Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article A simple life Sunday, April 27, 2014 Acts 2:42-44 They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone ... all who believed were together and had all things in common. Before Easter, a lectionary text had "each returning to his own house." Those returning were the priests and scribes, who retired to worry separately about the danger Jesus posed to their religion, to their power, to their people. The tone of that story was dark and suspicious. This passage rejoices and celebrates the new Christ-followers: they are communal, share everything, live together, focus on their worship and on God, rather than their thoughts and themselves. Any of us who have lived this way know how wonderful it can be - not always living up to its ideal, but wonderful nonetheless. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote his most inspiring book (in my opinion), Life Together, about just such a time in his life. We are fallen people, selfish deep inside. But deeper yet we are not selfish at all; we have been created to be givers. In the first moments of the Christian church those wonderful roots were uncovered. There is nothing better than to share all we have. At Champaign's 2014 Ebertfest Film Festival, A Simple Life told the story of a Chinese caregiver who cooked and served four generations of a family, then finally is cared for by one of them, a man she's loved since he was a baby. Even then she can't stop giving. As she dies, a classic Chinese poem appears on the screen. Part of it says "Silkworms stop their weaving only when they retire. Candles stop their weeping when they expire." Her pastor reads from the Bible and then he prays, "The most beautiful treasures in life are found in the midst of suffering. It is only when we have experienced difficulties that we know how to comfort others." When God's love is all we have, we realize it's all we need. And then there is plenty to share, and we become the men and women we've been made to be. Father, how warm is your embrace and how strong your hand that holds me. Hold us close and teach us to lean on you. Show us how to be loved by you to the center of our souls. "; Add      Edit    Delete