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Let’s begin this journey by exercising our imaginations, because God is so very “other” than what we’re used to thinking about. Pretend with me, there’s an ancient group of people that have existed for thousands of years. They share an intimate bond, in a way that no one else can understand. You see, they are each – at some point – given a seed. This seed grows into a plant who’s magic is incredibly powerful. Through their plants, they can communicate with each other. Through their plants, they are given abilities beyond anything they could ever do on their own. Through their plants, they bring life where there was death, and light where there was darkness.

One day, a mysterious visitor comes to your door and whispers of these things. He takes your hand, and gently places a tiny seed in the middle of it, curling your fingers over it to keep it warm and safe. He tells you that you’ve been invited to join this ancient group of bringers of light and life. You’re overwhelmed by his message.

After he leaves, you immediately know what you’re going to do. You take the seed you’ve been given, and seal it in a solid transparent layer of UV-Protectant. You then place it in the center of a large glass display case and set the case in a prominent location in your living room. You start to tell everyone about the magical group of people you’re now connected to.

That would be pretty silly, wouldn’t it? But what I want to tell you, is that followers of Christ do this on a regular basis on a much grandeur scale.

Here’s a little bit of background for the passage we’ll be focusing on:

Back in Acts chapter 2 we have the coming of the Holy Spirit like never before at Pentecost, to the apostles. The movement of those following Christ began to grow, signs and wonders were being done by the apostles, and thousands more people were being baptized into the faith. They were baptized into the name of Jesus. Those who had been baptized were devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And as we read in Acts 2:47 – “Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

The miraculous acts of the apostles continued to get the attention of everyone around, and so as attention was being gained, they used those moments to call people to repentance for the way they had crucified and denied Jesus Christ. They preached the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and that we could share in such a resurrection.

Huge crowds of people loved what they were doing. Some religious leaders were not big fans and tried to quiet them. Some tried to benefit from what was happening, and ended up dead.

At one point there was so much going on, the apostles needed help keeping accounts to make sure widows were being taken care of. So seven men who were “of good standing, Full of the Spirit and wisdom” were chosen, including Stephen and Philip. Stephen ended up doing great work for the Lord, and when he was arrested he accused the religious leaders of missing out on what God was doing. He reminded them of the history of God’s people turning against him at Mount Sinai. He told them they were working against the Holy Spirit in the same way, and that they had betrayed & murdered the “Righteous One” the prophets had spoken of. They were so mad, they stoned Stephen, and Saul was pleased. Then Saul went on a crusade of finding followers of Jesus and punishing them.

The followers of Jesus, then, were forced to spread out into Judea and Samaria to escape imprisonment. (Does that sound familiar? Acts 1:8 talked about this. Apparently it didn’t depend on the apostles coming up with a strategic plan on how to reach these areas. Simply joining the activity of God, caught them up into a movement outward for all the world.) As those followers went, they were proclaiming the word. Scripture tells us that the apostles themselves were not scattered, but apparently Philip – who had been confirmed as having the Spirit, and blessed for ministry previously – had been scattered to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. They listened eagerly, and saw the signs that he accomplished. Great things were happening for the Kingdom coming.

In Samaria, there was a man named Simon, a sorcerer with a huge following. He saw the people following Philip, and all that was happening, and began to believe in the Messiah as well. After he was baptized in the name of Jesus with many others, he began to follow Philip constantly. Eventually, word of what was happening in Samaria reached the apostles, and that is where our passage picks up tomorrow…

Here we go again with another “Five Minute Friday” post!  To learn more about “Five Minute Friday” (FMF), check out the linked image here.  Basically, each week there’s a word given for you to write about.  You start writing, no back-tracking, editing, etc.  At the end of 5 minutes, you stop.  Then you post it, and share in the community of words that were birthed during these 24-ish hours.  It’s cool stuff.
So here’s this week’s response to the word: “dive”

So there are a few things in life that make me smile.  Okay, quite a few.  But one of them, is when someone tries to tell me, “No, actually THIS is how you ______.”  As if God ordained a specific way to roll a bowling ball, hold a pencil, or _____.  That’s what I feel about diving.

The pencil thing, that’s probably just my 10 year old frustrated self talking.  The teacher gives me that rubber thing around my pencil that’s supposed to help me hold it the “correct” way, because someone decided long ago there was a specific way to hold a writing utensil.  I still do it wrong.  Maybe they’re right, cause my handwriting stinks.  Thankfully, I can type.

The bowling thing, well, I think it goes back to one guy my mom dated who tried to help me learn the “correct technique” many years ago.   I was a teenager, and he thought he’d warm up to my mom by getting on my good side.  Sorry sir, I think it’s more fun to use my own technique.  It’s hard to describe, but I usually feel like a bowling ninja break dancer or something.  I’m not horrible, and have gotten close to 200 before.

And diving, well….I realize it’s a legit sport and some people can make it look incredibly graceful.  But me?  I love to run, jump high into the air tucking my body into a human-sized cannon-ball, and make the biggest splash imaginable.

I think that’s okay sometimes.  I think Jesus was a cannon-ball kinda guy too.  He definitely didn’t listen to how everyone was saying the Messiah was supposed to arrive.  He wasn’t worried about following through with his Savior moves using the proper techniques of the religious leaders of his day.  He was about His Father’s business, and doing so in a way that made the world take notice.

So while some people may stress out about perfecting their form….I think I’ll make another splash….

Whoa.  That one actually worked well in 5 minutes.  I win. 🙂

Some words I like, about God’s Kingdom, Sabbath, and Forgiveness….

“The “kingdom of God,” then, represents the infinite task of making good on Elohim’s “good,” of repeating his “good” from day to day, which means letting God’s rule obtain.”

“The Sabbath is to be a day of recreation, of re-creation, of continually renewing the ongoing work of creation, of mending the broken and healing the sick, of straightening the crooked and making the lame to walk, of inscribing Elohim’s “good” on the bodies and the minds of those whose lives he touched.”

“To be pure of heart is to be released from sin, which means to break the shackles of sin, quite the way a crippled man is healed and thereafter able to move about freely. These shackles are self-imposed, and God releases us from them. So when Jesus taught “your sins are released,” he meant, you are made healthy again, no longer crippled or impaired.” – Caputo

Perhaps we’ve made too much economy in the realm of forgiveness. Two words used in the New Testament for forgiveness – “charizomai” and “aphiemi“. Neither are economic words. Jesus didn’t go around balancing the Kingdom’s budget of offenses. He went around healing and bringing new life, and releasing prisoners.

But then again, we do see Jesus teaching us how to pray – “forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Which in Matthew appears to be simply that, although the word used can be a metaphor for sin – the version in Luke clarifies the question by actually using the word for sin…revealing that Jesus was indeed speaking a language the people could understand. Which word did Christ actually use in the Lord’s prayer?

Perhaps the mixed message is on purpose. The Kingdom of God is about being released from this debt, AND from this debt-mentality. Both in a financial and property-based sense, and the keeping track of offenses sense – as we see later in Jesus’ dialogue about how often one should forgive their brother.

May we live our lives as people who are free from debts, allowing us to relate to others free from any indebtedness to us. In every way possible. And to live that, knowing God has brought/is bringing release and healing to creation through those created in His image living from such freedoms…and may our children, our families, and our homes be centered on living these out.