actually “do” the Gospel

Monday May 25^th, Acts 2: Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?  Not only were these Galileans speaking to multiple nationalities each in their own language, but they were Galileans for heaven’s sake!  Why would anyone want to listen to Galileans while in Jerusalem?  The Spirit breaks down our misconceptions about one another by bringing us in contact with one another.  It is there with the spirit holding our eyes and our hearts open that we are able to see the other as a brother or sister in Christ. It is sort of a round robin.  The Spirit leads us to Christ, Christ leads us to the world, where through the Spirit our eyes are opened to the vastness of God’s love in this world, and then we are lead back to Christ.  This time with our eyes a bit more open, and then round we go again. It is not just to our own tribe, those who think, act, believe and look like us, to whom we are called to minister; it is to the children of God throughout the world.  It is there in the process of ministering to others in other tribes that we find ourselves ministered to by these formerly known to us only as “other.” It is then we find the walls of separation broken asunder.  This is the message of Christ, this is the call of Christ, to go into all the world to preach and teach the good news, starting at home and moving outward to the ends of the earth.  We are also called to go into all the world and not just tell the Good New, but to actually “do” the Gospel, bring hope, justice, and peace into a hurting world.  In the process what we find is that we receive hope, justice and peace for our world.  We are called to do this, not because we will gain from it, but because all the children of God, and that includes ourselves, will live in hope because of it.