<p>1:14- see on Acts 2:42.<br /><em>These all with one accord- </em>There are a number of words and phrases which keep cropping up in Acts, especially in the early chapters, which are kind of hallmarks of that early ecclesia. &ldquo;With one accord&rdquo; is one such. We begin in Acts 1:14: &quot;These all continued with <em>one accord</em> in prayer&quot;. Then 2:1: &quot;When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all <em>with one accord</em> in <em>one</em> place&quot;.&nbsp; Now over to v.46: &quot;Continuing daily <em>with one accord</em>... breaking bread... with... <em>singleness of heart</em>&quot;. And on to 4:24: &quot;They lifted up their voice to God <em>with one accord</em>&quot;. Now to 5:12: &quot;They were all <em>with one accord</em> in Solomon's porch&quot;. There is another example in 15:25 too. So it's quite obvious, then, that the fact the early ecclesia was &quot;with one accord&quot; in those early, heady days is stamped as a hallmark over this record. But this phrase &quot;with one accord&quot; is also used in Acts about the united hatred of the world against those early brethren and sisters. The Jews ran upon Stephen &quot;with one accord&quot; (7:52), those of Tyre and Sidon were &quot;with one accord&quot; (12:20), &quot;The Jews made insurrection against Paul with one accord&quot; in Corinth (18:12), and at Ephesus the mob &quot;rushed with one accord&quot; against Paul (19:29). The same Greek word is used in all these cases (and it scarcely occurs outside Acts). It's quite obvious that we are intended to visualise that early ecclesia as being &quot;with one accord&quot;. But we are also supposed to imagine the world around them &ldquo;with one accord&quot; being against them. The difference between them and the world was vast. The world was actively united against them, and thereby they came to be strongly united with each other. &nbsp;</p><p><em>C</em><i>ontinued earnestly in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers<em>- </em></i>Mary is portrayed as somehow separate from the other ministering women. It would have been psychologically impossible, or at best very hard, for the mother of the Lord to hang around with them. The group dynamics would have been impossible. Likewise in Acts 1:14 we have &ldquo;the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus&rdquo;, as if she is separate from them. She followed Him to Cana, uninvited, and also to Capernaum. Next she is at the cross risking her life, but she isn't among the women who went to the grave. Why not? It was surely natural that she would go there, and that the other women would go with her to comfort her. But she was a loner; either she went alone, as I think I would have tried to, or she just couldn&rsquo;t face contact with the others and simply hid away. And could it be that Jesus, in recognition of her unique perception of Him, appeared to her first privately, in a rightfully unrecorded meeting? But by Acts 1:14, she was in the upper room, as if His death led her to be more reconciled to her brethren, to seek to get along with them... although by nature, in her heart and soul, she was a loner, maybe almost reclusive. A struggler to understand. A meditator, a reflector, who just wanted to be alone, one of those who take their energy from themselves rather than from other people. <em>&nbsp;</em></p>