These initial directives will help you being the Acts Adventure {a life lived attending to me, conversing with me, thinking with me, and serving with me}. I have further guidance for you in the renewal of your relationship with me and the lifestyle which you choose.

The first few years after my physical departure were recorded by my friend Luke. He wrote my biography in all its essential parts. Later, he collected vignettes of my continuing activity from the small community which I formed. Through the Spirit I lived on in the company of faithful friends and continued to express my life through them. Even then I lived in their consciousness, kept in dialogue with them, and directed them in much the same way I am addressing you now. After my departure from the earth, I continued to express my will and purpose through them. In each age and to each generation since then, I have done the same. Some ages have been dealt to my knock at the door; others; very perceptive. Your age is very important and I stand at the door knocking, waiting for you now to respond to my invitation.

From era to era I have made my presence felt in a variety of forms. Today, in this time, I am coming to my people with power and love, but here must be those who listen to me, who discern my presence and respond to it. Others in your fellowship are already being awakened. If you will begin to share with friends your own hunger, your questions, your deepened awareness of my presence, you will discover that you are not alone, I am speaking to them as I am to you. The movement of the Spirit is more widespread than most persons are aware.

– Ben Johnson, I Stand at the Door, CTS Press, 1986, 14-15.

1  Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning,  ²  right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen.  ³  After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom.  ⁴  While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me:  ⁵  John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 

6 As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” 

7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.  ⁸ Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

Acts 1:1-8

On this day when we celebrate the Advent of Jesus Christ into the world, spend time thinking about how you might be called to bear witness to his love – through your hunger, your questions, your deepened awareness – shared openly with others. Imagine how the Spirit might move in and through you to spread the Good News we proclaim this night – Christ is born!

Lord Jesus,
I give you thanks for your coming –
that you came into this world
to show us all God’s incredible love for us.
Help me to hear your knock at my door.
Help me to answer your call.
Remove any fear and hesitation from me,
to share my faith authentically and honestly
as I live my life.
Help me to bear witness to your love,
just as those first apostles did.
Help me to trust your power,
the Spirit’s power,
to use me to bless the world with the love
you have given me to share.
Amen