The Acts of the Apostles gives us an account of a dramatic scene where tongues of fire fell upon the heads of the apostles. I don't know what that must have looked like, but I imagine it was shocking and amazing. Upon receiving this fire of the Spirit, they were changed. Their physical bodies were the same; they didn't look different. These ordinary individuals were transformed and changed in who they were, in their spiritual self. In receiving the spirit, they had a knowledge of God that allowed them to now see their oneness - they were the Body of Christ. They were one and in this new body they all knew and understood one another. It did not matter what geographic, political, social, or ethnic boundary the world and marked out for us - we were made one and the gospel was for everyone, no matter what.
Recognizing they were one body and now being imbued with a knowledge of God that gave them new faith and a fiery zeal for Christ and his message - they went out to every corner of the known world and baptized, preached, witnessed and gave their lives to this truth they now possessed. And, you know what, it worked! By all counts, it should have failed. These were just ordinary people who went out and proclaimed something contrary to what was popular. In their zeal, though, they baptized and converted countless people and those people did the same and almost 2000 years later we are here in Pennsylvania - the children of those first apostles. It worked because they were not operating out of worldly power, authority or statistics - they were working hand in hand with God himself through His spirit.
Today is not just another feast we celebrate, no, it is the celebration of who we are - the church! Today is the celebration of the beginning of the spreading of the gospel and the body of the church. It all started with this event and the Spirit has been working in and through the memebrs of the church ever since; now it is working through us. We too have received that same spirit through our baptism, confirmation, and in our worship and spiritual life. We too have within our selves that same fire that fell upon the apostles in that upper room. We too have that same commission to preach, witness, and sacrifice ourselves for the gospel. We need to allow that fire to kindle; we need to fuel it so that it blazes within us. When we recognize and feel the flames of the Spirit within us, then we too will live our call and be the church for this generation.
The fire is within us. Let it burn. Let us set the world on fire!
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