Acts Chapter 5

Dear Friends in Christ,

We continued our reading of the book of Acts with chapter 5 last week. Verses 1-11 were particularly difficult so we spent the full hour with them. We will read the second half of the chapter this week and move into chapter 6 the week of 2/26. What was so difficult? The story of Ananias and Sapphira.

During my recent Sunday morning sermons, I've been talking about our personal and denominational lenses though which we read the scriptures and understand the world around us (our hermeneutics). The story of Annanias and Sapphria is a great example of scripture that will be read differently by Christians with differing hermeneutics.

In short, the story is about a husband and wife who sell everything they have so that they (and all of their resources) might become part of the growing Christian community in Jerusalem. (Remember, this is ancient Jerusalem 2,000 years ago; this is not about today.) Before coming to the community, the couple secretly decided that they would withhold a portion of their wealth for themselves. When they presented their gift to the community, they both dropped dead on the spot. I encourage you to read the full version in Acts.

One hermeneutic might say that this story is meant allegorically and not literally. Our group didn't like that interpretation very much as it opens the door to picking and choosing which stories we like and which we do not from a book that the author presented as "an orderly" historical account. If Luke didn't mean this literally, what about Jesus' birth or resurrection? Whatever interpretation we bring, we thought it should begin with us understanding this story as historical.

Another hermeneutic might say that this story means that Christians should surrender everything they own to the church to use at its discretion and that failure to do so will lead to punishment by God. Our group didn't view this interpretation very favorably either. There are clear examples in the Scriptures of people who retained their wealth and used it very effectively for God's mission. So the story was about something else.

Most interpreters say the couple's sin was lying to God. We agreed with that. The text itself suggests that they could have kept their property and all the money after they sold it. Their sin was that they lied about withholding it. We then imagined for a while why they would do that.

• I (tongue-in-cheek) suggested that maybe they wanted to maintain their weekly night out to the (literal) Olive Garden. :-)
• Another participant offered that they might not have trusted that God would provide. I thought that was a great response.
• Still another suggested that maybe the lack of trust was not in God but in the ability of the community to steward their resources. The couple may have had wisdom if this was their reason. Later in the Scriptures, we find that the Jerusalem church was running low on funds caring for the needs of all the people and was looking to the gentile church to help support it.

Whatever their reason for withholding and lying to the community of faith, their sin was judged severely and they died. Our group wasn't sure whether they simply died from guilt or if God took their lives from them. The scripture does not say; our hermeneutic will play a large role in our personal opinions on this.

I look forward to this week's sessions and hope you will be able to join us.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Albert

Kathy Flynn, Administrator of the St. Mark’s Montessori School, discussed the budget for the school beginning July 1. She asked approval for a tuition increase of up to 5% that would provide for a 1% increase in staff salaries. The St. Mark’s school remains a good value for a great school program. The Council voted approval.

In addition Kathy asked for permission to provide a summer care program for current students and others as slots are open. The program would run from June 19 to August 4. This request was encouraged with the support of the Council.

San Marcos Latino Congregation celebrated Epiphany day with worship and lunch. Every child received a gift from the congregation. On January 29 they celebrated the presentation of Our Lord again with worship and lunch.

The Business Manager reported that Shepherds Staff, the database system for most churches, has been cleaned up so that only active members are on the list. That will save mailing time and costs.

With regret and concern, Council voted to remove 15 names from the membership list. Those were inactive members identified when mail was returned unopened.

Lutheran Family Services of Virginia asked St. Mark’s if we had room available for them to use when hosting disabled persons from the Northern Virginia area. This is a daytime program from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM with one staff person for three clients. Council voiced eager support for the program, which may use the Friendship House as a base meeting area. St. Mark’s will have no responsibility for the program.*

Calling all brewers!

Yes, you did read that correctly. No, I'm not talking about baseball. I'm looking for men and women of St. Mark's who brew beer, or would like to learn.

To help celebrate the 500th anniversary of the reformation, home brewers in congregations around our Fairfax Conference are hoping to have an Oktoberfest with great home-brewed beer. Our friends at Lord of Life already have 25-30 brewers in their growing home-brew crew. I know we have some brewers at St. Mark's. (I myself brew.)

So, if you are a brewer or want to learn about it and possibly become one, send me an email at ‪atriolo@stmarks-elca.org. Someone recently told me that he doesn't brew beer but he does drink it; I responded, "What do you think we do when we brew?" ;-)

In all seriousness, brewing is a great social activity around which some wonderful conversations and relationships take shape. I look forward to receiving your email!

Until then, cheers!

+ Pastor Albert