Author Archives: NextSunday Reflections

Acts 17:29-31 God “commands all people everywhere to repent” sounds hard, so the church has tried to make it easier (v. 17).  In 1984, Richard Halverson, chaplain to the U.S. Senate, said: “In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, […]

Acts 17:26-28 When I was a Baylor University student forty years ago, the religion courses were limited to, for the most part, Old Testament, New Testament, Greek, Hebrew, Ethics, Church History, and Theology. The religion courses at New York University include American Religion; Religion and Medicine; Intro to Buddhism; Sex, Gender and the Bible; Monsters […]

Acts 17:22-25 The Book of Mormon—the Broadway play, not the actual book—follows the story of a young Mormon missionary in Uganda. He starts to lose faith, but instead of abandoning his church, he reaffirms everything he has been taught. He sings a triumphant solo which starts reasonably, “I believe that the Lord God created the […]

Acts 17:19-21 Luke wants us to admire Paul, but it’s hard not to be a little impressed with the Athenians. Most people are not curious enough to spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new, but the Athenians were unique (v. 21). Stoics believed in one God who could be experienced through […]

Acts 17:16-18 A first-century tourist with time to kill in Athens has a lot of great choices. The Acropolis, the temple on a mountain in the center of the city, is breathtaking. The statue of Minerva, forty feet high, could be seen from anywhere in Athens. The Olympic Stadium, which hosted both sports and theater, […]

Luke 6:22-23 These words from Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain may be another reason why Paul and Silas are singing in their prison cell. Even though they are incarcerated, they rejoice because at least they have made the right people angry: the slave owners, the greedy, the corrupt, the shallow. In this sermon, Jesus says […]

Luke 6:17-19 In my Introduction to Christian Education class, our seminary professor said, “Although we tend to think about Christian Education as specific activities like Sunday school, teaching retreats, and workshops, the truth is that everything we do at church is educational. Everything that happens in worship, every meeting, every encounter, every Wednesday night supper […]

Acts 16:33-34 Homemade trail mix, a French toast casserole, a roasted chicken with potatoes, Quiche Lorraine, a heart-shaped hummingbird cake, baked ziti, soup, and freshly baked bread. These are just some of the meals and special treats brought to us during times of joy and struggle. Whether it was the birth of a baby, the […]

Acts 16:29-32 When the jailer asks Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (v. 30) Paul tells him to believe in the Lord Jesus and that he and his whole household will be saved. This seems really presumptuous to me when I read it. It goes against the idea that a […]

Acts 16:25-28 Even though Paul and Silas’ circumstances are pretty bleak—placed in the innermost cell with their feet in stocks—their spirits are still somehow able to sing. And the other prisoners were listening to them (v. 25, NIV). No wonder. Not knowing how long the other inmates have been there, we can assume they have […]