Jordan - Acts 12 or so

After a long weekend with family celebrating James baptism, I'm getting back to the blog.  Unfortunately, the disciple James dies in chapter 12 of Acts.  That's just not cool!  So, I choose to write about the theme of the chapters I missed.  Mainly that the walls between Gentiles and Jews are breaking down and the term "Christians" is coined.   For me, these past three chapters have been refreshing.  There is still a lot of violence surrounding these early Christians and by no means will the prejudice of the past disappear overnight, but there is a movement driven by Peter to break down barriers.

Peter and the early Christians were evangelists  that were so in tune with the Holy Spirit that Luke practically makes it seem easy.  Is there examples of this in today's world?  Are there people who so easily go out into the community and bring people to God?  I've lived in the Northeast my whole life and I can say that people who outwardly express the good news, practically disturb me.  Yes, I know I shouldn't feel this way, but the first thing that pops into mind when I see someone talking to much scripture is that this person is likely conservative and wants people to change to be accepted in God's grace.  This is likely the media and politics playing too much of a role in my opinion, but its also something that we as a church (especially in the secular northeast) have to acknowledge as a common reaction to "Christians" this day in age.  As we go out into the community to talk about our church and our mission we will need to break down barriers, just as the early Christians did.