The Lord the Giver of Life

Daily(ish) blogging in Lent - Day Fifteen 

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On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear... - John 20:19

...they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. - Acts 2:1-4

The post-Resurrection Christian faith was founded in  the work of the Spirit, breaking locked doors when the disciples were paralyzed for fear. She pushed the disciples into the public square, where they finally spoke out, spoke up, spoke prophetically, spoke in languages each could understand. 

She turned their fear of unjust punishment into a proclamation of desire for the Kingdom to come. 

From fear of crucifixion to a longing for Resurrection. 

Miraculous.  

They prophesied about the vision of which Jesus spoke. They told his stories: 

“The Kingdom of God is like…” 

They gathered communities around the proclamation, hoping, sharing meals. 

“The last shall be first.” “The lowly exalted.” 

They proclaimed. 

Some became willing to die for a Reign, a rule, for which they desired, longed for with their whole being—heart, soul, strength, and mind, with their whole body, as the Spirit gave them ability (Acts 2:4). 

Christianity came into being as a religion of desire. In an empire, oppressive and repressive, the Christians felt in their bones, their bodies, their being, desire for something new. 

Their desire was affirmed by their teacher, their messiah, embodied in Jesus' description of God’s Reign. 

Their hope, their longing, kindled by the fire of the Spirit, the Breath, "The Lord, the Giver of Life."