Today’s readings give us a glimpse of what difference it makes to entrust one’s life to the way, truth, and life of Jesus. How do Easter people live?

Stephen, along with six other disciples, had been selected by the 12 apostles to be responsible for the early church’s Meals on Wheels ministry. The apostles were spending all their time preaching, teaching, and praying. The Greek widows and orphans were being neglected in the daily food distribution. The apostles laid hands on these seven and “ordained” them as the church’s first “deacons.” Literally a deacon is one who waits on tables, one who serves food.

Stephen is described twice by Luke in Acts 6 as a man “full of grace and power.” Apparently that threatened some folks, because they became so incensed at Stephen that they seized him a…