Luke manages to pack an astonishing amount of detail into this opening statement. He hits on pretty much all of the key themes and ideas of the entire book, right here in the first few lines. And the richness of this statement was only made more apparent by the attempts of the commentators to paraphrase it. Reading the paraphrases emphasized only how much was left out. So rather than paraphrase these lines this morning, I want instead to talk with you about how they describe the church. Here we have the church's foundation in Jesus' words and deeds; the church's identity as God's kingdom and God's people; the church's agents, represented here by the apostles and the Holy Ghost; and finally the church's methods, word and sacrament. Do you want to know what the church is, the identity of the body whose history Luke is going to share with us? Then listen up!
