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Our next few weeks’ E100 readings tell the story of the first years of the Church’s life, the problems it faced and the opportunities and risks it took with the encouragement of some of its first leaders.
The Acts of the Apostles is Luke’s second volume, following on from his Gospel, describing how the gift of God’s Spirit promised by Jesus galvanized his followers into taking the message of God’s love to the far reaches of the known world.
The book follows a clear pattern, set out in Acts 1 v 8: starting in Jerusalem, moving out into Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.
This involved crossing many boundaries, some geographical, some cultural, some religious.
Much heart-searching was involved, as some deeply held convictions were challenged, and people had to dare to trust God in very new situations.
Peter was the leader to begin with, and the first converts to the Christian faith were from the Jewish community.
But before long Gentiles wanted to join the Christian movement, and the Church had to make the first of its big decisions – did Gentiles have to become Jews first, accepting all the Jewish Law, or were they acceptable without going through that process.
Peter’s vision just before he met the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10) convinced him that all people were acceptable to God, and should be welcomed into membership of the Christian community.
At the first big decision making council, (Acts 11) Peter’s view was accepted, and Gentiles were allowed to join the Church without becoming Jews first, as long as they undertook to follow certain requirements about their way of life.
At about the same time, another great leader emerged, Saul (later called Paul) of Tarsus, whose conversion from strict Judaism made him a staunch supporter of the move to accept Gentiles.
Gradually he became accepted as the one who would carry the message of salvation around the Roman Empire.
The account of his many adventures in the course of his travels, including one of the most dramatic accounts of a shipwreck anywhere in literature, makes for gripping reading.
Both Peter and Paul, as well as other Christians were persecuted for their beliefs and actions, but the Spirit of God was with them, and enabled them to stand firm.
As well as the account in the Acts, there are many letters written by church leaders to the new Christian communities, which give some insights into the enormous challenge that the new Way (which is how Christianity was first named) brought.
There is much in the letters about human frailty and about the grace of God which can transform us into what God wants us to be.
There are letters to individual leaders as well, setting out the standards they should aim for in leadership.
One of the letters (Romans) is not so much a letter as a theological treatise, and so is that to the Hebrews.
The letters usually bear the name of one of the great leaders in the Church, but we have seen before that sometimes in the ancient world writings were attributed to someone of standing in order to establish their authenticity.
Certainly none of these letters would have been accepted into the final version of the New Testament as we have it, unless their content was considered to be a genuine expression of what the Church wanted to preach.
As we struggle in the 21st century to work out what it means to be a Christian community, it is encouraging to see how the Spirit of God has always come to the rescue when we seek his guidance.