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Each Gospel writer takes great strides to share who Jesus is. Luke traces Jesus' roots back to Adam, the son of God.

First, sparkers participate in a powerful demonstration of how the Spirit spoke to and through the first disciples, and disciples from all over the world ever since.


Second, about fifty days after the first disciples witnessed the empty tomb, they gathered together for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. The Spirit of God empowered the disciples to share the good news with those who had traveled from many nations to Jerusalem, so that the good news could travel from Jerusalem to many nations.

The New Testament tells of a world constantly in the shadow of Rome. The life and teachings of Jesus and the early church were a rigid dichotomy to a world defined by allegiance to the emperor, the empire, the power and supremacy of Rome. There are those today attempting to hijack Christianity as a prop in their pursuit of nationalism, supremacy and power. But the teachings of Jesus have already met the powers of Rome. The way of Jesus is love. It is sacrificial.

Reading ancient texts to inform our present spirituality is a somewhat strange activity, at least according to modern sensibilities. As with many of our practices, there are excellent reasons to do this, but there are also many bad examples of misuse. How do we flourish in this tradition in powerful and transformative ways without misuse, misapplication, exploitation, or even abuse at the hands of the text?

Paul concludes his letter with a bold appeal to his Jewish and Gentile readers that belonging to Jesus means belonging to each other, which means sacrificing ourselves for the good of the other, with our money, time, and effort.

The Roman Empire believed it was living in a time of peace, something they called Pax Romana. But Paul and the followers of Jesus knew differently. They knew the Roman sword was not idle. And yet, Paul encouraged the Jews and the Gentiles to be a people of love and demonstrate to Rome a peace that passes all understanding.