The activist within each of us says, “Don't just stand there – do something.” Waiting is a passive activity and even while waiting we want to be busy. The well-thumbed magazines in the doctor's waiting room testify to that. The TV playing to no one in particular testifies to the same thing in the local automotive dealer's waiting room. We can't sit still doing nothing. We can't even endure silence. It will drive us crazy.

What would it have looked like had the disciples not been able to contain themselves in obedience to Jesus' words, “Wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high”? How far would they have got as witnesses to those living in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth? How successful would they have been doing it “their way”? Would they have screwed up enough courage to come out from behind locked doors? Would they have dared to show their faces around Jerusalem once the proverbial heat had cooled down?

What if they managed all of that quite well? What if they took decisive steps forward to organize this new thing that otherwise sat waiting to be born? What if, determined to be successful in their own eyes, they induced labor? Can you see them in the temple courts wrapped in fishing nets and shouting to any and to all, “we've been caught – caught up in something bigger than ourselves and you can be, too! This way to a fulfilled, satisfying life!” “Ask me about the new life!” reads a button that Andrew wears. And in a two-wheeled cart stands a display of clay jars containing water from the Jordan. A placard reads, “This water is the same as that used by John when he baptized Jesus of Nazareth!” What could it do for you?” Here is a book they're offering free to donors, “The Eleven Practices of Highly Successful Disciples.” Guaranteed to change your life overnight. How different would things be if, instead of doing nothing as they were told, the disciples began to do anything and everything they could think of doing to attract the curious for a look - see?

What would have happened? There would be a movement whose center of attention was the Eleven. No anonymous Gospels in this scenario. Not when the name of the game is self-promotion. Each copy comes autographed and handsomely bound. Would we know more about what Jesus looked like? Probably not, but I'll wager we'd know what each of the eleven looked like and where they lived, too. The visitor to the Galilean sea shore could probably take a cruise on the Andrew Peter where he would be regaled with all sorts of fishing stories. But that's what invariably happens when you are not fueled by the Holy Spirit. You become self-promoters. Remember what Jesus said about the Spirit, that the Spirit wouldn't testify about Himself, wouldn't draw attention to Himself, but would only and always point to Jesus as the Savior from sin that He is. Would always proclaim him as Messiah. Would always lift Him up as the hope of all mankind.

So who or what is the power behind you and your congregation? Have you and they and we waited to be clothed with power from on high or are they taking matters into their own hands? Our Synod President has raised the urgency of the mission when he says, “Time is short. Hell is hot.” Such urgency may cause some to ask, “Can we afford to wait for the Spirit's arrival when time is of the essence?” St Paul wrote, “But woe to me if I don't preach the Gospel.” Why the woe? Because it would mean he is not filled with the Spirit of Christ and if he is not led by the Spirit, he would surely devolve into a promoter of all things Pauline, all things Benjamite, all things Hebrew, all things Pharisaic. But little that is of Christ.

“Wait in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Isn't that just a version of the Psalmist's counsel, “Wait for the Lord. Wait patiently for him”? Saul couldn't wait for Samuel to arrive to offer the sacrifice and he lost the kingship for his impatience. Or was it a lack of faith masquerading as impatience?While much of what congregations do certainly could inspire impatience or even fear, to busy oneself and then congratulate oneself for doing something is no remedy. The disciples didn't sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs while they waited. They devoted themselves to prayer. What would happen if every one of our congregations did the same before launching out into the deep powered by the latest so-called remedy to congregational malaise? Prayer is a deceptive thing, though. In it we really do nothing but ask for help. Ask for guidance. Ask for direction. Ask to be equipped. It is an activity that keeps us humbly dependent upon the giver of every good and perfect gift. We must pray in faith. Believing, we shall receive. But there we are again, thrust into that Gospel mode of first being receivers. But if we first do not receive, what do we have to give that is of any lasting worth?