Today’s reading from the book of Acts is the third consecutive reading from Acts 2. The last two weeks included portions of Peter’s sermon from the day of Pentecost, but not the Pentecost event itself. Luke interrupts the narrative with a short aside about the community of believers and their life together. While some consider Luke’s description of these believers to be too idealistic, I am not persuaded. In his book, The Rise of Christianity, sociologist Rodney Stark argues that...

I confess that, when I sat down to study this passage, I was more intrigued by what was left out of the lectionary selection than I was by that selected. Our text includes the narrative introduction of Peter’s speech (14a) before immediately jumping 8 verses to the speech’s middle. Why, I wonder, does our text leave out Peter’s “defense” against the charge, from some in the Jerusalem Pentecost crowd, of the disciples’ drunkenness? Why also, does the selection leave off so suddenly at v32?...

As Old Testament scholar, Anathea Portier-Young states so poignantly, “Isaiah preaches hope in a time of terror and justice in a time of oppression.”[1] The people of Israel are wrought with fear as the Assyrian army threatens what’s left of the world as they know it. But this vision looks forward to another day, with a two-part vision of the Messiah and the coming Kingdom of God. The preacher might consider one of these homiletical directions for this sermon: Nurturing new life after...