Acts of the Apostles

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 

-Acts 2:42-47

On the day of Pentecost the message of good news that Jesus was risen from the dead hit not only the ears of the people in Jerusalem, but it hit their hearts as well.  3,000 were baptized in a single day.  That message was taken far and wide back home with the people who had traveled to Jerusalem for the festival of Tabernacles.  This passage from the end of Acts 2 – tells how the message of Jesus’ life, work, death and resurrection was spread… it was through relationship.

These new believers shared their lives.  They shared their food.  They shared their spaces and invited one another into their homes.  They showed the world that a new type of community was possible.  “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

God calls us into relationship not only with Jesus, but also with one another.  We are created to live in community.  We are drawn together through communion, shared experiences, shared meals, shared spaces.  This week, as we continue to celebrate our Risen Lord, may we draw near to one another and experience the presence of Christ in the bread and the cup of communion and in God’s community here.

Holy God, the Alleluias of Easter still ring in our ears – and it is when we sing along that we get into trouble. It’s so easy to sing our Alleluias so loudly that it drowns out the sound of our neighbors needing help – of our family members’ pain – of our own need for you. After all, it’s much easier to sing than to do the reconciling work you call us to. God, you listen in the darkness for our pleas to you – help us to do the same for our friends, family, and even enemies! Resurrect your Song within us, that we might sing while we work. Through you, may the Song of Life call us together in your Holy Harmony. Amen.