What kind of car did Jesus' disciples drive?
A Honda.
How do you know?
The Bible says they were all together in one Accord (Acts 1:14)
Yes, it's a silly joke. But an appropriate one for this period we find ourselves in - between Easter and Pentecost.
It was, for the original disciples of Jesus, a waiting time. Christ had risen and had appeared and ministered to the disciples. He had told them what was going to be expected of them - to go into all the world and make disciples of all people (Matt 28: 19) - but he had not given them the means or the specifics of their commission. In fact, he told them to wait around Jerusalem until they received the power from the Holy Spirit to fulfill their mission (Luke 24: 49). They did not receive the gift of that power until Pentecost (May 28 this year), seven weeks after the resurrection. What did they do in the meantime?
Well, they did not sit around on their hands. The Gospel according to Luke tells us that they were continually in the Temple, blessing God. The book of Acts tells us that they devoted themselves to prayer with one accord. They stuck together; they supported one another. They prayed together for their needs and for God's guidance and support.
They did not know yet what their full potential was. They had not yet seen what the Holy Spirit could do among them and through them. Pentecost had not yet come.
But they knew that they were a part of something very special - that they had both a commission and a promise from Jesus. Jesus, they had found, was not just a great teacher, or a martyred leader, but the risen and living Messiah, the Savior.
Like the disciples, we are living between the glories of the past and the hope of the future. What we will be, what we can be, has not yet been revealed. This year, we have entered into a time of “Strategic Planning”, a time of looking at who and what we are, what we can be, and what we hope to be. As we look at these things, we have to figure out how we will go about becoming what we hope to be. It may mean giving up on some beloved programs or events. It may mean being open to doing things in a new way. It may mean reclaiming some programs and events that we have let slip away. We know that we want our church to be open to all, to be a place of fellowship and outreach, and to be relevant to the community and the world in which we live. We want people to know Jesus through the way they see us.
We don't know all that God is going to call us to do. Our uncertainties are not as dramatic as those of the original disciples of Jesus. Yet if, like the disciples, we stick together, hold fast to the promise, and pray together "with one accord" for our needs and for God's guidance and support, then we too will receive what we need to live out our part of the Great Commission: to go and make disciples of all people (Matthew 28: 16-20).
In Christ's love,
Pastor Matt Stengel
