Preaching Acts during Easter

Third Sunday of Easter--Proper 3, Series A

One of the critiques that some preachers and scholars level against the Revised Common Lectionary is that during the Easter season the first readings are from Acts rather than the Hebrew Bible. The critique is that, by including Acts at that point, the lectionary suggests that the apostolic church replaces God's people of the Hebrew Bible. A second critique asserts that the Acts readings do not complement the Gospel readings as the Old Testament texts do. A third is that Acts is less relevant today.

Pastor Jim Honig, author of these Preaching Helps, uses Acts as his entree into preaching during the Easter season. He writes: "When the liturgical calendar rolls around to the Easter season each year, I become intrigued with the readings from the Acts of the Apostles." According to Pastor Honig, rather than replacing the Hebrew Bible, "Luke intended this work to be a continuation of the story of Jesus--not a separate story but the ongoing story of Jesus. This time the story would be told not through the person Jesus of Nazareth but through those who would now carry on his ministry. In that sense, the gospel story goes on, first through the eleven apostles, then through Paul, and then through an ever-widening band of early church leaders. For that matter, the story continues today, through the generations of Christ's followers who occupy the pulpits and sit in the pews of our congregations."

Pastor Honig notes that scholarship, both inside and outside the church, has documented the power of story to both form and inspire us. He sees Acts as our story. "I know the church in Acts is not intended to be prescriptive for the church today," he writes, "but when I read the stories in Acts, I inevitably end up asking questions about my own ministry and the congregation I serve. What are the similarities? What are the differences? More important, how do I make application as I, like Peter and Paul and the other saints who inhabit the pages of Acts, live with and minister with the community of saints who are continually dying and rising?"

Like me, Pastor Honig celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his ordination last summer. He is a graduate of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, receiving the M. Div. in 1987 and S.T.M. in 1995. He spent his first fifteen years of parish ministry in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, primarily in Florida. In 2002, after being approved for candidacy in the ELCA, he accepted a call as Senior Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he continues to serve. Over the years, Jim's passions have been worship and especially worship as the formation for our life in the world. He always has been actively involved in ecumenical ministry and community outreach. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University. Jim is married to Sheryl, who is on the faculty at Valparaiso. They have two sons, Chris and Tim, who are both in college.

For more on Acts and on preaching from Acts, Jim invites us to consult the excellent introduction in William Willimon's Commentary on Acts in the Interpretation series. (1)

My newest insight into preaching in general and Easter preaching in particular came in October and November, after I spent three days in the hospital for what the doctors are now calling "a mild heart attack." Listening to sermons in those weeks, I became aware of what Wes Allen calls the "cumulative effect of preaching," which I describe as "the small but significant ways sermons change people and faith communities over weeks, years, and lifetimes." (2) After listening to several anthrocentric sermons in which humans were active and God was passive, my chest felt heavy, my mood was cranky, and I was ready for a nap. Christ-centered preaching about a loving and active God left me feeling light, optimistic, and energized. That is what Easter preaching ought to do.

Craig A. Satterlee

Editor of Preaching Helps

http://craigasatterlee.com

1. William Willimon, Acts (Atlanta: John Knox, 1988), 1-17.

2. O. Wesley Allen Jr., The Homiletic of All Believers: A Conversational Approach to Proclamation and Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005), 57; Craig A. Satterlee, When God Speaks through You: How Faith Convictions Shape Preaching and Mission (Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2007).

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