Acts 2:1-4

Acts 2:1-4 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I've grown to love Thanksgiving.  It's a time to gather together around the table, to remember all the blessings we have and to spend time in fellowship.  There's no materialism around the table (we save that for Black Friday & Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday), but a wealth of food and a realization that it's the relationships that carry us through the year.  There's something special about gathering together.
  For the disciples, after Jesus ascended into heaven, they continued to gather together.  They wouldn't have known what was going to happen, and I'm sure they spent a lot of time discussing a multitude of options.  They'd seen Jesus do amazing things, including rising from the grave, but I'm sure they didn't have an idea as to what he could do through them.  The power of the Holy Spirit wasn't something they expected to come over them in such a dramatic way, I'm certain of that!
  But they kept gathering together, and sure enough, God showed up in a dramatic way!  The Holy Spirit filled them, then sent them out.  There's certainly no guarantee about how God will act when we gather together as Christian community, but I'm a strong believer that God does show up and works among and between us and encourages us and supports us and strengthens us and gives us a clearer sense of how we are called, together and separately, as Christians to be salt and light in the world.