Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL: In this passage, the writer of Acts shares a radical new insight — that Christ’s message breaks through borders of nation and creed, not with military might, but with the power of love. In our own era, we are charged with spreading the message of a loving God not only across borders, but through time, enacting Christ’s love afresh in the context of our own world and in our daily lives. I offer the following poem as a meditation on Christ’s resurrection in our own time.
Resurrection
A young man walks
at the edge of the Arabian Sea
son of a deposed governor
homeless refugeeall day he listens
to the stories of other refugees
he knows Somali Arabic English
translates for the UNhe himself has survived
the crossing to Yemen
on a pirate ship
for what?Barely a man himself
he decides the fates of families
who is worthy of work of protection
whose children get to eatHe opens his weary heart to the light
spilling across the water
feels a presence at his side
no longer alonehe tells his story
to a young woman working for peace
The light moves through her
her family offers to helpsoon he is crossing a continent another ocean
to learn another system
find a way to bring healing home
carrying a lightthat shines through his face
into the lives of others
Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”