 |
| Saturday Sunrise by Rachel Kramer |
Acts 15
†
A Greeting
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
(Psalm 27:8)
A Reading
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church
and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had
done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the
Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be
circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’ The apostles
and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had
been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers,
you know that in the early days God made a choice among you,
that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the
message of the good news and become believers. And God, who
knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy
Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he
has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why
are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the
disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able
to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through
the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’
(Acts 15:4-11)
Music
Meditative Verse
Real circumcision is a matter of the heart--
it is spiritual and not literal.
(Romans 2:29b)
A Poem
Know that your brokenness can be healed
and that your wholeness can be restored.
Reaffirm your divine covenant today,
by completely trusting upon the Lord!
- from "Poem: Called to Worship (IX) by Joseph J. Breunig, 3rd
Verse for the Day
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
(Psalm 16:9)
†
Acts 15 reflects the tension in the early church around the practice of circumcision and whether it must be a part of the evangelization of the nations. There was “no small debate” about these things, the writer tells us, as the elders and apostles of the Jerusalem church maintained that believers must follow the customs of Moses, and Peter and Paul and Barnabas try to convince them otherwise by relating their experiences among the Gentiles. An uneasy agreement is reached that would profoundly alter the future of the church. The practice of male circumcision predates Judaism, but the Jewish custom began as a result of God’s covenant with Abraham, described in Genesis 17. As an expression of faithfulness, the Israelite men are required to manifest a sign of God's covenant with them on their bodies. (This continues a commitment of Scripture and the body that is present also in the wearing of texts on the forehead and on the arm, another sacred obligation.) In the Genesis text, the rite of circumcision is never considered for women. After outlining the requirement for men, the voice of God moves on to talk about Sarah becoming the mother of the generations to come. In today’s world, however, at least 200 million girls and women in thirty countries (source) have experienced female circumcision. Believing that it assists in ensuring chastity and purity, it is most often imposed on girls and women against their will, mostly by other women, participating in the expectations of patriarchal cultures. There is nothing in any scriptural text of any of the Abrahamic faiths that requires or endorses circumcision for women; nonetheless, the rite is observed in communities of all three traditions. In today's video from UNICEF, linked below, advocates work with communities to end the practice now known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and assist girls and women in being well in body and soul.
Click here to go to video.
The next devotional day is Sunday, June 12th.
LC† Acts of the Spirit is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.
