*** DEBUG START ***
*** DEBUG END ***

Angela Tilby: Acts is hard work during Eastertide

03 May 2019

SINCE the arrival of Common Worship, the Sunday lectionary between Easter and Pentecost (based on the Revised Common Lectionary) prescribes readings from the Acts of the Apostles at the principal Sunday service.

These are meant to replace an Old Testament reading during Eastertide, which means that, if there are three readings at a Sunday eucharist, they are all from the New Testament. Even if there is to be only one reading before the Gospel, Acts has precedence. (An Old Testament option is provided, somewhat grudgingly, but even if this is used it must not supplant the Acts reading).

There is an obvious logic to reading the early chapters of Acts in Eastertide, as the Church lives out its Easter hope and looks forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

But, although it makes sense in thematic terms, I find it hard work liturgically. The problem is the clash of two often strong (and sometimes long) narrative passages coming one after the other: Acts and then a Gospel; either one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, or a passage on resurrection life from John. You want to listen to those: they really matter.

Acts needs space to be heard well, which is why I find that I am more likely to attend to it when it is read in the course of the daily office than when it is crowded into a Sunday eucharist.

It is not that I don’t appreciate Acts: in purely literary terms, it is probably one of the best compositions in the Bible, skilfully crafted to tell its story of the Spirit’s work in the Early Church. It also wonderfully reflects the Mediterranean urban world in which Christianity emerged and spread, giving a vivid insight into ordinary secular life, commerce, travel, law, and gossip, as well as the dangers of fire and shipwreck. Thematically, it both completes the mission of Jesus from Luke’s Gospel, and provides a careful apologetic for the mission of Paul, who, at the end of the story, is in Rome, still free, though awaiting trial.

I know that there are those for whom the Acts of the Apostles is a blueprint for the mission of the Church today, and who might jump at the chance for a programmatic exposition of the narrative in preaching. I don’t read Acts in that way, but I do see anticipations and warnings of how the Spirit works through human frailty to form communities shaped by the gospel. I don’t always like the results — one thinks of Ananias and Sapphira — but we need to know the worst if we are to emulate the best.

So, I want to do justice to the Acts of the Apostles, but I am afraid that, on Sunday mornings between Easter and Pentecost, it all rushes past in a bit of a blur.

Browse Church and Charity jobs on the Church Times jobsite

Letters to the editor

Letters for publication should be sent to letters@churchtimes.co.uk.

Letters should be exclusive to the Church Times, and include a full postal address. Your name and address will appear below your letter unless requested otherwise.

Forthcoming Events

Women Mystics: Female Theologians through Christian History

13 January - 19 May 2025

An online evening lecture series, run jointly by Sarum College and The Church Times

tickets available

 

Festival of Faith and Literature

28 February - 2 March 2025

tickets available

 

Visit our Events page for upcoming and past events 

The Church Times Archive

Read reports from issues stretching back to 1863, search for your parish or see if any of the clergy you know get a mention.

FREE for Church Times subscribers.

Explore the archive

Welcome to the Church Times

 

To explore the Church Times website fully, please sign in or subscribe.

Non-subscribers can read four articles for free each month. (You will need to register.)