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Never Alone

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ… (Acts 10.34-43 https://biblegateway.com NRSVA)
This passage is one of several early summaries of what the first Christians believed. It’s sometimes called ‘The Kerygma’, from the Greek word for ‘proclamation’. ‘The Kerygma’ is the message which the first Christians boldly proclaimed.
Peter explains that the original proclamation was to the Jewish nation, but here he’s preaching to Gentiles and at the end of his sermon some of his hearers are baptised, so the context makes clear that the message is now for everyone. This is borne out by Jesus’ ministry too. He repeatedly said that he’d come to call the Jewish people to make a radical recommitment to God, but he included in his mission the God-fearing Gentiles whom he met and other people whom more orthodox Jews considered to be beyond the pale - tax collectors, prostitutes and those who routinely ignored the Sabbath and other Jewish laws.
So what is the key message that Peter is so anxious to share? It’s that Jesus ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, (for God was with him)..., [and was] put… to death by hanging... on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and [his followers] ‘ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.’
Like The Kerygma’s first hearers, we’re certainly being oppressed by forces beyond our control, unleashed into a world we previously took for granted by the COVID-19 virus. Whether we consider that to be the work of the devil, or just one of many things that can come between us and God’s purpose for our own lives and for our world, depends on our personal worldview. Peter makes clear where he stands.
Peter goes on to say that Jesus identified himself totally with our predicament by allowing his opponents to put him to death on a tree, but was then vindicated by God when he was raised from death, and now lives to eat and drink with his followers in Holy Communion - although here Peter is referring to some very specific occasions when this happened.
For us Holy Communion is difficult to share at the moment. But the central message of The Kerygma is that “God is with us in Jesus”, not just at Christmastime but at Eastertime too, not just when we’re celebrating together but when we’re struggling alone.

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