Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, April 8, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Words to live by. Literally. Except when we modern Christians—at least in the U.S.—read this, we think, “Well, that’s a lovely idea, but it’s simply not realistic.” It feels like a blueprint for a monastic community, not for actual people living “real life.”
But let me be frank. No one ever said that being a Christian—truly following in the way of Jesus—was easy or practical. It’s not some passive thing, even though the idea of “being” a Christian implies passivity. What would it be like if instead of saying, “I am a Christian,” we said, “I live as a Christian.” How would that shift our thinking about our faith tradition? Could it perhaps inspire us to creative action that led us toward what God actually calls us to in the world?
What does living as a Christian mean to me? How does it direct my actions?
