Holy Spirit

Holy Interruptions

Who likes interruptions?  For most of us, interruptions are a frustration, meaning we have to stop what we are doing in order to give our attention to something or someone else.  I’m especially frustrated with interruptions when I have limited time with which to finish a task.  These days, most all of us seem to be working with limited time.

Is there a way to understand interruptions in a different way?  What are interruptions?  Simply put, it is something or someone who disrupts an order of things – be it our current task at hand or a systematic course of actions we have come to rely on.  Take for instance my day, today.  I have the family van in service to correct the malfunctioning automated sliding doors that do not close properly.  Each time these doors close incorrectly, our family trip is interrupted as one of us must get out of the car and manually close the door.  But today, I was planning on the service work being completed by noon.  That’s what the service center told me upon dropping off the van.  Then they called letting me know they needed a part that wasn’t in stock.  They needed to run to a dealer in Colonial Heights to get the part, delaying the completion until late in the afternoon.  Which would be OK but then Beth reminded me that the kids had dentist appointments at 3:30 this afternoon.  It was an appointment I scheduled six months earlier, at their last appointment.  Who knew then what my day would be like today?  She couldn’t reschedule her patients last minute – I would need to take kids.  This required a jockeying of our one good car and a major change of schedule.  Could I afford to miss some of the work I planned to complete today?    Interruptions can be frustrating and can be a source of anxiety.

But certainly, there are welcome interruptions, too.  When an old friend drops in to say hello.  When your called out of a company meeting that has no end in sight.  When the ice cream truck shows up during a hot afternoon of yard work.  When it comes to interruptions, good or bad, I guess it all depends on our perspective.

In a culture that values productivity, interruptions just won’t do.  Our value is based on what we can produce.  We have no room for interruptions.  After studying the gospels and Acts, however, I am convinced we follow a God of interruptions.  After all, what was Jesus to the powers and authorities of his day other than a disrupter of the status quo?  He often appeared to interrupt those he encountered – calling folks to follow him who were busy at their trade; fishermen and tax collectors alike.  He then would interrupt those he called when they thought they knew best.  Examples like urging children to come near when his disciples wanted to send them away or when Peter wanted to stand in his way of the cross.

In Acts, we see Jesus exit the earthly scene early on but in his place comes the promised helper, the Holy Spirit, in whom Jesus told the disciples they would do even greater things than he.  And if Jesus was disruptive to his disciples’ plans, the Holy Spirit would be even more unpredictable in the way it showed up, where it showed up and in whom it showed up.   I mean, the Holy Spirit first shows up during the Pentecost festival, filling the disciple’s voices with languages in which all the visitors in Jerusalem could understand.  No, the disciples weren’t drunk, but would they have even dreamed this sudden baptism up, even if they had the choice?

Following this scene, Peter heals a crippled beggar at the temple gate (at three o’clock).  Peter could have easily dismissed him.  Certainly, there were many beggars who gathered there daily.  Rather, he heals him and testifies to Jesus’ resurrection.  Peter and John get arrested due to this scene, certainly an interruption.  The Spirit interrupts Ananias and Sapphira, when they make a big deal about giving all they made from the sale of their land.  They are suddenly struck dead when it is revealed that they secretly held back some of the proceeds for themselves.

The whole fledgling community of believers are interrupted when Stephen, one of the first deacons, is stoned to death for his commitment to Jesus.  This interruption had always proven effective in past movements.  Make an example of one, send fear among the rest, watch them scatter and return to the “normal” way things were.  But while the community of believers scatter, the power of the Holy Spirit remains active wherever Christ followers are found.  Which included once unthought-of places and people like the Samaritans and the Gentiles.  Through this disruption, Philip, also a deacon, begins to bear witness to the Spirits movement among Samaritans, he hated rivals of the Jews.  And then suddenly Phillip is summoned to a desert road to interrupt an Ethiopian official on his chariot ride home, explaining the scriptures he was reading and baptizing him.  Even Saul, one of the leading persecutors of Jesus’ followers is interrupted on his way to intimidate more followers when he is struck blind on the road to Damascus Road.

So today’s lesson on Holy Spirit interruptions merely continues a trend.  At this point, one thing is clear:  no one can control or predict the moving of the Holy Spirit.  And in this scene, more walls of tradition appear to be crumbling.  Particularly for Peter.  Peter, raised a Jew, at least had the life-altering experience of knowing Jesus and seeing him crucified and raised to new life.  Then, there was the aforementioned Pentecost scene.  At this point, couldn’t anything happen?  Still, the vision of unclean animals suddenly being acceptable was confusing for Peter.  Do I turn my back on what I’ve been taught?  Whether this vision just serves to prepare Peter for Cornelius’ visitors or not, the tension of the moment has been exposed.  How far does the good news of Jesus extend?  Just to our Samaritan “cousins?”  Or to those who occupy our homeland (Romans) and to those who eat food deemed unclean?

The Spirit bids Peter go and find out.  So he makes his way to the home of the centurion, a God-fearing man and a person who it seems has already heard a word from God (10:3).  Peter’s reception must have been enough proof that he begins to preach the good news of Christ.  Here is where the interesting thing takes place: being already deemed worthy by God, the Spirit once again interrupts Peter’s sermon, lest he think he was saving this family.  All the Gentiles present begin to speak in tongues and praising God.  Peter, who just days ago was struggling to relinquish the tradition of clean and unclean meat was now ready to approve what was already clearly happening – Cornelius’ family was filled with God’s Spirit.  “Can we withhold baptism from this family?” he seems to ask no one in particular.  And more walls that separate God’s children crumbled.

  • What are barriers that keep us from knowing our neighbors today?
  • In the story,  what prompted Cornelius and Peter to cross established boundaries?
  • How do we become present and aware of the Spirit that is at work in us and all around us, even in people and places we least expect?
  • How do traditions provide insight into faith?
  • When do traditions stand in the way of maturing faith?
  • How do we pass on meaningful traditions while remaining open to the wind of the Holy Spirit that will blow where it will?
 

Unbridled Spirit

Church in the western world has enjoyed an elevated status for many years.  That status, as we are painfully aware, is no more. And so we mourn the loss of what once was.  But how intently do we look for what will be? Like the exiles in Babylon, do we hang our “harps” on our trees, refusing to sing songs of praise to God (Psalm 137)?  Or, like Jeremiah, do we seek the welfare of the city where we find ourselves planted, no matter the circumstances (Jeremiah 29:7)? Perhaps what’s lost on we who have had the fortune of growing up nurtured by Christian culture is the notion that God’s spirit is not absent, even when we feel it is.  When the Holy Spirit finds welcome and space to work, there is still no holding it back. Which means many churches need to do some soul searching. Because culture has shifted away from the institutional church, will we become paralyzed and thus unreceptive to the Holy Spirit? Or, might this be just the time when God is prepared to do something new among those who are looking for God’s Spirit, loosed among the people?  With this in mind, Acts 8 and its surrounding context is instructive.

Throughout the gospels, we see God at work in a new way through Jesus.  Jesus is not against the purpose of the law, the function of the temple, and the role of those who serve it.  Jesus’ growing concern is that the law and the temple have become a means unto themselves rather than something that points participants to someone far greater.  But the Jewish religion had become an institution that conferred power and prestige back on those who served in its system – giving priests, pharisees, sadducees and the ruling class meaning and clout.  Citizens of Israel identified with the Temple, too. It was the most important monument and the most significant national and religious institution for Jews of the first century. Over time, the function of the temple as a place to worship God had morphed from a dynamic, formative act to an institutional checklist.

Jesus’ challenge to the temple institution, to rediscover and implement true worship, is much of what sends him to the cross.  And the story continues as the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to those who follow the Spirit into places and to people that the temple doesn’t touch or allow.  This movement of the Spirit is acutely evident during pentecost, when the Spirit enters people who are able to see God working in new and even unexpected places. And it doesn’t stop there.  As those among the ranks of Christ followers grow, so does the anxiety of those institutionalized places of power and privilege. In earlier chapters in Acts, we read of the growing power of the apostles who can’t help but continue to proclaim Jesus as Messiah, who call for repentance in order to receive forgiveness, who heal all sorts of sickness and mental illness, and in doing so expose the failings of the current temple culture.  The Sanhedrin’s response to each episode is to react defensively, with fear that this new movement could mean a diminished place of power at best and at worst lead to a change in the people’s traditional view of the temple and God’s unique work in it.

Before completely dismissing the Sanhedrin as selfish men who tried to stand in the way of God’s new Spirit work, can those of us nurtured by the traditions of Christendom try to relate?  In the Temple system, people practiced thousands of years of tradition that, in its best practice, pointed them to the saving work of a God who called them to live committed lives for God’s sake and the sake of the world.  It did have meaning and power. But its meaning and power had shifted over the centuries from an empowering movement to an institutional power that was controlled at all costs. The deliberations of the Sanhedrin in Acts show shrewd planning on how to handle the growing Jesus movement but no active discernment of God.

“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked.  “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it.  But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no linger to anyone in this name” (Acts 4:16-17).

However, what marked the Apostles growing movement was prayer and discernment.  What were the apostles response after the threatening words of the Sanhedrin?

“On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.  When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God… After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:23-31).

So, as we approach our focal scripture in Acts 8, we see tension mounting between the temple tradition and the apostles who demonstrate a new power and authority found outside of the temple.  The apostles continue to gain an audience and larger numbers of followers until things come to a head when Stephen is seized and stoned to death. This, according to Acts 8:1, marks the beginning of a persecution against the Jerusalem church which leads to its scattering throughout Judea and Samaria.  But instead of having a cooling effect on these new believers, it galvanized them more as they continued to preach the word, wherever they went. It is as if the Spirit, not being welcomed in the temple or the holy city, went wherever it was given room and welcome.

This seems to mirror a similar scene in the gospels of Mark 6:8-11, Matthew 10:9-15 and Luke 9:1-6 where Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs with authority to cast out demons and cure diseases and to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  He instructed them to taking nothing with them for the journey but to depend on the hospitality of strangers. Further, he told them if no one is welcoming of them, to shake the dust off their feet as they leave the town. Here, it seems striking that the very city that hosted God’s presence in the temple is the same city that cannot contain the new movements of the Holy Spirit.  And so they scatter to the outcast places, like Samaria, where people receive them and are eager to hear their message.

Enter Philip, one of the deacons chosen in Acts chapter seven.  He makes his way to the place where devout Jews would never want to be found – Samaria.  Yet it is the Samaritans who are enthusiastically responding to the gospel message; who are being healed and cured.  What is most striking is the free way in which the apostles share the Holy Spirit with these new believers. Rightly recognizing that they cannot contain the Holy Spirit, Peter and John pray for the Samaritan believers to receive the Holy Spirit.  The alternative, of course, would be to try to withhold the Spirit from these new converts. What would be the outcome of such a decision other than a repeat of the disaster unfolding in Jerusalem? But the Holy Spirit cannot be bridled. It cannot be controlled.  It moves where God directs it, in unlikely places, among unsuspecting people and in unpredictable ways. Either we get on board with following the Spirit or get out of the way. The apostles chose to follow.

Which makes Philip the perfect candidate to follow the Spirit further, into more unexpected and unchartered waters.  Our focal scripture tells of an angel instructing to Philip to “go south to the road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  This is a unique set of instructions. So much so, many Bibles footnote it. Check it out. The Greek word is used as both a location (south) and a reference of time (noon).  In this case, the wilderness road between Jerusalem and Gaza is a southward direction. But the timing may also be important. After all, who sets out by foot down a barren road at the noon hour?  Traveling habits of the day incorporated morning and evening travel. In other words, no one travels when the sun is at its highest and hottest. And who else would be out on such a road? Yet, Philip obeys and who does he find but an Ethiopian eunuch on his way back to his home country from Jerusalem.

This Ethiopian traveled in style, shaded by the heat and sun by a chariot and all that came with such travel.  I take that to mean he had at least a driver. Maybe an attendant, too (8:38). He had to have someone else driving the chariot; after all, he was reading from the Isaiah scroll.  This Ethiopian is a fascinating character study. He was wealthy and in charge of an even larger wealth as the queen’s treasurer. He was a foreigner, and is described as an Ethiopian.  If he had dark skin, he was not looked down upon because of his color. Rather, Ethiopians were idealized in ancient classical writings as people of great piety and beauty. Herodotus extolled the ‘burnt-skinned’ Ethiopians as the tallest and most handsome of all humankind; and Diodorus of Sicily commented that ‘it is generally held that the sacrifices practiced among the Ethiopians are those which are most pleasing to heaven.’” Further, the Jewish scriptures speak highly of Ethiopians for their upper-class status as powerful people economically and militarily.

The Ethiopians high standing, however, does not get in the way of his humbly seeking and accepting the instruction of divinely-directed wisdom from the prophet Isaiah and the interpretation of a fellow traveler on this wilderness road at such a strange hour.  In fact, it is humility that has intrigued the Ethiopian as he reads the scripture of the suffering servant found in Isaiah 53. Perhaps it was not just humility in the positive sense of the word that attracted him to this scripture. Of course, I haven’t mentioned his other descriptive quality that was certainly humiliating; his identity as a eunuch.  It is likely that his role as treasurer to the queen, which brought wealth and prestige, also brought with it the necessity to be castrated in order to serve in her court. For the Jews, whom he had been worshiping among in Jerusalem, his state as a castrated male would have placed him in a position of dishonor and impurity. Deuteronomy 23:1 states that no male in his situation should be admitted into the assembly of the Lord.  Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, regarded eunuchs as unnatural monstrosities who must be shunned on account of their gross effeminacy and impotence. Philo considered eunuchs as ‘worthless persons.’ Whatever economic and political worth he possessed in some circles and whatever value he attached to the Jewish faith, the Ethiopian eunuch was regarded as socially and religiously worthless among leading segments of Israelite society.

Yet, the Jewish prophetic scriptures also offers more hopeful prospects for eunuchs.  Isaiah foresees a day when pious eunuchs and foreigners, which this man was both, would be welcome into the temple and given a permanent place in the household of God (Isaiah 56:1-8).  In fact, one cannot escape the imagery here: eunuchs will be given a monument and name better than sons and daughters (which they cannot have) and a name that cannot be cut off (well, you know how that works for eunuchs).

So the eunuch is certainly intrigued by this suffering servant Isaiah describes.  But there has been no one to help him understand who Isaiah is speaking about. “How can I (understand what I am reading) unless someone guides me?” he asks.  And how could he know? While he was in Jerusalem to worship, his status prevented his acceptance in the temple courts. As he was heading back to his home, there must have been a mix of confusion and frustration as he continued to wrestle with the scripture in front of him.  He identified with the situation of the man described in the scroll. But what became of him? What did it mean? And Philip was there, as directed by the Holy Spirit, to help him understand the scripture in light of Jesus.

The scene ends with the eunuch’s simple question:  “what is to keep me from baptized?” The answer seems so clear to us: nothing!  There is water, there is his confession that Jesus is Lord. But for the Ethiopian eunuch, the question also points to more than function and pragmatism.  What lingers in his question quite possibly is the rejection he has felt among the temple in Jerusalem. There, as the law made clear, he was not allowed such privileges.  Would the Jesus way be any different?  Philip’s response gave a clear indication. And since Philip was directed to this desolate desert road by the Holy Spirit, his purpose was to continue the kingdom building Christ had started in Jerusalem by replying to the eunuch’s question in the affirmative.  Nothing is to keep you from being baptized! Nothing is to keep you from being given a name that cannot be cut off.
The work of Jesus has opened up to the outcast, foreigners and the unclean what once appeared to be off limits.  The early Christians sensitivity to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit provided them the joy of participating in God’s growing mission in the world.  For Christ followers today, What traditions in the current church may keep us from sensing the movement of the Holy Spirit?  What practices can we foster so that we can recognize and be responsive to God’s mission and movement in our culture?

The Holy Spirit and Humble Leadership

“But there is one thing that has power completely, and that is love.  Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power…. I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating.” – Theophilus Msimangu, Cry, The Beloved Country

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

The spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. – Isaiah 11:2-3

These verses are the hinge that Isaiah’s prophecy hangs – that which changes everything in Israel’s world of exploitation, greed and war. It’s the Spirit of the Lord that makes the difference.

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Everyone has a Story

This week’s lesson from 2 Chronicles 15: 1-7 seems especially obscure and challenging. Yet, I think we can find some nuggets to share with our class.So far this month, we’ve determined that:
  • God’s Spirit (God’s Ruach, his breath) is in everyone.  Not everyone is aware of God’s Spirit’s presence – a part of salvation is the awareness that God is in us.
  • God’s Spirit can speak into a community through leaders and community members alike, to help give direction and identity to the people of God.
  • God’s Spirit is absolutely necessary in hearing and responding to God’s call.

So, in today’s scripture from 2 Chronicles 15:1-7, we find the first and last mention of Azariah, son of Oded.  Azariah has a message for Asa, King of Judah, and the people of Judah.  Simply put, if you’re with God, then God will be with you.  If you’re not with God, God will not be found.  While God could be understood as temperamental or this message could be interpreted as an “earn your salvation” theology, we know there must be more to this. After all, if this was literally the way God behaved, what hope would anyone have?

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When the Spirit Pushes Us Out of Our Comfort Zone

Question:  When / How Does the Spirit Speak to the Community of HRBC?  Numbers 11

The scripture lesson for this week, taken alone, will be hard to discuss at any length and then to apply without some further context around the scene. Yet, with some work this scripture is applicable and exciting for us as individuals and as a congregation celebrating our 53rd Heritage Day on Sunday. Stick with me and you will see why:

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Ready for Holy Encounters?

Our text for Sunday is a rich story with numerous applications. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch signifies for the first time, the gospel message reaching acceptance at the ends of the earth. The Eunuch’s status is also informative. While wealthy and holding a position of power, he is also seen as strange and an outsider, having been robbed of his identity as a male and his ability to leave a family legacy. So, when he is found reading from a text in Isaiah (the suffering servant), it’s a text with which he can also identify. Jewish law excludes the Ethiopian Eunuch from full embrace within the Jewish faith precisely because the Ethiopian is a foreigner and because he is a Eunuch (Deuteronomy 23:1). But Isaiah 53, which the Eunuch is reading, along with the gospel message of Christ that Philip presents, signals that Jesus has opened the door for all creation to know and follow God. If Isaiah 53 isn’t direct enough, just a few chapters later, Isaiah 56 really points to a future time when foreigners and eunuchs will be included in God’s kingdom:

“Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.

Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” – Isaiah 56:1-8

The focus on this Sunday’s lesson is not from the perspective of the eunuch but from Philip. Philip is willing to share good news with anyone with whom he shares the journey. First, he proclaims the gospel to the unruly neighbors to the north – the Samaritans. God’s Spirit does the rest. Then, he obediently journeys into the desert in the middle of the day (who does that?) And finds an exotic foreigner reading texts from a faith community that excludes his kind. Once again, God is at work.

So, the question for this Sunday shouldn’t be “to whom have I been sent?” Rather, might we ask “to whom have I not been sent?” The answer – everyone, of course! God doesn’t exclude. We should be looking for holy moments throughout our day to share good news with whomever we cross paths. This includes people who are like us and people who are different. After all, “red and yellow, black and white, they are (all) precious in his sight.”

For further reflection, I recommend the following short blogs:

My Circumstances Won’t Define Me

Acts 8:4-17

How can I serve despite my circumstances?

How many of us know someone who is like Eeyore?  For these folks, all situations seem dark and gloomy.  No matter what the challenge, folks like these seem to find the worst in all situations.

But I bet we also know folks who see a golden outline in every seemingly dark situation.  They are the folks that can lift you up and who want to keep going when all seems hopeless.

Most of us probably find ourselves somewhere in between.  There are days when all seems lost, hopeless.  There are also days that we find strength beyond ourselves to keep pressing on.  Our lesson for this week is that:

  • God is at work in all situations
  • so all things can work together for God’s glory (Romans 8:28)
  • so how can I be available to see God at work and join God at work, no matter my circumstance?

This last bullet gets to the heart of the Christian vocation.  We confess that as disciples, we have been set a part and gifted with the Holy Spirit to be Christ’s presence here in our time and place.  Life here and now will not be perfect.  Rarely will things be easy.  So how do we become the sort of people (both collectively as a congregation and individually) that recognizes God at work and then gladly joins in that work?  How do we learn to praise and worship him in all circumstances?

It seems that when we focus only on our needs and wants, our list of complaints and reasons why we “can’t” only grows.  The mark of a growing disciple is one who seeks to lean in on God’s provisions and grace, despite the situation around them.  Philip is the Biblical example the lesson uses this Sunday.  I’ve tried to think of others.  One that sticks out in my mind is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor.  I’ve been reading some of his works recently and he strikes me as a man who has really learned to lean fully on God’s provisions in the face of a cruel humanity.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer, a widely respected thinker, could have avoided much of the pain that his German countrymen were facing by staying in the US during World War II.  But he felt called to be among his people so that he could fully participate in their struggle during the war and then participate in a rebuilding after the war.  Despite the Nazi Government’s crackdown on his free speech and though he was eventually imprisoned and put to death in a concentration camp, Bonhoeffer was used by God to train young seminarians and to write what would become very influential books on practical theology that continue to speak to folks of what it looks like to follow Christ.

Perhaps this clip of Bonhoeffer’s life (its 7 minutes) is one example you can give your class of how a person can be available to be used by God, no matter the circumstances.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The Cost of Discipleship

I like this example, but it is an extreme example.  We can be inspired but can we relate?  There are more folks who live like this in front us day in and day out.  Can you think of any?  Encourage your class to think of examples, too.

One LIFE community teacher had a really good question this week about our the focal scripture: At the end of Acts 8:15-17 it says Peter and John went to Samaria and prayed that the believers would receive the Holy Spirit.  Does this mean when we are baptized we don’t receive the Holy Spirit.  Is it only by laying on of hands?

My response was kinda long, but here it is:

No – the giving of the Holy Spirit does not come only through laying on of hands or through baptism.  Acts proves that nothing can really limit the ways in which God will show up and act through the Holy Spirit.  This one instance in Acts 8 cannot reflect the varied ways that God makes his Holy Spirit available to those who follow in the way of Christ.  Seeing that many have had your same question, one theologian, in response to this scripture, says:
“Attempts to extract from this story of the laying on of hands “data” for the construction of a systematic doctrine of the Holy Spirit are futile.  Luke’s narrative descriptions of the ways in which the Holy Spirit comes to believers defy the construction of a coherent doctrine.”

Here are some examples of the many ways the Holy Spirit is given in the book of Acts:

  • Acts 2:4 – describes receipt of the Holy Spirit without mentioning baptism
  • Acts 2:38 – baptism joined with receipt of the Holy Spirit
  • Acts 8:16,17 – Baptism, followed by laying on of hands, followed by receipt of the Spirit
  • Acts 8:38 and 16:15 – Baptism, with no mention of laying on of hands or the Spirit
  • Acts 9:17-18 – Laying on of hands, followed by receipt of the Holy Spirit, followed by baptism
  • Acts 10:47-48 and 11:15-16 – Receipt of the Holy Spirit, without laying on of hands, followed by baptism

So, there appears to be no defined order or strategy in Acts.  What is important in our text for Sunday and throughout Acts is the story of how the Christian movement expands, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, toward the ends of the earth.  Beginning with Acts 1:8, we see the expansion of the good news beyond the Jewish community of Jerusalem.  When Peter and John come to Samaria and lay hands on the new believers, their action can be understood as the apostles approving of and joining God in this growing community of believers.  Acts is a story about the community of believers and how they grew beyond the gates of Jerusalem.  That God is working in a place that most Jews despised (Samaria) and that the leadership of the church approved, is an important development in the movement of the gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth.

To further illustrate this point, in Acts 10, Peter goes to the home of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion.  While sharing the gospel with him, his family and others in the home, the Holy Spirit comes upon all who were listening.  Verse 45 says the “circumcised believers were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on even the Gentiles.”    Then Peter says “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water.  They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”  In all of these stories, its about the widening inclusivity of the gospel of Christ – it is for everyone.