The sermon for Sunday, June 12th is not formed in my mind but it is Pentecost Sunday.
This is the occasion reported by Luke in Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 that suggests the disciples got together for a thanksgiving festival and the Holy Spirit came to them and the result was the formation of the church.
The text reports there were tongues of fire, there was a dove descending, and everyone spoke in their own language but everyone was understood.
It was reported that the disciples and the people there were in some kind of ecstatic state of mind and spirit.
It was the birth of the church and from there the disciples moved out into the world and began to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah with the anticipation of the Second Coming. And from that point in history they began to form Communities and they were called "The Way" and from that point in history there developed structure and organization. The Second Coming of Christ did not happen and the church was established to be in place to help teach the children who had not heard of Jesus. The Gospels were written since they began to believe Jesus was not coming back and they wanted to document some of his teaching for those who had not heard him when he walked the earth.
Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and it celebrates the birth of the church; organized religion.
Do you think the church has done more good than bad; created more kindness than chaos? Was it a good thing that the church was born?
Do you see the church as corrupt and having done great harm over the centuries?
Has organized religion given us something we can be proud of or ashamed to identify ourselves as part of?
What do you think?
If you have ideas about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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