The Second Chapter

Many churches focused on the second chapter of Acts in their worship service this morning.   For those who found themselves in a place with some other focus and who are wondering what is so special about that chapter on this day, they likely missed out on celebrating Pentecost Sunday.  The more liturgical minded churches no doubt read all the Spirit related Scripture passages, brought out the red paraments,  and heard a sermon about the beginning moment of the church.     

While it may seem to be an unimportant thing for some, there is always some value in going to place of roots.  The place where are roots are remembered is a place that helps define who we are, it is the place which holds the origins of the dreams birthed for us, and, finally, it is the place that can help us get our feet back on the path we set out to walk.  If we are of a mind to look at the spiritual roots of our church, it is imperative that we go back further than the beginning moments of our denominational movement, or further back than the division which caused us to wage a "us-them" war that resulted in pulling out of where we were to start a new church.    

A serious look at who we are as a church always requires looking at the second chapter of Acts.  There we see a picture of the divine intention.  There we see a Jesus centered spiritual community empowered by the Holy Spirit which looks not inward, but outward into the world.  The measure that we have wandered off course can be seen in the contemporary theological and cultural division which pushes those within the church away from community toward sectarianism and away from Jesus and the Spirit toward the prevailing winds of culture.