In the 1st reading (Acts 4:32-37) unbelievably it feels like heaven on earth where the early Christian community was of one mind and heart. They had everything in common and no one was in need. It was a world of perfect sharing, a heaven on earth. For our times it remains a utopia.

How did those early Christians become one in heart and one in mind? In the Gospel proclamation, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the necessity of a new birth,a birth from above. Just as wind blows where it wills, so are those born of the Spirit. Through His death, resurrection and the subsequent sending of the Spirit the Lord brought winds of change to the lives of early Christians. The new birth in the Spirit allowed the early Christians to become who God has called them to be; people made in the image and likeness of God and heaven-bound. Those early Christians, through their perfect sharing while on earth became witnesses to life in heaven.

Not only the early Christians but even today we are called by the new birth to become who God has created us to be. So, it is necessary to allow Jesus Christ to take hold of us through our surrender to the Holy Spirit. Surrender means that we let go of our hold and allow God to make us into a new creation. When we give up control, our old self with hurts, resentments, and habits that kill our spirit will be left behind and we are reborn from above.

With the Watergate scandal, President Nixon’s special counsel Chuck Colson was sent to prison. He realized that God had put him there for a higher purpose. In prison he founded the Prison Fellowship, became a Christian leader and saw the miracles God had done in his life even through his selfishness, mistakes and brokenness. While a prisoner he found new freedom by surrendering to Christ in a birth from above.
Colson and those early Christians allowed the Spirit of new birth to renew them dramatically.Do you?

Prayer: Abba Father, Lord Jesus, send us your Spirit to renew the face of the earth. Amen.