Statement of faith

Acts 7:30-34

 ‘Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him [Moses] in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.”

This comes from the long sermon - or statement of faith - from Stephen right before he is stoned to death.  Stephen traces with his words of faith the Jewish history from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph through to Moses and then David and Solomon.  He uses the law of those who would condemn him to show how they have missed the important thing - the righteous holy one, Jesus - as well as the heart of the law.

It's quite a statement and is met with anger and rage - the kind that leads to Stephen's murder.  

And it makes me think of those who have come since Stephen and spoken of their faith with passion and conviction, only to be met with a similar fate.

It also makes me think of myself living in a time and a place where the stakes aren't life or death and yet when it comes to sharing of my faith, I don't always manage to summon the same conviction as Stephen.

We aren't all Stephen, but I think we can learn from the gift Stephen shared.

Stephen died displaying a faith that depended on God in life and in death.  We aren't all called to die for that faith, or even share it as eloquently.  But what and how would our lives look if we lived lives filled with the promise of that faith?  If we lived our faith as if our lives depended on it?

God of faith, our lives depend on you.  Move us to live each moment in gratitude and abundant life.  Amen.