Pioneering: Meditations for Transforming Our Carlisle
United Methodist Church
Number 24 May
12, 2013
Our Pentecost
Then Peter stood up
with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. Acts 2:14a.
The ten days between Christ’s ascension and the arrival of
the Holy Spirit is glossed over in Luke's account in Acts. Christ has told them to stay in Jerusalem and
wait for the Holy Spirit. This must have
been a faith-testing time considering that they were uncertain about their own safety. They were balancing the great joy of having
been with their Risen Lord against the belief that they were still vulnerable
to the judgment of the Jewish authorities who maneuvered Rome to crucify Jesus.
Try to imagine yourself waiting for some unknown amount of
time. It’s not like waiting for
Christmas, or waiting for the birth of a child, where you have some
expectations of the time or the results.
This is more like waiting for some complex test result that will map the
course of the rest of your life on earth.
The disciples had to exhibit far more trust in something
they couldn’t imagine, except that Christ promised them the Holy Spirit. And thanks to their patience and faith,
Christians today can experience the presence of the Holy Spirit and the
beginning of the Church.
Proverbs tells us that the Lord
disciplines those he loves. It seems to
me that Peter, of all the Twelve was the one most disciplined. Jesus took Peter’s human traits and
transformed them. The fisherman who tried
walking on water, who said “wash all of me”, and “I’ll never deny you”, and “I am
ready to die with you,” began to be transformed from close follower into mighty
apostle when the Risen Christ told him to “Feed my sheep.”
Pentecost, the day of the rushing
of the Mighty Wind and the descending flames, was the day Peter’s
transformation was complete. “Then Peter stood up…
and addressed the crowd.”
Today some might say he was on performance-enhancing drugs. But we know it was the Holy Spirit in him.
Peter concluded this first
mighty sermon with these words:
“And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and
your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will
call.” Acts 2:38b-39
Peter’s first sermon led to the conversion of about three
thousand souls and completed his transformation . The promise he proclaimed that first Pentecost
is ours as well. We only have to claim
it.
Four things happened at the first Pentecost. The Holy Spirit arrived in full force to set
the believers on fire. The church was
born in that upper room where Jesus asked his disciples to remember him in the
breaking of bread and drinking the cup.
The church first boldly witnessed to the world. And the Risen Lord fulfilled the promise that
He made to send the Comforter.
But I believe in reading the rest of the book of Acts that, Pentecost
was not a one-time event; I believe that Pentecost occurs every time the Holy
Spirit descends upon us. It is Pentecost
that energizes the Church Universal and each church, from house church to
mega-church. And since we are human,
just like that first morning cup of coffee or
tea, we need a regular refill. In fact,
I believe what keeps Church alive is being filled with the Holy Spirit every
chance it gets.
On May 19th the entire Christian world will celebrate the
anniversary of the first Pentecost, as it did the Savior’s birth and the first
Easter. That day is the day we can claim
as our own first Pentecost, the Pentecost of Carlisle UMC.
How can we do this? Acts chapter 12 gives us a clue. One year after the first Easter, Peter was
arrested, chained and placed under round the clock guard. The night before he was to go on trial,
probably for his life, an angel appeared, freed him and guided him to a place
in the city, and left him. Peter
recognized where he was and found his way to a house where the Believers were
in fervent prayer for him.
He knocked on the door and a
servant girl named Rhoda answers, recognized him and, in her great excitement,
rushed back to the prayer meeting without opening the door, and announced that
Peter was here!
No one believed her. (Does this remind you of the women at the
tomb on Easter Day; no one believed them either. They must have been Pennsylvania Dutchmen.) “You’re out of your mind,” is what they
actually said to the poor girl. But
Peter kept knocking, and they finally let him and “were astonished.”
I believe the key to our
Pentecost is fervent prayer by all of us praying as one, as Jesus told his
followers.
As the believers in that house
in Jerusalem prayed fervently for the release of Peter that night, we can pray fervently
for Carlisle UMC, its pastors, its family, and its mission today. This can be
our Pentecost.
Fervent
prayer is so amazing that we can’t believe it works, no matter how sincere we
are in praying, no matter how often we pray. We cannot pray fervently with one hand on the
doorknob, ready to leave the room.
Fervent prayer is not holding onto anything but the Cross of
Christ.
We are building our church from the inside and outside. As long as we are faithful and pray regularly
for one another, for our pastors and all those in responsible positions God
will bless us. Believe it! This is OUR Pentecost!
Common
Prayer. O Christ, teach us to pray with
boldness. Let us experience the
refilling power of Pentecost daily. Let
its power gush forth from us into our fellowship, our community, and our
mission field. Help us to stand up, to
raise our voice, and to speak to the crowd. AMEN.
Transformation
Emphasis for the days ahead:
Let’s be in fervent prayer all
this week for the arrival of the Holy Spirit next Sunday. Pray singly; pray in groups. Pray that your heart be opened; pray for
boldness; pray that ears tingle; that hearts are turned; that Jesus reigns!
Thank
you to those who have encouraged me in these meditations. May they continue to be a blessing to you as
they are for me. Send your feedback to
Charles L. Reynolds at papoo99@comcast.net.
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