ken wilson online

My father-in-law, Stanley Rozell, used to talk about hitting the ball “down the center of the middle.”  What was the center of the middle of the church’s message?  They devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching” said Luke, the author of Acts.  What did that refer to in historical context?  It referred to the remembered words and deeds of Jesus now compiled  in the gospels and to whatever the risen Jesus taught between the first Easter Sunday and Ascension Thursday. The only references we have to this post-resurrection instruction indicate that it was focused on the messianic meaning of Moses and the Prophets and Jesus’ take on “the kingdom of God.”   That’s what they devoted themselves to.  How about us?
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This question of identity and how we understand ours as Jesus followers is important.  It’s fraught for a reason. We’d like to think it’s all about convictions.  If I have X convictions then I’m an X. If my convictions are Y then I’m a Y.  As usual we think we’ve got more control over this than we do.
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