Prayer Request
Saturday, December 26, 2009 Feast of Stephen, Martyr
Acts 6: 8-10, 7:54-59; Psalm 31; Matthew 10: 17-22
The gospel is taken from Jesus’ missionary sermon, fitting for the One whom God sent into the world. Stephen never was a missionary, but his death sparked the first missionary movement. Christians, except the apostles, fled in various directions, bringing the good news with them. Why Stephen so enraged the Sanhedrin is that missing piece between our two selections for today. Stephen speaks against the Temple, arguing that we have a tenting God, not one whom we can capture in a building. This is the original language of John’s prologue: “The word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.”
How have you at times tried to capture God, confine God, define God (for to define is to set limits)? What did you learn from those experiences (discipulus/a is a learner in John’s theology)? Before we are sent, we learn. Jesus learned from the depths of God and then was sent to make God known (Jn 1:18). When have you known God/Jesus/Spirit as a tenting God? What implications does that have for your life?
Thank you, God, for calling us, teaching us, consecrating us in truth and sending us to proclaim your new kin-dom of love and peace, justice and unity. Give us courage.