The community of believers was of one mind and one heart. None of them claimed anything as their own; rather, everything was held in common. Acts 4:32

The book of Acts is all about the early community of Jesus’ followers that formed after Jesus’ ascension. Communities of followers of the Way—as they’re called—start to form and what we find in Acts 4 are descriptions of what started to happen in these communities. Another way to say it is that this is what it looked like when people began to experience transformation. 

The first thing it says is that the people are of…

Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
ACTS 10:34–36
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: ‘Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles should hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the…

‘About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.’ ACTS 16:25–26
 

Pray: Father, I don’t claim to understand the link between worship and freedom, but I thank you for Paul’s prison doors opening.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was addressed to new believers…

“people who are turning the whole world upside down” (see Acts 17:6)

An essential aspect of Franciscan spirituality is what Richard Rohr calls “the integration of the negative.” Rather than insisting that God values perfection or an idealized morality, Francis of Assisi intuited, through the example of Jesus’ life and death, that God could be found in all things, even those our religion and culture urge us to reject. 

I suppose there is no more counterintuitive spiritual idea than the possibility that God might actually…

But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-01-17-elijah-part-3-our-voice-r25

We ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.
—Colossians 1:9–10 

Our goal consists in doing the will of God, but first we have to remove our attachment to our own will so that we can recognize the difference between the two. Throughout history, many people who did horrible things were convinced that they were doing God’s will. That’s why we have to find an instrument to distinguish between God and us. Paul calls this gift the discernment…

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[…

We meet together….

so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.’ Colossians 1:10

We’re part of the church when we’re gathered on Sunday and equally so when we’re scattered on Monday. They’re two sides of the same whole-life-discipleship coin. Our gathered times should equip us for our scattered times, whilst our scattered times should inform our gathered times.

There’s a clear warning in Hebrews 10:25 not to lose the habit of meeting together, and we see a clear…

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. …

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead…

‘For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him’ (Colossians 1:16).

Sam Brown, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity writes ….

When I was 17, I heard something on a podcast I’m still thinking about today.  

How do you account for the essential meaninglessness of professional sport?  

In the time since I first heard that question,…

‘…so that he might come to have first place in everything.’  COLOSSIANS 1:18

Since NASA first began releasing them in 2022, the pictures coming back from the James Webb space telescope have been breathtaking, showing the sheer scale and beauty of our universe. To be useful, though, the images have to be razor-sharp. So, to ensure no opportunity is ever lost, there is a constant process of recalibration going on, involving tiny adjustments to the precision-engineered lenses and instruments.

As Christians, it’s easy to lose our focus, to allow the world around us, with its…

‘It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.’  COLOSSIANS 1:28

I’ve got a five-year-old who’s currently football mad. He’s making lists of the most important pieces of kit to buy, asking, ‘Is this good food for footballers?’ before every meal, reading football encyclopaedias (yes, they do exist!), and training every morning before school with his mates. He’s making sure that his time alone in the garden kicking his ball (AKA destroying my plants) and his time playing on a team are helping to…

‘I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments.’   COLOSSIANS 2:4

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul expresses a deep pastoral concern: that believers should not be misled by teachings that sound great but are ultimately false. ‘I am saying this,’ he writes, ‘so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments’. It’s a timely warning. Then, as now, Christians face a barrage of persuasive voices – some subtle, some less so – that can distort the truth of the gospel.

Paul’s letters are full of truth about Jesus and…

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and…

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Jim Finley describes how God knows each of us intimately because we are “hidden with Christ in God”: 

When God created you, God did not have to think up who you might be. God … eternally knows who you eternally are and are called to be from before the origins of the universe. 

Who God the [Creator] eternally contemplates you to be in Christ the Word is who you are before you were ever born…. There was never a point prior to which God did not eternally know you in Christ the Word through whom all…

Richard Rohr describes how we can discover our true identity in God: 

There is only one question we must definitely answer: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If we can get that right, the rest largely takes care of itself. Paul answers the questions directly: “You are hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is your life” (Colossians 3:3–4). Every time we start judging ourselves, we can ask, “Who am I?” The answer will come: “I am hidden with Christ in God in every part of my life. I am bearing both the mystery of suffering humanity…

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the…

¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.