Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 26 June 2014 "God's saving work within households"
Daily Scripture:  Acts 16:13 On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29 He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 30 brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. 34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
Reflection Questions:
A dealer in purple cloth (a rare and royal item in New Testament times) would have been a wealthy merchant. A jailer, on the other hand, was not much in the social order—he was probably paid the minimum Rome could get away with, and seen as a contaminated person who dealt with "social scum." But God's love reached out to both people—and changed not just one individual, but that person's entire household.
We live in an individualistic culture, where the idea of baptizing an entire "household" (spouse, children and probably servants) may seem a bit offensive. But the apostles' found joy in baptizing whole households at once, which reminds us that God does not call us to be Christians all by ourselves. Did your household play any role in your journey to faith in Jesus? How do you and other household members support and encourage one another in your faith walk?
After the earthquake, Paul's jailer prepared to kill himself. (Roman law required jailers to serve the sentence of any prisoners they let escape.) Scholar N. T. Wright said his question in verse 30 meant, "Will you please tell me how I can get out of this mess?" The answer—"Believe in the Lord Jesus"—spoke to the whole broken, lost mess humans face. Wright added, "Everything else is contained within that—all the volumes of systematic and pastoral theology, all the worship and prayers and devotion and dogma, all the ethics and choices and personal dilemmas." It's a basic question we still face: do you believe in [not just "about"] the Lord Jesus?
Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, from wealthy merchants to desperate jailers, across the whole spectrum of human need, you were (and are) the answer. I trust you to be the ultimate answer to all of my needs, too. Amen.
Insight from Shawn Simpson
Shawn Simpson serves as the Director of Technical Arts and Operations at The Church of the Resurrection’s West campus in Olathe, KS.
Finishing worship services last Sunday, we immediately transitioned into one of the craziest and potentially impactful events of the year: Vacation Bible Camp!  The worship platform turned into a news set.  The sanctuary floor was cleared of chairs and turned into a recreation area.  The lower level classrooms became arts and crafts spaces.  The normally reserved and professional Travis Morgan (Resurrection West’s staff director) transformed into Don Purpley, complete with purple nail polish, lipstick, and a purple 80′s wig that would make Steven Tyler jealous.  I even got into the act by taking on the role of Gary Sheepzak with my trusty pet sheep, Thunder and Lightning.
The lesson for this year was based around the Christmas story. Not only were we reminding the children of the birth of the Christ child, but we were also able to teach them the difference between the Christmas “characters” and the historical realities…as much as you can, anyway, with a bunch of antsy little kids. For my part, I got to make fun of Don Purpley’s hair AND get the kids excited for our VBC missions partners in downtown KC (collecting winter coats) and Rev. Harrison in Jamaica (purchasing fence to build a sheep farm).  That means I had the pleasure of telling the kids at the end of the week that they’d reached their goal of $5000 and brought in a massive pile of winter coats.  The campers were really excited to do something tangible.
Some of my earliest memories of church are from VBS.  I can remember going with my cousins and writing what I was thankful for on one side of a slip of paper, and something I wanted to pray about on the other, then taping the slip into a ring and making a chain with the other kids’ rings.  I can’t remember WHY we did it, but I can clearly remember how much we enjoyed doing it and how much love we all felt from the teachers.  That’s my earliest memory of learning to thank God for what we have and to ask him for what’s heavy on our hearts.  Another year, we stained and sealed key shaped blocks of wood, then added hooks and gave them as gifts to our parents at the end of the camp when they’d dried.  That craft still hangs inside the door to my mom’s house with the keys to all the vehicles, lawnmowers, and tractors on it.
I’m not the most outgoing or evangelical person in the world, to be sure.  Hanging out in the back of the room where all the technical stuff happens is a lot more my speed.  But, being able to get in front of the kids at VBC and have the chance to give them a memory that will last a lifetime is amazing.  I’ve written before that, to me, sharing Christ with people isn’t always about quoting chapter and verse from the Bible, but is instead making sure they have a great experience that helps them open up to the teaching of the pastors.  During VBC, I get to share Christ by dressing up and being goofy in front of the campers.  My hope is that one day one of these campers will tell their own children about how they learned sheep make great pets and it was the shepherds who were present on the night Jesus was born.  They won’t remember that I forgot half the lines every day and had to ad-lib.  They’ll only remember that they learned the lesson with two stuffed sheep and a guy who walked into the room with a heavy metal song and a THUNDER! THUNDER! chant rocking the house.
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