6 May 2026

The disciples were right not to neglect the preaching of the Word. Neglecting  the Word of God and the preaching of the Word would be to deprive the church of its life blood. For the Holy Spirit is to be discerned in the Word and in the preaching of the Word.

Ministers of Word and Sacrament and other office-bearers need to discern what is important. Is the Sunday sermon less important than completing the Action Plan or setting up the hall or replying to endless e-mails?

Discerning priorities and delegating responsibilities defines individual roles, establishes a community of trust, encourages individual pride in the fulfilment of their work, values openness and transparency, creates a community of people who both give and receive.

What I like about this election more than anything else is the outcome. The whole community participated in the election and they chose seven men.  Stephen was one. What do you notice about them? They all had Greek names!

Remember it was the Greek speaking widows who were being discriminated against and deprived of life’s essentials. So seven Greek speaking men were elected to be their guardians and ensure a fairer distribution of resources.

I think this election had the mark of the Holy Spirit upon it because it was imbued with grace. There was no attempt here by the indigenous Jews to take advantage of the election and put up their own people  to safeguard their own interest.