[CatherineTorpey]

Today, we get to hear from the Rev. Chad Tanaka Pack, whose sermon is “Awake Yet?” His scripture is Acts 9:36-43.

I’m sorry I didn’t get anything on the portal until just now. I worked all day Saturday (violins, please).

The book called Acts of the Apostles (“Acts” for short) is written by the same person who wrote the gospel according to Luke. It tells the story of the early church; what happened in the 30 years or so after the ascension of Jesus. I found this outline of the events recounted in Acts and the years they occurred: https://www.csmedia1.com/wpcgreenwood.org/acts-timeline.pdf (I haven’t thoroughly checked that site for its level of scholarship.)

Peter and Paul are the superstars of the book of Acts. Peter, of course, was with Jesus from the beginning of his earthly ministry. Paul (also known by his Jewish name Saul) was persecuting the Christians, but had an encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus; that story comes just prior to our reading for today.

In this story, Peter heals two people: Aenaeus and Dorcas. We don’t know much about Aenaeus other than what’s here, but Dorcas has been celebrated in church history as a widow who, as is told earlier in the book of Acts, did works of mercy and sewed clothing for the poor. She is a saint in the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox traditions. The bible doesn’t say she’s a widow, but that’s the oral history. Under Roman law, a woman could inherit wealth from her father or husband, and so she might have been a single woman of means.

I’ll keep it short today. See you at 10am!

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