In 1942, agents of the US government, using the power of eminent domain, force-purchased more than 60,000 Tennessee acres near the Appalachian foothills. Earth was leveled, streets were laid, foundations were poured, and buildings began to rise.
No one was told why.
The "whatever-it-is" needed people who could cook, run laundries, be janitors, collect trash, type, file, do carpentry, be lifeguards, teach school. They needed plumbers, nurses, doctors, librarians, pastors, musicians, coaches ... everyone needed to run and occupy a city.
No one was told why.
Many specialists were brought in. Over 75,000 people, though not told what they would be doing, or even where it was located, agreed to work in a place without a name. Everything was done in secret. Only after they were hired and on site were they told the details of their specific jobs. But, they were forbidden to discuss even that small part with anyone ... even each other.
No one was told why.
Over those first three years, the folks who worked and lived there began calling the area, “Oakridge.” Then, two-thirds of the way through 1945, everything changed. On August 6th, news began to whirl through Oakridge like wildfire: the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on Japan!
What they had been doing at Oakridge those three years, with each one knowing no more than was essential to do his/her specific job, was producing plutonium, enriching uranium ... making "the blowing up parts" of the bomb. Each person came and did his/her part day after day, despite the fact they were not allowed to know anything more, and even though they had no inkling of the implications of their work.
The "big picture" was only knowable in retrospect.
Similarly, the three years of Jesus' earthly ministry were somewhat like the Oakridge experience: men and women drawn into an enterprise that was not really understood. The reality —and its implications(!)— far too enormous for them to truly grasp.
It was only in the past tense that even the inner circle came to more fully understand what had come before. That is the scene we read in this week's passage from Acts. Peter draws together the facts —those previously known and those not previously understood— and lays out the full picture for all assembled at Pentecost.
God came down. He allowed himself to be crucified as a sacrifice. He did not stay dead. And what sealed it all was the witness of Peter and the other apostles. Everyone could ... at last ... now know how all that had come before fit together ... to make the greatest spiritual explosion of all time.
It spread like wildfire.
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PHOTO: https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Atomic-City-Untold-Helped/dp/1451617534
Portions of this reflection are borrowed from The Girls of Atomic City which appeared in April 2014.
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For more on the Secret City, there is a little bit on Google, but I recommend these two excellent reads:
The Last Reunion - The Class of 52 Comes Home to the Secret City by Jay Searcy: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Reunion-Class-comes-Secret-ebook/dp/B007M4593U
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan: https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Atomic-City-Untold-Helped/dp/1451617534
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