“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1

In the Pentecost reading for today, it’s easy to overlook verse 1: “When the day of Pentecost had come, . . .” It seems the sound of the “violent wind” and the “divided tongues of fire” attract more attention. Visual and sound effects usually do. Just ask any avid attender of action movies! That just may be the case with this text. However, that they were all together is most important.

Pentecost marks the traditional beginning of the church. Upon the death of Jesus, his disciples and followers had to figure out what was next. For some of the disciples, such as Peter, it was back to their pre-Jesus job of fishing. I wonder what they were thinking: Was following Jesus a good thing while it lasted? Is it over? What do we do now? The coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of the rushing wind and the flames of fire marked that something new was afoot.

The disciples, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in other languages. People heard them in their own language, and thus began the earliest – without even knowing it – missionary effort. And the very rudimentary form of the “church” began as well. It was nothing like we know today, nor was it remotely like the church as it had formed by the end of the first century.

“Church,” or ekklesia (pronounced eck-lay-see-ah) in Greek, always has been evolving. It still is. Today’s church is nothing like what I experienced as a child or even as a youth or young adult. Worship styles have changed. The music has changed. In some cases the church has moved from sanctuaries to multi-purpose worship centers. Even the way we dress for church is different. Men rarely wear coats and ties, and women, too, have “dressed down” for worship attendance.

What hasn’t change is the call and claim of the gospel of Jesus. Before he ascended, Jesus commissioned the disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20a). The “Great Commission” still applies today. It always will. “Church” that is not lived outside the walls of the physical building is not church. I’m not sure what it is, but if it is not following the biblical mandate, then it becomes no more than a gathering of people.

While we may not experience what they did on that first Pentecost, the reality is that the Holy Spirit still is active in our lives. It pushes and directs us into active ministry outside the church walls. As Linda Walter much said in a sermon she preached, the doors leading out of the sanctuary should be called the “Servant’s Entrance.” I like that! It was true on the first Pentecost, and it’s just as true today. See you on the servant’s journey!

Grace and peace,

Mike

June 4, 2017