Acts 2:1-21, 37-47
This is one of my favorite Bible stories, as you know. It’s full of energy and possibility, of lives changed and the world renewed. There are miracles and miraculous results. Remember our friend Marcus Borg tells us the Bible is full of many true stories, some of which happened. This is a true story which didn’t happen. There’s no way Roman soldiers dealing with a holy-day crowd in Jerusalem just 40 days after Jesus is crucified are going to let his followers preach to crowds and baptize 3000 people. That’s not how Empires work.
This story was written down about 80 years after the fact to tell people not part of Judaism or Christianity how the Jesus movement began. It’s written after Jerusalem is destroyed and people scattered. It’s written when small groups of Jesus people were found in almost every city of the Empire. What’s true and important about this story is that at least one author traced that movement to this event. It tells us how early Christians understood themselves. So what can we learn?
Primary in this story is the movement of God’s Spirit at the heart of everything that happened. The story starts with disciples and other followers gathered, presumably in hiding, and afraid. They were directionless, disorganized, despondent. Then something happened. The Spirit moved like fire among them, setting their hearts ablaze. They changed. They were no longer paralyzed by fear. They were willing to publicly tell the story of Jesus. They were empowered to share good news with anyone who would listen, because they realized that it was indeed GOOD news. Their lives had been changed by Jesus, and they realized that the change endured even when he was physically gone. His presence endured with them even when they couldn’t see him. The teachings that had turned their lives around and made them disciples were still relevant. They were words to live by, and they decided they would live by them. All this they attribute to God moving among them. It was how God gave new life.
Second, it’s very clear that this good news was for everyone. They began to speak languages they had never learned so that every person could hear about Jesus and his vision for living. They did indeed travel the known world sharing what they had learned and how it had changed their lives. Someone recently noted that the gift of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the world is the belief that all people are equal and of great value. We see that principle in this story. Everyone is included on an equal basis. When contemporary churches say some should be excluded – immigrants, those of dark races, women, queer – they are violating this principle and they are not true to our roots.
Finally, we see in this story the centrality of community – our word for this day. They practiced community. For the most part they did that in small groups, in house churches, gatherings of friends brought together by a common faith in how life ought to work and how God was enlivening them. What did that look like?
Worship. They went together to the Temple. They gathered in the presence of God. They expected to feel the Spirit move among them. They opened themselves to the possibility of being inspired by God.
Fellowship. They ate together. Meals in this moment in history were long. They enjoyed several courses, told stories, asked questions, complained about the government. Unlike the custom, these meals included both men and women, young and old, rich and poor. They were a sign of their belief that everyone was welcome.
Service. They visited the sick and some shared the gift of healing. They brought bread to those without food and clothing to those unable to buy their own. They organized themselves so that no one would be neglected. They pooled their material resources to share with those in need. They pooled their skills to teach apprentices how to work among them. They lived as a family and cared for each other.
Teaching. They shared what they remember from what Jesus had said and done. They puzzled over how to put his teaching into action and talked through what those teachings meant in each new situation they faced. They learned how to follow by remembering and by expanding what they knew.
Prayer. Prayer brought the presence of God and Jesus into each daily situation. They talked through their lives with God in the presence of one another. They listened for the ways God responded in heart and mind. Prayer was the glue that kept them connected to each other and to God.
Joy and Gratitude. They were followers of Jesus because in the midst of a very hard time his teachings made life better. They named what better meant. They celebrated when they experienced something good. They gave thanks to each other and to God.
I wonder how we experience these or other signs of community as we walk together with God now.