Forward Day by Day through Luke and Acts

Readers of the quarterly devotional booklet Forward Day by Day found something different in the issue for February - March - April 2018.  The readings followed straight through the Gospel of Luke during Lent and Easter, through Acts into Pentecost.  Friends and I who missed the usual lectionary readings also appreciated the continuity.

Here are some of the meditations that struck me most during those months.

Luke 5.18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed.... "There are two miracles in this story from Luke," writes Forward's deputy director Richelle Thompson. "The second is Jesus' healing of the paralyzed man.  The first is having people who will go to any lengths to show Jesus to their friend."

Luke 16.8 His master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.  Priest Lindsay Hardin Freeman admits this parable is "seemingly disheartening," until we see it "is not about money; rather, it speaks of preparing for the end."  She concludes, Our hands are never clean when we reach the end of our lives.  The steward improves the lives of the poor by reducing their debts and by closing the books so that all can move ahead."

Luke 24.42 Have you anything to eat?  I have to smile whenever I picture the apostles huddling together, stunned, while the resurrected Jesus chews his dinner.  After the meal, he goes to Bethany, site of a memorable meal with Mary and Martha, Mary's anointing of his feet, and the raising of Lazarus: Jesus evidently felt comfortable there.  Freeman concludes, "Joy, disbelief, and wonder combine with real events and real places to make up the core of our faith."

Acts 5.7  [Ananias's] wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  Why isn't this story read aloud for every stewardship campaign?  For Fr. Marcus Halley, Ananias and Sapphira die because they "live their lives divorced … from the reality of [the church] community."  Halley concludes that "community is not only a means to an end in God's economy -- it is an end in itself."

Acts 5.15  They … laid [the sick] on cots and mats in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by.  [See image]  Halley skips over the part about miraculous healings to meditate on Peter's many "shadows" -- "he's quick - tempered, impatient, prideful, angry."  Then Halley doubles back: "God uses our shadows to bear witness to the light that healing can bring."

A personal note:  The night that I read Halley's note about a personality's shadow, I dreamed about a student from another year, one who challenged me every day, cannily playing on every insecurity I have as a teacher and human being.  In my dream, I expressed how he had made me feel -- humiliated, angry, frustrated -- but also how I could appreciate and even admire him.  In my dream, he gave me grudging acceptance.

As Carl Jung would say, he was my "shadow," surfacing traits of myself that I work hard to keep submerged.  The dream brought healing, some relief from anger and shame that I've continued to feel years after that class.