Prodigious Oomph.

Was the reading from Acts nastily designed to trip up unwary lectors with unpronounceable place-names? An old but useful trick is to mentally replace “Mysia” and “Bithynia” with “Memphis” and “Boston.” See—much friendlier!

Or maybe the reading is meant to show the tiny, incremental ways belief first spread to specific places like those we inhabit: 2 steps forward, 1 back. The score sheet often looks distressingly like “World: 3, Christians: 1.” Case in point: Poor Timothy, circumcised because of pressure from “what people might think . . .”

But this painstakingly slow process has another energy which neither emperor nor army can match. In the Gospel, Jesus makes a clear identification between himself and the believer. His equation, “world hating me = world hating you,” gives flawed and fickle humans an unsurpassed magnificence. He also said, “whoever welcomes you welcomes me” (Matt 10:40), “whoever listens to you listens to me” (Luke 10:16), and “whoever receives the one I send receives me” (John 13:20). Over and over we hear that we stand in the person of Christ: we are the Christ, his hands and heart anywhere we give attention and care. In the psalmist’s words, “God made us, his we are.”

Most parents have had glimpses of themselves in their offspring—sometimes heartbreaking (the wounded parts we tried to camouflage), sometimes exhilarating (“at least we got that right!”). God our parent must have a similar experience, proudly watching our faith inch through ancient Macedonia. Or Peru. Or Nigeria. Or Illinois.

Kathy Coffey. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Kathy Coffey is an award-winning writer, mother of four, and speaker who gives workshops and retreats nationally and internationally. Her most recent book is When the Saints Came Marching In. For more information, see her website: kathyjcoffey.com.