You can just imagine it. And it is full spreads in all the appointments pages of the quality newspapers.

It might read something like - wanted -a new Chief Executive of Christs Mission on Earth. Now doubtless the 7 figure salary would attract the brighest, the most capable and the most ambitious. The problem is when they read the job spec none would have all the necessary qualities and abilities. Take for example the ability to communicate simultaneously with people not just who are different but in conflict with each other and make them willingly into a team. Or what about not just retaining an infallible strategic overview whilst being intimately involved in each of the lives of ..... followers. Even more demanding if not impossibly demanding would the ability to foresee the future with utter clarity and accuracy not just at the cosmic level but for every living thing. Hmm - I dont think I would waste a CV on that post. In fact, every woman and man would be throwing away good paper and ink in try to secure this job. Why - because it is obviously way beyond the ability of a single human being in truth beyond the capablitues of the human race put together. Who then can ever fill the shoes of Christianitys big cheese? Well, the answer to that question lies in those first few sentences in the book of acts. For, this book has often been subtitled not the acts of the apostles but the acts of the holy spirit. Since, for nearly 2000 years, the chief operating officer of the Jesus of Nazereth movement has been the Spirit of the risen Christ. Or as John Taylor wrote in the 70s; The chief actor in the mission of the church is the Holy Spirit. He is the director of the whole enterprise. And he works by keeping the light focussed upon Jesus Christ. Now this must have been a huge comfort and encouragement to the early followers of Christ. Since here they were having just found the one that not only answered all their questions but also solved all their problems and now he had been taken from them. To them then the brief light of hope must have been cruelly switched off. They must have felt rudderless. Worse still their support of this renigade preacher must have been known to the authorities and they

were now at serious risk. However, they were then promised a companion whose nature they could not understand. All that was required of them was to wait and simply to be. Since, in time the spirit came and together they wrote the book of acts. Well, they say that even the longest jounrey starts with a single step. And that is true whether the journey is a beneficial one or not. Therefore it is difficult to work out what and when were the first steps taken by the church so as to end up where it is today. By that I mean a church that seems to be writing less and less sequels to the book of acts. However, I suspect that those initial waywards step were taken many many years back. And they were made certainly through a desire to make our faiths home more logical, more dictatorial and more structural. In a word more - human. Of course, some the these activities are to degree are valuable even essential. Nevertheless, thoughtlessly taken, these steps forget that the churchs role is to be guided by the holy spirit. They can be less about waiting upon the will of the Holy Spirit than forging ahead leaderless. They can indeed be less and less mindful of a simple fact - and that is primarily the church acts by simply being the church. Well, it has to be said that such an idea of achieving by mere being sounds serious hogwash to our modern ears accustomed as they are to strategic plans, task groups and check lists. Yet I can give an example of winning by simply remaining in existance from Britians reasonably recent past. In the summer and early autumn of 1940, Britian stood alone against the Nazi war machine. In order however for the Germans to invade, they needed to establish not just air superiority but air supremecy over the english channel and the potential landing zones. To that end Goerings Luftwaffe set about the task of destroying the Royal Air Force. And so our nation sent very young men - hardly trained - into the skies to stop this wicked plan. Indeed they say it was the equivelent of gaining your driving licence one day and after a few hours on the road having to compete in a Formula One Grand Prix. A race you had to win because your life depended on it.

Well at that time there were many - Douglas Bader et al - who wanted a quick knock out victory - and in that they were all too human. For Sir Hugh Dowding realised something far less exciting but utterly crucial. And it was this - the RAF would achieve it aims purely by just surviving. It won its first victory in september 1940 simply by being and remaining in being. We today in the church we may have to learn this lesson as well. Becuase in these all to human times for christianity we too easily ignore another quote from John Taylor. It goes like this: We have lost our nerve and our sense of direction and have turned the divine intitiave into a human enterprise. It all depends on me is an attitude that is bedevilling mission in these days. Let us then remember the Churchs foundation in the book of acts. Moreover, let us turn the church back to the lessons within that reminder. For Luke tells it as it is. Yes great and new acts will be done once more. But only when we submit to the will, guidance and vision of the spirit. Only when we have the forsight not to determine the future but use faith in waiting, obeying and hoping. Only indeed when we again give priority to Christian being over humanly doing. Because it is in our spiritual being under the power of Christ that we will be witnesses - true witnesses here, true witnesses there and true witnesses to the very ends of the earth. Amen Offering HYMN....