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News and Ideas from around the Anglican World |
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June 2006
The Day of Pentecost
Dean John Wright
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts2:1)
A handful of men and women, followers of Jesus of Nazareth, had gathered in a house together, not really knowing what to expect, when the lid was blown off their lives.
I wonder what might have happened if they had not been of one accord. If they each had their own agenda and formed power groups in opposition to other followers of Jesus. One group, for example, might insist on only one gender as qualification for membership, another group might be composed only of those who saw Jesus walk on water, while a third might require the wearing of a special tattoo on the forehead.
And then there is the other point. They were all in one place. What if Peter had gone off to attend his nephew’s wedding or Andrew had decided to check out a new boat on the Sea of Galilee? What if James and John had taken Zebedee up to the Golan Heights to open their country house for the summer?
But the point is this, they didn’t.
They were all of one accord. They all had their orders and they all had the same agenda. Jesus had told them to wait, and wait they did.
It’s not really so surprising. Whether they had been looking or not, they had all found in Jesus some kind of answer to the riddle of life. They had spent many months together with Jesus and had learned to trust him. They had learned to depend on each other and to share their secret thoughts with Jesus willingly. They had been there when one of the group had turned Jesus in to the authorities and had experienced the worst experience of their lives while the bottom fell out of their world.
They were together as well, when wonderful rumours began to circulate. And they were together when Jesus suddenly appeared in the room with them in his resurrected body. Together they felt a growing sense of purpose and direction rising out of the disaster, that special warmth that blossomed into joy.
The fact is they needed God the Holy Spirit and they were there, together, when he arrived. The world has been a better place because of that.
We are their spiritual descendants and we hear them speak to us on Pentecost each year in whatever language is most familiar to us. But do we share the ardour of their commitment to the risen Son of God? Is their faith the most important purpose in our own lives? Are we of one mind and spirit because we share the Spirit of Pentecost with them?
Do we really expect God’s Spirit to dance like flames of fire on our heads? Can we imagine the noise of the Spirit’s coming and not recoil in fear?
We who gather for worship on Whitsunday are all members of Christ’s body, but we are not and seldom have been in one place and of one accord. Just think of what might happen if we were.
The Very Rev. John Wright is the dean emeritus
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Copyright The Anglican Planet © 2006 |