“Do”

We have been going through a series on our weekend’s called “Do” and have been using the book of Acts. The series implicitly draws from Mother Teresa’s philosophy: Think less; love more.  Our a challenge which evolves out of Acts has been to focus more on mission and less on knowledge!  It’s a rather provocative statement and challenge for all of the “interlectuals” in the church. I am not saying that thinking less and doing more is a summons to give up on thinking.  I think I would fall into depression! However, it is a warning against a detached and abstract theological orientation that leaves no room for obedient action.    I want to briefly add that Luke’s literary emphasis in Acts is striking: the results of the events chronicled are as equally important then the events themselves.  In other words, only three verses focus on the ascension in the first chapter, while four verses are devoted to the upper room on the day of Pentecost in the second. The rest of the second chapter; in fact, the rest of Acts, is a narrative that describes the profound transformation that took place in this small Jewish movement. But for me, and finally back to the point, the question that shouts from this story is: How did this young Jesus movement get so far?  How did these early disciples ignite a religious and social revolution in 1st century urban centers?  Why were they such a threat to the Roman empire?  How did they influence so many demographic groups and spread so quickly throughout so many geographical regions?  Well, it’s clear that it wasn’t just knowledge that won people over to this Jesus revolution.  Nor was it exegetical brilliance that transformed the world as we know it.  It was simply the result of being empowered by the Holy Spirit.  This movement was birthed in an upper room where Jewish disciples were praying, not just thinking; Waiting, not just strategizing… That’s a hard pill to swallow for some of us…

Luke, also implicitly weaves a pattern throughout his prologue(1:1-11) that yields insight into the secret of this movement.  Jesus was having a fascinating conversation about the Kingdom with his disciples, until the disciples asked the wrong question.  What Jesus does is give shape to a paradigm that is essential for our churches today. He shifted the conversation from knowledge to mission and then to empowerment.  The disciples were clearly focused on knowledge; Jesus was focused on mission. They wanted to talk about eschatology; Jesus wanted to talk about empowerment (He commanded them to go to Jerusalem to receive power from the Holy Spirit). I think Luke is hinting at a pattern/model for ministry.  It is a model that dynamically upsets the socially and religiously entrenched ideas that are threatened by the Gospel.  It is powerfully missional. It is not sedentary. The focus is more on praying, waiting, obeying, and doing then just thinking, believing, managing, and commercializing.  The result is a model that is remarkably supernatural.

This narrative is subversively “apropos” for today’s church.  What would happen if we could reconnect ourselves to this pattern?  What if discipleship was transformed into a waiting and praying model; instead of, a knowledge based and overly gimmick commercial model?  I believe that considerable changes would occur in our lives.  In fact, I believe we would be better thinkers, doers, scholars, pastors, teachers, poets, and writers, if we were more faithful to this pattern.  And musicians, I forgot to add that one…