Pentecost

On this Pentecost Sunday – the birthday of the church – here is an observation made by James White in his book, Rethinking Church. His point is this – if the church doesn’t rethink what it means to be the church in the 21st Century will it survive much longer? We get caught up in traditional ways of doing things … remember the 7-last words of the church? “We have always done it that way!” … that we fail to see the new possibilities that God has and is opening up to those who call themselves after his name.

If people would have been asked in 1968 which nation would dominate the world in watch making during the 1990s and into the twenty-first century the answer would have been uniform: Switzerland. Why? Because Switzerland had dominated the world of watch making for the previous sixty years.

The Swiss made the best watches in the world and were committed to constant refinement of their expertise. It was the Swiss who came forward with the minute hand and the second hand. They led the world in discovering better ways to manufacture the gears, hearings, and mainsprings of watches. They even led the way in waterproofing techniques and self-winding models. By 1968, the Swiss made 65 percent of all watches sold in the world and laid claim to as much as 90 percent of the profits.

By 1980, however, they had laid off thousands of watch-makers and controlled less than 10 percent of the world market. Their profit domination dropped to less than 20 percent. Between 1979 and 1981, fifty thousand of the sixty-two thou-sand Swiss watchmakers lost their jobs. Why? The Swiss had refused to consider a new development—the—the Quartz movement—ironically, invented by a Swiss. Because it had no main-spring or knob, it was rejected. It was too much of a paradigm shift for them to embrace. Seiko, on the other hand, accepted it and, along with a few other companies, became the leader in the watch industry.

The lesson of the Swiss watchmakers is profound. A past that was so secure, so profitable, so dominant was destroyed by an unwillingness to consider the future. It was more than not being able to make predictions—it was an inability to re-think how they did business. Past success had blinded them to the importance of seeing the implications of the changing world and to admit that past accomplishment was no guarantee of future success.

Pentecost was a new experience for those gathered in that Upper Room. The Spirit, the Power of God had been released on all of those believers. They had gone back to Jerusalem, as Jesus had instructed, and waited – in prayer and fasting – until the Holy Spirit came. When it came they were filled with amazing enthusiasm – even in the light of possible persecution and death at the hands of the established church leaders of that day.

Truly our prayer should be today: “Lord, as unto Pentecost – do it again, Lord, do it again!” But, it would mean change … and a lot of it! Are we really open to changing what we are “doing” in the name of the Kingdom of God? Are we open to new ways of thinking? Worshipping? Behaving? It is scary … just a little … especially when it means Spirit-filled change …

Are you ready? The original disciples had prayed themselves ready ... had fasted themselves into a state of being prepared for whatever God had in store for them. Maybe we need to start to do the same so God can ... DO IT AGAIN!

Quote for today: Sometime back the Associated Press carried this dispatch: "Glasgow, Ky.--Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor." Associated Press.