Bonfire

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

Holy Spirit moving among us

The first Pentecost was surprising and chaotic. A rush of sound, flickering flames, multiple languages with everyone speaking at the same time. Yet, that day was a new beginning. As the book of Acts describes it, the early days of the Church were filled with challenges, shifting and changing ideas, and new ways of worshiping and expressing faith. There was no master plan to follow and Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher was gone. No one but God knew what would come next.

This offers an interesting parallel for our Bonfire collaboration. We, too, have gathered together and sensed the Holy Spirit moving among us. We know God is leading us into our shared future even though we aren’t exactly sure what that will mean for us. But this much we do know – that we cannot remain the same. The world and our neighborhoods are changing around us.

In a business class in college we considered the story of the railroads in the United States. At its height the rail barons were kings. J. J. Hill and others come to mind. If you wanted something shipped you depended on the railroads. But when the Interstate highways were built the railroads didn’t adapt – at least not at first.

That’s because they thought they were in the railroad business. But pretty soon the trucking industry began to take away business and offer even greater service to people with point to point delivery. What the railroads had failed to realize was that they weren’t in the railroad business – they were in the transportation business.

For many years congregations have seen themselves as being in the church business. Build it and they will come. And that worked – for a while, but no longer. Much has changed. The high point of the growth of the Lutheran Church was in the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Ever since then even though there have been new churches planted and large congregations created – the overall population of the Lutheran Church has been in decline. We aren’t in the church business – we are in the faith business.

This means we have to change. This means we are being called to something we don’t know. We are being called into a shared future without being quite sure of how we are going to get there. But this we know – the Holy Spirit is at work in us and Jesus Christ is still teaching and leading. May we together keep praying and working and working and praying as we figure it out together. The wind and fire of the Holy Spirit are still moving in mighty ways.

In fact, it cannot be stopped!

Pastor Mark Vinge

Privacy Policy | Webmaster | Contact Us

adult forum