Tales of the unexpected

In this week's WordLive readings we focus on the events of the first Pentecost and the birth of the Church. A key theme throughout Acts is the bursting in of the unexpected, which then turns out to be a new expression of what God has in fact always been doing. ‘This is that’, explains Peter (Acts 2:16, AV).

Interestingly, Luke introduces all this as the legacy, or perhaps even continuing ministry of Jesus himself. This week there has been plenty of reflection on the legacy of Gordon Brown’s leadership: was it one of towering achievements or massive flaws? As in Acts (5:38,39), only time will tell.

There is plenty in the news about the unexpected. The unpredictable (and unpronounceable!) Icelandic volcano once again seems set to upset our well-organised travel plans. And the continuing crisis in Greece is making people rethink their assumptions about how Europe should work.

But alongside the unexpected bad comes the unexpected good – sometimes in spite of it, sometimes because of it.

Who thought that England would beat Australia in an international cricket competition? Or that gold would be found in Cornish mines?

That a teenage girl would defeat hard-bitten shepherds in a sheepdog trial, or that a boy born blind would learn to ‘see’ using clicks and echoes? Even the left-handed are better off than we thought they were.

Yet the breaking in of the new and unexpected demands new patterns of living (Acts 2:43–47); new wine needs new wineskins. We continue to find it a struggle to develop healthy patterns of living in response to the demands of technology.

Ian Paul