Let’s see how it makes us feel! This Thursday will be one of those terrific times when we wrestle with all that Jesus is laying down. Are we up to it?

Shea: I hope so!

Join us this Thursday as we conclude our series, “The Gospel Guide to Happiness: Believing & Living the Beatitudes.” We meet at 7:30pm CDT in the chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, Oak Park. Or you can catch us online at FB Live. See you soon!

Consider the “Un’s”

Shea: We got off to a really strong start with the Beatitudes last week. What’s next?

Tim: After looking at the poor, the grieving, and meek—

Shea: Who should not be confused with the weak—

Tim: Exactly! After looking at those three groups, we’re going to focus on another cluster of three traits I like to call the “Un’s”.

Shea: Okay… I’m game. Who or what are the “Un’s”?

Tim: The next three Beatitudes are dedicated to folks who display these qualities: they’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness. They’re unsatisfied.

Shea: I gotcha. And the next group, the merciful?

Tim: They’re unselfish.

Shea: And the pure in heart?

Tim: They’re unsophisticated.

Shea: Really? I get how unselfish is a powerful attribute. I’m interested in how it ties back to mercy, though.

Tim: What prevents us from being merciful? However we construe our scorn or cruelty or vengefulness it always comes back to putting self above the other.

Shea: If you don’t think like I think, behave like I behave, or believe like I believe, my self-centeredness blunts my ability to be merciful. And cruelty is always selfish, while vengefulness is even worse. OK, so I’m good with the merciful-unselfish equation. Still a little fuzzy on how those who desire righteousness are “unsatisfied.”

Tim: These are folks whose cravings for justice can never be satisfied, whose thirst can never be quenched. It’s not personal. It’s principled. They see inequities and harmful injustices that need fixing, and they can’t rest until corrections are made.

Shea: And the promise of their satisfaction is the kingdom of God.

Tim: The kingdom of God—or, as Matthew calls it, the kingdom of heaven—figures into all the promises in the Beatitudes. Now I bet you want to know how the pure in heart get pegged as “unsophisticated.”

Shea: Well…

Tim: Jesus wasn’t a fan of sophistication. We get the word from “sophistry,” which applies to a deceitful and corrupt argument. It’s the opposite of purity. So Jesus is tipping his hat here to people who keep it simple and honest.

Shea: They will see God.

Tim: They’ve been seeing God, because they’ve kept their vision clear.

Shea: I’m really eager to find out how we build all of this out. I look forward to seeing everyone online and hearing what happens in the room!!

Tim: I am too!

Join us this Thursday as we open our three-part series, “The Gospel Guide to Happiness: Believing & Living the Beatitudes.” We meet at 7:30pm in the chapel of Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street, Oak Park or online at FB Live. See you this week!