One Place

And all the believers met together in one place. (Acts 2:43)

One thing that immediately stands out about the Pentecost Day believers is that they joined together in community. There is no hint in the Scriptures of individual discovery of the paths they should take. They were a group, a unit, or as apostle Paul would later call them, a “body”.

Their identity was not just shaped and carved by having been present together on this most phenomenal of days. It would not just be a memory. They would not just be known as Pentecost Day Alumni, Class of ‘33. “Shouldn’t we get together in a few years and see each other? Absolutely! Stay in touch!”

Rather, they were a body that met together regularly (constantly?) and participated in a variety of activities which are described in the text just after this one. At least at the start of this shared journey, this meeting together happened in one place. How long did that ‘one place’ become their regular meeting location? We aren’t told.  But it is interesting that at least in the beginning of their post-Pentecost experience, it seems there was a singular, physical location that provided regularity for them to connect and grow together. (And I point out that they didn’t construct a church building, as we know it today, for that regular meeting. From church history we learn that there were no such buildings until at least the middle of the second century.)

So, from the start of what we know as the organized followers of Christ, they each made individual decisions to repent and be baptized. And as a group they learned together, lived together, and experienced Holy Spirit-inspired-community together. Meeting together in one place.“Father, thank you for the example we have of the demonstration of the commitment to community and meeting together of your body.”