Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost begins a process of prefiguring, a form of change-making that is often overlooked in the tapestry of organizers and activists in North America today. We can often call to mind the change-making strategies of activism and organizing and many of us work in one or the other. Activism in protests, marches, emails, phone calls, etc. gets us in the streets advocating for a change. Organizing involves building power to make change with policymakers and maintain coalitions. Prefiguring is something different entirely. More or less, it’s acting as if the world you want already exists and living accordingly.
Peter’s speech and the radical acts of community-building that follow prefigure the kind of world God wants to see, that God intends for the world. Peter recalls one of the masters of prefiguring, the Hebrew prophets, Joel. Joel and Peter claim that God will pour out the divine spirit on all people, a great equalizing and liberating act, which is what happens not just at Pentecost but throughout the Acts of the Apostles. In the sharing of possessions, the inclusion of new people, and the literal demolishing of prisons, God’s reign breaks into the world in the midst of the apostles living as if it was already here.
The same task is before us now. We won’t abolish the systems of prison and policing tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start living in the alternatives we imagine today. What can your community do to live in the future God wants to see? How can your community live in a world beyond punishment and retribution? What can you put into place now that shows us the world God wants?
Pentecost began early in the morning, so there’s no need to delay.
Wesley Spears-Newsome (he/him/his) is a writer and Baptist pastor in North Carolina.