Purity Within the Church

The second chapter of Acts brings to mind the second chapter of Genesis.  Genesis speaks of a Garden where purity prevailed and Acts speaks of a moment in time when the church was pure and untainted.  Neither seems to have lasted very long.  As soon as the church left the room which had been filled with holy wind and fire, people starting messing it up.  To read the book of Acts is to read the early church's struggle to live within a spiritual community unaffected by controlling religious rules.    

The further the church has moved from the Day of Pentecost, the more it has been impacted by the theology and practices of religious people who sought to shape and direct its journey forward.  Certainly, there have been times of revival and reformation which re-directed the church in its movement, but never enough to change the trajectory over the centuries.    

The church of our own day is in deep trouble.  We have run so far into activism that personal piety has lost its place and we have submitted too often to the demands of a secularism which requires adherence to its values even at the cost of losing the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is not a day for the spiritually faint at heart.  Instead, it is a day for the rediscovery of the power and boldness imparted to those first imperfect men and women who worked to take what started in Jerusalem out into the world.