Daily Devotion – January 5, 2022 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Acts 8:14-17
8:14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
8:15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit
8:16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).
8:17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
This story related by St Luke in the book of Acts always makes me think of what a complex and organic thing it was to nurture a new church, a new and ever-growing community of people living in places far away from one another yet connected by their belief in Jesus Christ.
Someone brought word of Jesus to folks in Samaria. The people were captivated by the story of Jesus and believed that he was the Son of God. They wanted to be baptized in Jesus’ name as followers. So the bringer of the Good News did that – baptized them in Jesus name, just as Jesus had commanded his disciples to do before he ascended.
The group who lived and worked in Jerusalem heard about the conversion of the people in Samaria – good news travels fast. Apparently they also heard that the new believers there had not had the experience of the Holy Spirit. Surely the Spirit was with them, or, as Luther says, they could not have come to faith all on their own. But they wanted to know, to feel, to experience the Holy Spirit at work among them.
So the Jerusalem community SENT Peter and John to Samaria. They must have discussed it, discerned this was a need, and provided Peter and John transportation to that place to spend some time with the new believers. And when Peter and John prayed for the people, laying hands on them, the people received the Holy Spirit.
Our local congregations and the synods that connect us are filled with structure and organization and policy to help the church stay connected and resourced. But in the beginning, in this story, a small group of leaders did spiritual discernment in community and then sent their own members out to do the work they had discerned God was calling them to do. The Holy Spirit was moving the Jerusalem-based disciples as much as it was moving the new believers in Samaria. What was this called? Mission. God’s mission, given to the early believers, that they make God’s Son Jesus known to the whole world.
That is still our mission from God today.
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Help us to be faithful to the mission you have given us – to make Jesus known to the whole world, even to our neighbors next door. Help us prove to be fit servants to you.  Amen.
