Further Up and Further In

Renée Antrosio – September 9, 2025 2 Comments

Stories matter- the stories we read, the stories we tell about ourselves, the stories of the people around us. Do we see our faith as a journey or as a one-time conversion? As we have been studying Acts, I have begun noticing that so many of Luke’s stories are about people being drawn “further up and further in”- as C.S. Lewis wrote– into deeper relationship and progressive revelation of God’s good news.

Jesus’ followers- almost all of whom were Jewish as he was- were already worshippers of the One God. Recognizing him as Messiah, witnessing God raising him from the dead, being filled with the Holy Spirit were incredible next steps on their faith journeys. The Samaritans were also God-worshippers, as was the Ethiopian treasurer, as was Lydia the merchant, as was Saul the Pharisee. God desired to reveal more to them- the gift of the Son, the joy of baptism, the power of the Holy Spirit. And there are also stories of people who didn’t seem to be looking for God at all- but God was seeking them. There is no template story of conversion; Luke gathers the stories of different people, in different places on their life journey, to tell the bigger story of God’s goodness extended to each and all of them, to each and all of us. 

I look back on my own journey- inviting Jesus into my heart at the age of four, asking to be baptized in the river after a summer evening Bible study, growing up in the church and youth group, continuing my Christian walk at boarding school, choosing church in college, learning to be rooted in one fellowship for most of my adult life, accepting the call to serve as pastor, and the many different moments that I have been invited into deeper relationship, to go further up and further in- and I am filled with gratitude. 

I can tell the story of people of faith along the way, companions who shared their lives and taught me through words and action. I can see my story as a series of surprises, God showing up in ways that I could never have imagined. I can see my life as a story, like the song, of God’s goodness running after me,

Cause all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

How I tell my story- to myself, to others- how I tell the story of God’s faithfulness- matters. And your story matters- how you tell it to yourself and others, how you see God’s hand at work, and the times that God feels far away. Because those times are real, and it doesn’t always feel like a progression of glory to glory. Together our stories testify to the vast diversity and creativeness of God’s relationship with humanity; each is important to the bigger story.

It does make me wonder- what might be next? What is the “further up and further in” that I haven’t yet experienced? What surprises are in store- for me individually, but also for us as a community in our story of faith? I am grateful that it doesn’t depend on me- my goodness or faithfulness or brilliance or creativity or boundless energy- that is not the story. God’s goodness, Jesus’ faithfulness, the Spirit’s unexpected movement- this is the Story to which our individual and fellowship story contribute. May we continue to respond to the invitation to go further up and further into the story of God. -Renée