Sermon for July 18, 2021

Though Luke does not say (the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is, or should be considered, as one work), it is possible that the persecution is directed specifically against Hellenistic Jewish Christians, and those who share Stephen’s views, those who downplay the importance of the temple. At least, the Hellenistic believers are the ones whose work Luke now begins to describe.

Sermon for July 11, 2021

Ecclesiastes, which is the Greek name, more properly known to the Jew as Kohelet, was written by a variety of authors between the years 450 and 200 BCE. That means, when it comes to the Old Testament, this, rather than Malachi, is the last words recorded in our Protestant Bibles. But because this book is strongly associated with wisdom literature, it is put with Psalms and Proverbs, which is ironic because much is what is taught in Kohelet is the antithesis of Psalms and Proverbs.