Tuesday 13 April

Today is Tuesday the 13 April in the Second Week of Easter.

Liz Vice, with the Porter’s Gate sings, ‘We Labor Unto Glory’.

Today’s reading is from the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts 4:32-37

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.  There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement").  He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

‘The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.’  Imagine one of Jesus’s apostles speaking to you about having seen the risen Lord.  How would you feel?

It may not be possible for you to live in the kind of community we’re told about here. But perhaps you might think about what the risen Christ might be asking of you, today, here and now. 

As you listen again, perhaps you can ask yourself: is there something which the risen Christ is asking of me?

Spend a little time now thinking about what money means for you.  Perhaps you have more than you need—perhaps you struggle with money problems. Try talking to the risen Christ, or perhaps to some of those early Christian saints, about what faith in the risen Jesus means when it comes to how we spend our money.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.