Musings on the Daily Lectionary

If you want to make an avowed capitalist squirm, just read from today's verses in Acts. "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."

Acts' commune-like description of the early Church bespeaks an ideal that most congregations don't even attempt to emulate. Of course today's reading from Acts also tells of a couple who did not live up to that ideal. It seems that the difficulty of living up to our calling as a Christian community is nothing new.

But it is not clear that modern Christians even aspire to the ideal found in Acts. We treat it as a kind of fantasy not to be taken seriously. I wonder how it might impact the witness we give as congregations if we at least attempted to move toward the image in Acts. Even if we fell far short, how might we look different, and how might we offer something compelling to the world, if we embraced these verses in Acts as a part of our calling to follow Jesus?

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