Excerpt from Acts 8: 1b-8   

"That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word."

Reflection by Ron Buford

Unstoppable in the face of horrific persecution, early Christians continued proclaiming the Jesus story. Persecution seemed to stimulate Christianity’s spread, farther and faster, to Judea and Samaria.

Jesus promised! "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be my witnesses." No, it did not free them from suffering, imprisonment, and death  . . . but from the prisons of powerlessness and fear. Their unstoppable acts became an unrelenting witness to a skeptical world.

Saul's seemingly unstoppable energy for persecuting Christians eventually collides with the energy and light of the Jesus of the persecuted. He later writes to Timothy, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind."

Are you afraid today? Fear has no power over us as it does not come from external circumstance, but from our internal disconnect from the God of all power. May the Holy Spirit rest and abide within you today, granting you unexplainable, unstoppable power.

God did it for me and will do the same for you.

Prayer

Gracious God, help me believe, release, grasp, and conduct your possibility power . . . not only for myself, my love, my family, but as one of many witnesses to your power at work in the world. Thank you and Amen!

About the Author Ron Buford is Interim Minister for Discipleship at Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.  The former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, Ron consults with UCC conferences and churches across the nation and appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

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