"Bothered by the Lost," Kellie Gamble; Praxis series (Acts 17:16-34)

In Athens then
and here and now,
the spiritual world
seethes
and
titillates -
the curious
taste-test
at a buffet of options.
Intellectual debates
champion
various ideas.
Some earnestly seek truth
and others joust
and spar
with words to simply
show off their
academic status.

"The called"
are bothered
by the lost,
groping in the dark.
Each idol
falsely chosen
burdens the heart.
One who is called
steps into the
river of culture,
polluted though it may be,
speaks to the
misplaced desires
and
affirms the intent.

Knowing the culture,
reading their books,
listening to their questions -
those spoken
and tacit -
must come first.

Look for connections
and intersections -
touch points
that can lead to
the sharing of Truth
in big
and little
doses.

Some truth is hard to swallow
and to speak,
but must be spoken.
Words are seeds to sow,
some will shrivel
and some
take root.

Essential as Air; Praxis series - Tim Knipp (Acts 16)

Truth -
essential
as air.

It resonates with
the successful,
upright Lydia
who needs freedom
from the illusion
of self-sufficiency.
Her open heart recieves.
She breathes.

It obsesses the slave girl
possessed by a spirit,
coiled like a snake
around her heart.
She needs freedom
inside and out -
a breaking of locks.
Imperfect Peter
unleashes power
that shatters
her shackles
in the name of Christ.

It touched the stolid jailer,
over-muscled,
disciplined,
with a heart of stained
steel.
The jailer needs his
expectations 
overturned,
his charred past
washed clean.
 He reaches hands,
fingernails gummed with
his victim's blood,
to grasp salvation,
then tenderly nurses
wounds
with those same
hands.

Truth.
Essental as air
to each
and
all.

Tim Knipp - PRAXIS

Lydia, high end successful fashionista. Self-made and self sufficient meets her sufficiency.

Just Jesus, Carlo Furlan - Praxis series (Acts 15)

Confrontation swirls -
words sharpened
and hurled -
yet reason prevails...
momentarily.

Flesh cutting advocates
are not sadistic monsters,
but well-intentioned
believers
who appreciate
the parameters of the Law.

Yet Peter descibes a new law,
a new way:
beauty will rise from ashes.

Don't make it difficult
for people who are
turning to God.

We are so good
at adding conditions
and clauses
to Grace,
yet
we would be the first
to complain
if handed a sixty pound
backpack at the door. (Matt. 23:4)

What sort of welcome 
is this?
What reflection
does this show
of God's heart?

Is this a club
that only the well-bathed,
well-behaved
and monochromatic 
may attend?

Would Jesus be welcomed
in such a place?

Life - full life -
is what He offers,
not a life of dry regulations
and a backpack
overloaded with
guilt
and do's 
and don't's.

Just Jesus 
plus nothing
equals Grace.

Tim Knipp - PRAXIS

In the middle of my mess, I am not alone. He is with me. He takes my hand and rescues me.

An Unexpected Place; Praxis series - Tim Knipp (Acts 11:19-30)

From rural Galilee
to the center of the 
Roman world, 
Christianity spreads...
the question is: how?

Anioch -
a thriving metropolis by the sea,
sprouting wealth
and religions -
flowers and fruit
overgrown with weeds.

Refugees cast up 
on the streets of this
cosmopolis
strew seeds with news
of the carpenter king.

Non-Jews,
non-"Chosen"
nonetheless grab hold 
of Truth tenaciously.
But the soil is shallow
and needs fortifying.
Sleeves rolled up,
Paul and Barnabas
dig in
and lay the foundations,
toiling for a year.

When financial disaster
looms,
the spirit of generosity
blooms -
a crop of caring -
evidence of deep-rooted faith.

A flourishing garden
in an 
unexpected place,
influencing and
feeding multitudes
near and far.

Carlo Furlan