We were studying Acts Ch2 and thinking about the differences between the first church and ourselves. Do we receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism or does He come separately as it were? We do receive Him at Baptism but that is only the beginning of our journey with Christ and many of us go deeper, receive more as we ask or need, in order to follow
where He is leading us.
He also gives gifts to us either in the Church or to those He is calling in. Indeed we sometimes hear of individuals or even groups who are found by God, like the the man, who told his story on the BBC programme Songs of Praise. He was in a prison cell, knew he was in the pit and could sink no lower. Seeing a Gideon Bible (but not opening it) he yelled for help from the God he did not know -and received the gift of tongues and a new peace. It was a Christian Social Worker who told him what was happening! What seems clear is that it is God's initiative not our own, and often it is only when we acknowledge our weakness that we receive. We thought about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and found the emphasis is not 'tongues' which is often rather a contentious issue and that many people exercise the gifts not in a Sunday Service but in daily life, and in small group meetings, and these are often quite humble but important, like hospitality, sharing a meal with others as Jesus did.
So how do we recognise the presence of the Spirit in the Church? Not by the style of worship, piety, religious language, 'contemporary worship' or any other ways of working along with contemporary culture, but 'by how we love each other'.
I was in Bradford in 1966 when the Renewal movement was well underway and went to the local church. It seemed the same service as I was used to- kind of middle of the road evangelical Anglican - but there was warmth and perhaps joy hovering there. I was welcomed at the end of the service by a couple, and when I commented on this they invited me to their home group where indeed the Spiritual gifts were recognised, and they informed and indeed educated me about what was happening, for they were mature in the Spirit. Not everybody was so aware in that Church but the love of God was around and within us.
So perhaps mission is happening when we live in God's love--?
