The Church is Born - Acts 2: 1-21

One of the first songs that I remember singing in children’s choir went something like this, “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together. All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the church together. The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place, the church is the people.” For a child, this was pretty succinct. I understood what the church was not – the building we gathered in, a mark on the landscape, or a place to sleep. And I understood what the church was – the people.

But as we grow up, the simple answers of what the church is and what it is not, seem to raise more questions then anything else. Chiefly, what people? Only those who look like me? Talk like me? Have my same education level? Those people that I am comfortable around? Only the people that believe what I believe religiously and politically? Those who have the same type of family that I do or make a similar income?

Further, we seem to stop believing in the simple things that the song states that the church is not. We really have come to like our church buildings and steeples. Our bells and banners. And some of us really find church to be a resting place – a place to sit with our family or gather and talk with our friends. A place to rest our eyes or a safe place of respite from the concerns and responsibilities of the rest of the week.

So we are left struggling with not one but two big questions. The first, what is the church and the second, why does the church even matter? Perhaps today’s scripture passage can give us some insight to help answer these two questions.

What is the church? We are told that on the day of Pentecost, the day that church was created, all of the people were together in one place. While we aren’t expressly told what this place is, we can assume it is a house, a common gathering for people throughout Jesus’ ministry and following. Houses in Ancient Israel were not like our houses today with many rooms. They were essentially one room that became expanded as the male family members married and brought their spouses into the dwelling place. While the room expanded, the number of rooms did not necessarily. So we have a group of people, all together, in this one room. Perhaps it was crowded and sticky; maybe they were discussing the teachings of Jesus. Whatever they were doing, they were together. In one sanctuary. There is something about physical togetherness that makes the church what it is. There is something about being in this room with the people around us on Sundays that defines us. Scientists have done research on the atomic level that suggests that when one atom comes into contact with another atom, no matter for how short a time, it is permanent changed. If down to our atomic level this is true, then surely it is true on our physical level. We know when someone is sitting next to us. Sometimes we can even feel what they are feeling – as our breath begins to match theirs in pace or we feel someone’s radiating joy or tension. Our spirit needs to be connected to other human beings in a meaningful way, and when we are in such authentic relationship, even when we are not talking directly to each other, but worshiping together, we are changed. This is why it is vital that each of us is present every Sunday – because we matter to each other in a profound way. This is also why we all gather into one room, not one building, so that we can hear each other affirm the same things we believe, we can see each other worship God in different ways and with different spirits, we can sense God moving amongst this body of believers. And we can embrace each other, as we are the hands and feet of Christ.

The Holy Spirit also marks the church. The Holy Spirit is the often discounted member of the Trinity – this relationship that is internal to God’s very being. It is hard to picture the Holy Spirit, even though there are numerous different images for the Spirit – the most common being a dove. But in this passage the Holy Spirit is described as a violent wind and tongues of fire. But maybe our very difficultly in defining the Holy Spirit, even symbolically, is to the church’s benefit. The Holy Spirit grants different people different gifts, we are told in the 12^th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. I also believe that there are different manifestations of the Spirit in different churches – this is why we have so many different denominations. So people can find the place to worship that best touches their spirit in a way that moves them to be Christ’s embodiment in the world. But in order for people to be moved in this way, they Spirit must be present. We must individually invite the Spirit to be present in our hearts each and every day. We must corporately ask the Spirit to move in a mighty way when we gather together, and above all we must trust that the Spirit moves when we ask.

Third, the church is diverse. We are told in our passage that there were Jews from every nation gathered in Jerusalem, and that each was bale to hear the message being spoken in their own language. Revelations 7:9 describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the Lamb. Brothers and sisters, the church is the image of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The church is filled with people speaking different languages, and people understanding those languages. With peoples of different nationalities, sexualities, races, and gender. And this diversity is celebrated! It is not about making people fit into our way of doing things or those who look and sound like us. It is about letting each person celebrate God and everyone knowing that they are rejoicing in the same Holy and Risen Christ! While some would argue that this is really what the global church looks like on Sunday, I would challenge us to make this be Albright-Bethune, on the local level, on Sundays.

In the second half of today’s scripture lesson, Peter and the eleven disciples stand amongst these people who mock them because they do not understand what is happening, those who are saying that their diverse gifts are marks of intoxication instead of worship and started to preach. He tells the people that God will pour out the Holy Spirit upon the people of God, and that those children will prophesy, see visions, and dream dreams. And why do these things happen? So that people will see God, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved. So why does the church exist? Because the life and teachings of Jesus Christ matter. We believe that it not only matters to us as individuals, but to the world. We believe that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection changed history and give us hope both in this life present and in the life to come, eternally. Do you really believe that? Or do we gather together just to fill ourselves without a purpose? We are filled by the Spirit as the church, so that we can preach good news to the captives and free the poor. We are filled so that we can serve the world in a way that was modeled by Christ – marked with compassion and grace. We are filled so we can make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Do you believe that? If not, why do we even gather together for such a short time on Sunday mornings?

We are the body of Christ, brothers and sisters! We are the church! Let’s celebrate that! We need not be ashamed of our message or our presence. Over the next couple of months, starting in July, we are going to be talking about the church and discipleship. As we prepare to start this series, I would challenge each of you to write down the three things you think church is. You don’t have to put your name on this, but I would encourage you to place it under my office door. Before we can start to have a conversation about passionate and meaningful discipleship we need to dig deeper into what we believe the church to be. Then on the other side of the same paper that you write your three things, I want you to complete the following sentence. If Albright-Bethune didn’t exist tomorrow it would matter because… What makes us a church? Who are we touching in the community? What are we offering the Kingdom of God? And how are we marked by the Holy Spirit?