09/05/2026

Saturday Week 5 Easter.

In today's first reading we continue on their mission with Paul and Barnabas and also learn that St Luke is an eye-witness of some these "deeds" that he records.

The preaching that I have heard and read in my lifetime has had Scripture as either its subject or its support.

Jesus had ordered the first missionaries, both "the 12" and "the 72", to proclaim that "the kingdom of God was at hand" and when they did so their sincerity was supported to the extent that they themselves were amazed and exultant by the spiritual gifts that they displayed.

By the time Paul and Barnabas were ready to begin their mission into  Europe, however, Christian preaching had expanded to include not only the  "Good News" but also the deliberations and decisions that the Apostles and elders had arrived at by pondering in their hearts the events that they were experiencing. 

Today, 09/05/2026 it seems to me that in order to be taken out of this world as was the first Church I need to pray that I can become able to "Cry out with joy to the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy" and thus truly experience  the nearness of  "The Kingdom of God is nigh" rather than "know" about God in the cold light of soulless brainpower as would the manmade artifact, Artificial Intelligence or any other media storage system.