Tag: Dolly Parton

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, A January Reflection on Barnabas, and the Purpose of the Church Let us all take a moment to breathe. With the holiday season behind us and a new year underway, the Church experiences a unique and sacred moment to pause. This is an opportunity to contemplate our ongoing transformation and consider the nature of the faith we share and practice collectively. The early Church faced a similar moment, though under quite different circumstances. In the book of Acts, believers learned how to live as a community, share resources, raise up leaders, and trust God when the future was uncertain. Here, we meet a man whose life still imparts a subtle yet powerful influence. “And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation), a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”— Acts 4:36–37, KJV Joseph (in Hebrew, Joses in Greek)...