Living in a World of "Chosen Community"

I chose a peculiar place to write my sermon a few weeks ago on Acts 2.
Rarely do I write my sermons from my church office. My favorite place is The Common Ground, a coffee house not too far from my home. It has become a sanctuary for me...a place where sermon ideas flow.
Occasionally, I try to put myself somewhere in the city where I can read a text on behalf of the people who reside there. I know, for some you this may sound really odd, but it works for me.
When it came to writing my sermon on Acts 2, I chose to set up my office on the campus of the University of Memphis. I parked a mile from the campus and walked by sorority homes, frat houses, and Christian centers. I sat a table next to study groups and coffee-drinking-profs.
This entire time I was reading Acts 2 while praying, "What does this text mean for these people?"
I paused to give thanks for the girl stocking a shelf next to me with a huge butterfly tattoo across her neck as she socialized with everyone within a 15-foot radius of her floor job...asking God to to fill her with His presence and power.
I gave thanks for the couple I saw holding hands on the sidewalk...asking God to keep them pure.
I gave thanks for the young college student who was studying in front of me with papers, books, and notes scattered all over the table, and stress written all over her face...asking God to form her identity.

As I read Acts 2 in this setting, I realized a couple things:
1) Acts 2 isn't just about baptism. It is about the stirring of God that comes upon a group of people who were waiting for the coming Spirit. Then, the message Peter preaches was all about the power of God manifested through Jesus. People were baptized and 3,000 were added to the church. Acts 2:42 becomes the driving force of the rest of Acts, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." The power of this story is not that the 3,000 were baptized but that 3,000 entered into authentic community (Acts 2:42-47). By making that statement, I am not under-emphasizing baptism; if anything, I am elevating it. The baptized community now becomes an authentic community of Christ-followers.
2) This experience taught me that we live in a world of "chosen community". In college we chose are social clubs and our girlfriends...study groups and coffee/drinking buddies. We are surrounded by chosen-communities. Look at our churches and neighborhood cookouts.
But something happens in Acts 2, people don't choose community...the Holy Spirit chooses communities. And when the Holy Spirit begins to knit people together...