"For we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard!"

But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." Acts 4. 13 - 21

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ empowered the disciples mightily and even the threats of the rulers and elders and scribes could not stop them from speaking about what they had seen and heard and for encouraging the people to praise God for what they had seen and heard. The scribes and Pharisees had grown accustomed to threatening the people of the Way, sending them into hiding. But the power of the Resurrection could not be suppressed, and the disciples spoke out and evangelized with vigor. Times they were a changing!

This morning I awoke with this song in my head, because times are changing all around me, around our country and around our world and Creation. The gardenias bloom a month early these days, more people flock to church in the face of fears of oppression from our rulers, and if we don't get out of the way we will be swept out to sea by the changing tide...and yet, change is a constant. Change is one thing you can count on. But the Love of God is also a constant. It never changes, it cannot be lost and it will endure as long as the sun and the moon shall rise.

Our task is to maintain a posture of stillness and peace so that the changing surroundings can come and go like the wind, but our journey with Jesus is constant. The times will always be changing, but we must never stop talking about we have seen and heard in the presence of God.