Today was a significant day in the life of my church. For starters, it was Pentecost Sunday–a day for remembering the birth of the Church, when the Spirit came upon Jesus’ early followers in tongues of flame. But in addition, it was “Groundbreaking Sunday”–the day on which my congregation (First Baptist Church of Marshville) broke ground on a new church facility.
For me, these two events are related. As I shared with my congregation, our ability to move forward “in the power of the Spirit” depends to great extent on how successfully we create a context in which the Spirit can work. If the church described in Acts 2 is any indicator, this context must be characterized unity, obedience and faith.
In thinking about how to dive into this discussion, I was initially drawn to the crowd’s reaction to the Spirit-led enthusiasm of those first disciples: “They are filled with new wine” (Acts 2:13). But…we ARE a Baptist church…so wine was out of the question. But then I asked myself: What other beverage gives the appearance of being energized? My answer: Energy drinks! So, I had our altar table arrayed with a collection of popular energy-boosting beverages and–at the center–one large, white candle with a steady flame.
This allowed what I hope was an intriguing entry point for the questions: Are we providing a context in which the Spirit can work? Are we ‘burning-out’ or ‘burning bright’?
Pentecost: Burn Out or Burn Bright?
