The Next Chapter
Years ago, our youth pastor at the church we were attending at the time was filling in for the pastor one Sunday. He started his sermon by asking everyone to open their Bibles to Acts chapter 29. Most everyone opened their Bibles and began flipping pages until they homed in on the book of Acts, but then realized or remembered that there are only 28 chapters in Acts.
The youth pastor paused and gave everyone a chance to figure it out. Some thought he had misspoken. Others were on to his game before he explained it. It was a good sermon introduction, evidenced by the fact that I still remember it some 30-plus years later. The main point of his sermon was that the book of Acts, the history of the church, is an ongoing work. We are always writing the next chapter.
If you clicked on the link for the Scripture reading, you realize I did a similar thing. When you read the book of Acts, it has an abrupt ending. Unsatisfying in a way. All these exciting and interesting things were happening – Paul was imprisoned, the church was growing, persecution was threatening…and it all ends without any resolution. The story doesn’t have a conclusion.
That is intentional. The story didn’t conclude. That is the point. It is still being written, page by page and line by line. We are all, those that are followers of The Way, contributing our part to the story, good or bad.
May the Lord use us to make a positive contribution to the story of Christ’s Church today.
