The Antioch Christian Committee on Relief

Fifth Day of Christmas

Thanks to Jennifer for her comment. Since I noted something negative about her church from ten years ago, let me now note two things positive. The last time I was in Southern Village, I saw that Christ UMC had a "Black Lives Matter" sign in front of the church. Second, under "What We Believe" on their website when I checked it a year or two ago was simply The Apostles' Creed. The website is different now, but I think they still say The Apostles' Creed in worship. My church, UUMC Chapel Hill, has largely forsaken the Apostles' Creed for the rather amorphous modern Canadian Creed. In its pandemic online services, UUMC, does not say creed.

Jennifer noted irony in that she is now the chair of the Missions Committee. Never to miss an opportunity for irony, myself, I have just written a check for $85 to Christ UMC Chapel Hill. On the memo I noted that the check was for Missions and in honor of you, Jennifer. 

 

Today we return to our Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 11:27-30.

Here we meet a Christian prophet named Agabus.There will be a second story about him in Acts 21. Christian prophets are different from OT prophets. They do not write. They are itinerant. Our knowledge of Christian prophets is limited. In 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 Paul sees prophecy as the most important of the various spiritual gifts. The Shepherd of Hermas (late first century) talks about Christian prophets (Mandate 11) and offers ways to test the authenticity of a Christian prophecy. Didache (also late first century) give principles and rules for the housing and feeding of Christian prophets as they itinerate. Christian prophecy goes out of favor in the late second century. We do not hear of it again until the 20th century Pentecostal movement.

Agabus predicts an empire wide famine, which Luke says did take place during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54). The famine most likely occurred during the years 46-47. The famine hit Jerusalem particularly hard. Saul/Paul and Barnabas function like modern day UMCOR truck drivers, bringing food and supplies from Antioch  to the Jerusalem Christians. 

 

Although we know little about the economic situation of the Jerusalem church in the first century, it appears certain that it was a Christian community constantly in economic distress. Collections for the Jerusalem Christians are mentioned numerous places in the NT. Paul devotes two whole chapters of 2 Corinthians to this (ch. 8-9).  I would speculate that part of the problems in Jerusalem stem from its lack of arable soil, The verdant fields of the Galilee to the north grow rocky and barren as you draw closer to Jerusalem. Immediately south of Jerusalem is the Negev desert.

 

When the Jewish War against the Romans broke out in 66 AD., the Christian community in Jerusalem fled across the Jordan to the small town of Pella. We do not hear of it again after the War. Christianity would  absent in Jerusalem until the early fourth century, when the emperor Constantine declared Christianity legal. 

 

These verses show that from the beginning Christians have put care of the poor as a top priority, and not just the poor in their own communities but also the poor in far away Christian communities, including th chronically poor, as we see with the case of Jerusalem.

 

Faithfully,

Christian