More of the Story: Doing a new thing!

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. ~ Acts 2:1-4

 Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. ~ Daniel Iverson
Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God's new temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet. ~ NT Wright

Our Pentecost comes from the Jewish Harvest festival of Shavuot, coming five weeks after Passover. So long before we as Christians celebrated it as the birthday of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit, it was already a thing!

 And Pentecost as we know it was a new thing.

 It is just so rich in imagery: heaven breaking in, fire, wind, all those languages!

 It isn't as if the Holy Spirit didn't exist before Pentecost. It did.

 But with Pentecost it broke into our order, disrupted it, and told us that God was doing a new thing.

 The old thing was still there, but now God was showing us another way to be: bringing together those whom we had separated.

 What happened on that Pentecost is still what we are charged with: being open to God's disorder; seeing the Spirit not just at work in us, but also in the world and in our church.

 Reminding us that we are not simply individuals on a faith journey to get to heaven. We are the body of Christ at work in the here and the now.

 That heaven is here already, meeting us where we least expect it! Telling us that just when we get comfortable....

 BAM!

 God will be ready to upset the apple cart!
Prayer: Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Amen.

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