Normally, Water Daily reflects upon the Gospel reading appointed for the following Sunday. But the principal text for Pentecost - this week - is from Acts. So we will focus on that story, and address a Gospel passage on Friday.
Pentecost is one of the Big Three festivals of the Christian calendar, along with Christmas and Easter. Some call it the birthday of the Church, and some the only day in the year when we focus on the Holy Spirit. I call it the day the promised power, peace and presence of God came to dwell in God’s people, initiating the whole Christian project in which we continue today, participating in God’s mission.
Jesus’ followers stayed together during the forty days of his resurrection presence; they watched him ascend into heaven, and then returned to the city, where he told them to wait for gift promised by the Father, to be "clothed with power from on high." I doubt they knew what that meant, but they continued to wait and to worship, and to stay out of sight of the authorities. Pentecost was a major Jewish feast fifty days after Passover, and they were together in the upper room celebrating it when things got weird:
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”
It might be that this “big entrance” on the part of the Holy Spirit has caused some to expect strange manifestations when the Spirit shows up. And there can be phenomena like speaking in tongues, or prophesying, or weeping, or laughing hysterically, or feeling tremendous heat. We read about these in the New Testament and hear about them in churches even today. Often, though, the Spirit comes quietly, filling us, rendering us silent in awe and wonder and gratitude. Perhaps how the Spirit comes has a lot to do with what God’s purpose is in a given situation.
And it seems God had a big purpose for that festival day in Jerusalem. Did God want the disciples to wait for this outpouring of the Spirit until the holiday, when the city would be full of pilgrims from other lands? When their sudden, inexplicable ability to speak to visitors in their own languages would create the maximum stir? I guess that can go on our list of questions for God. The stir was caused. Jesus’ followers were released into a boldness and effectiveness they had never shown before. And a reform movement in the Jewish tradition, that might have been suppressed or died out of its own accord, became a phenomenon which forever changed the world.
Has it changed us? The Spirit is God’s promised gift to all who follow Christ. Our liturgies affirm that we receive the Spirit in baptism, in confirmation – indeed, at every celebration of the eucharist. Sometimes we need that gift to be released in us. If you would like to be more centered on Christ, more discerning of God’s leading, more effective in ministry, to name a few blessings, pray for the Spirit – already in you – to be released in you today. Sometimes that works better when someone else prays it for us. But let’s start where we start, or continue where we continue if this is a common for you.
It is the simplest prayer, and the most profound, and the only one we need: “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Then wait and notice. You might have sensations or images, or maybe you’ll feel nothing then and notice later. It’s God’s timing… and our willingness to receive. Come, Holy Spirit.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query 6-2-14. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query 6-2-14. Sort by date Show all posts
5-14-18 - Inspired
(You can listen to this reflection here.)
Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. This week I will reflect on the Holy Spirit generally, rather than on specific biblical texts. (If you want to explore the Acts 2 story, see Water Daily, June 2-6, 2014) After all, the Holy Spirit is the God-Person who makes possible everything we experience as Christians, our faith, our praises, our prayers, ministries. There would be no Church without the Holy Spirit.
In fact, I once wrote a sermon drama called “It’s a Wonderful Trinity," the ridiculous premise of which was borrowed from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The Holy Spirit is feeling depressed about his usefulness, since the Father and the Son seem to get a lot more attention. (Theologians would call this a weak Pneumatology, or Doctrine of the Holy Spirit...) An angel has to show him what the world and the church might be like if there were no Holy Spirit. We hear a really dull sermon, a choir singing listlessly and out of tune, people unable to carry out ministries with any effectiveness, and the like. It was very silly - and I hope it got people thinking about how the Spirit affects our lives as carriers of the Gospel.
It is easy to overlook the operation of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit focuses our attention on Jesus. Jesus likened the Spirit to the wind, which we know by its effects on other things and only “see” as it carries matter through the air. So it is with the Holy Spirit – we know her presence by the fruit our ministries bear, or by our experience of the presence of God in prayer or worship, or by what we see in other people, or others see and hear in us.
The Holy Spirit enables us to pray and praise, to experience peace, to wield spiritual power, to bear the fruit of love and healing in our lives. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is seen as the source of power, wisdom, creativity, comfort, prophecy, gifts for ministry, and virtues like joy and patience. The Spirit, who is the spirit of the Father and the Son, is the way we experience God.
When and where do you most often experience or discern the movement of the Spirit?
Can you tell the difference when you're praying or acting on your own steam or in the Spirit?
When and where are you conscious of seeing the movement of the Spirit in people or situations?
The word "spirit" is related to our words for inspiration and for respiration, breathing. As we focus this week of the various ways the Holy Spirit moves in our lives, I pray we will increase our lung capacity, as it were, making more space within for God's loving presence, God's transforming power. Be inspired; breathe God in!
Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. This week I will reflect on the Holy Spirit generally, rather than on specific biblical texts. (If you want to explore the Acts 2 story, see Water Daily, June 2-6, 2014) After all, the Holy Spirit is the God-Person who makes possible everything we experience as Christians, our faith, our praises, our prayers, ministries. There would be no Church without the Holy Spirit.
In fact, I once wrote a sermon drama called “It’s a Wonderful Trinity," the ridiculous premise of which was borrowed from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The Holy Spirit is feeling depressed about his usefulness, since the Father and the Son seem to get a lot more attention. (Theologians would call this a weak Pneumatology, or Doctrine of the Holy Spirit...) An angel has to show him what the world and the church might be like if there were no Holy Spirit. We hear a really dull sermon, a choir singing listlessly and out of tune, people unable to carry out ministries with any effectiveness, and the like. It was very silly - and I hope it got people thinking about how the Spirit affects our lives as carriers of the Gospel.
It is easy to overlook the operation of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit focuses our attention on Jesus. Jesus likened the Spirit to the wind, which we know by its effects on other things and only “see” as it carries matter through the air. So it is with the Holy Spirit – we know her presence by the fruit our ministries bear, or by our experience of the presence of God in prayer or worship, or by what we see in other people, or others see and hear in us.
The Holy Spirit enables us to pray and praise, to experience peace, to wield spiritual power, to bear the fruit of love and healing in our lives. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is seen as the source of power, wisdom, creativity, comfort, prophecy, gifts for ministry, and virtues like joy and patience. The Spirit, who is the spirit of the Father and the Son, is the way we experience God.
When and where do you most often experience or discern the movement of the Spirit?
Can you tell the difference when you're praying or acting on your own steam or in the Spirit?
When and where are you conscious of seeing the movement of the Spirit in people or situations?
The word "spirit" is related to our words for inspiration and for respiration, breathing. As we focus this week of the various ways the Holy Spirit moves in our lives, I pray we will increase our lung capacity, as it were, making more space within for God's loving presence, God's transforming power. Be inspired; breathe God in!
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2-6-14 - The New Old
This Sunday’s gospel puts us front row at one of Jesus’ training sessions for his new disciples. After the "salt and light" chat, he switches gears: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
Since Jesus seems often to argue with the standard bearers of the religious Law, we might conclude that he supersedes the old revelation or “Testament.” But I suspect Jesus wouldn’t divide the holy scriptures into “new” and “old” the way we have. He articulates a continuity that frustrates our neat categories. Jesus seems to critique the way the Law has been interpreted, not the Law itself. He accuses the Pharisees and other leaders of being heavy-handed and hypocritical in their expectations of people, emphasizing the letter of nitpicking rules while ignoring the spirit behind the whole of Torah.
Mostly, he pulls back the camera for a big picture view. When religious leaders want to stone a woman caught in adultery, he doesn’t talk about the law that permits her execution. He shows it is wrongly administered; he indicts the accusers for ignoring their own sinfulness. When attacked for healing on the Sabbath, he reminds his detractors how they act when their families or possessions are at risk. Over and over, he seems to suggest that it is in interpretation that the leaders get it wrong. The Law of the Lord was intended as gift, and instead became distorted and extended as an instrument of judgment – often wielded by people who weren’t nearly as compliant as they expected everyone else to be. None of us immune to this – we hope for wiggle room in some areas, while in others we expect people to toe the line.
What are your “good and bad” issues? In what areas do you have high expectations of behavior from others – and from yourself? These may be the same areas in which high standards were expected from you by someone else, a parent or teacher or friend. One way of identifying those areas is by noticing what causes us to become indignant or self- righteous. Are you being called to be more merciful to any person or group?
And what are the issues about which you feel more lenient? What do you think God is saying to you about those areas – has God lowered standards, or do you just more fully understand God’s grace in those places?
We always have to hold in tension God’s righteousness and God’s mercy – we can never fully comprehend how those two irreconcilables go together. But, happily for us, they are both true. Jesus did not seek to abolish the Law – only to show that no one is righteous enough to keep it, let alone hold it against others. Until him.
Jesus’ gift was to fulfill the demands of the Law in such a way that we are set free from its condemnation – and thus we are free to live fully into the Love at its heart. Let's try that today.
Since Jesus seems often to argue with the standard bearers of the religious Law, we might conclude that he supersedes the old revelation or “Testament.” But I suspect Jesus wouldn’t divide the holy scriptures into “new” and “old” the way we have. He articulates a continuity that frustrates our neat categories. Jesus seems to critique the way the Law has been interpreted, not the Law itself. He accuses the Pharisees and other leaders of being heavy-handed and hypocritical in their expectations of people, emphasizing the letter of nitpicking rules while ignoring the spirit behind the whole of Torah.
Mostly, he pulls back the camera for a big picture view. When religious leaders want to stone a woman caught in adultery, he doesn’t talk about the law that permits her execution. He shows it is wrongly administered; he indicts the accusers for ignoring their own sinfulness. When attacked for healing on the Sabbath, he reminds his detractors how they act when their families or possessions are at risk. Over and over, he seems to suggest that it is in interpretation that the leaders get it wrong. The Law of the Lord was intended as gift, and instead became distorted and extended as an instrument of judgment – often wielded by people who weren’t nearly as compliant as they expected everyone else to be. None of us immune to this – we hope for wiggle room in some areas, while in others we expect people to toe the line.
What are your “good and bad” issues? In what areas do you have high expectations of behavior from others – and from yourself? These may be the same areas in which high standards were expected from you by someone else, a parent or teacher or friend. One way of identifying those areas is by noticing what causes us to become indignant or self- righteous. Are you being called to be more merciful to any person or group?
And what are the issues about which you feel more lenient? What do you think God is saying to you about those areas – has God lowered standards, or do you just more fully understand God’s grace in those places?
We always have to hold in tension God’s righteousness and God’s mercy – we can never fully comprehend how those two irreconcilables go together. But, happily for us, they are both true. Jesus did not seek to abolish the Law – only to show that no one is righteous enough to keep it, let alone hold it against others. Until him.
Jesus’ gift was to fulfill the demands of the Law in such a way that we are set free from its condemnation – and thus we are free to live fully into the Love at its heart. Let's try that today.
6-23-14 - Triple Welcome
Last week I wrote about religious violence… now I would seriously like to commit some toward the crafters of the Sunday lectionary. Grrr. Yesterday’s Gospel was 315 words of dense, challenging, provocative, hard-to-find-the-Good-News-in teaching from Jesus. And next week’s? 82 words in 2 sentences, four clauses, saying not all that much. Come on!
Okay, end of rant. Let's dive down and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming. After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Welcoming was a big theme in Jesus’ sending talk, because his followers were to go out to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them – and if they were not welcomed some place, they were to move on, save their breath.
This is important for us to hear. So often people express anxiety about discussing faith with others; they assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will, some won’t. Move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does welcome that conversation, and will welcome you, and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a matter close to the heart.
Our culture makes little room for the spiritual, though it is starting to work its way in from the margins into corporate retreats and yoga weekends (maybe because Christians have left such a vacuum?). When we introduce spirituality and faith into a conversation, whether with a friend or stranger, we are making space for a holy connection. And we rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.
Do you anticipate rejection when you contemplate talking about God with someone, or do you anticipate welcome? Either way, we can be surprised…
Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation? What do you think his or her reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?
Here’s the thing: we don’t have to go out cold-calling people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can ask God in prayer, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the right approach? When do you think I should do it?” I think that’s a prayer that God will answer… maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening to talk. That very prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.
Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming Him, and in welcoming Him, they are welcoming our Father in heaven. It’s like a CEO showing up on a sales call, or the chief of surgery administering a shot. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.
Okay, end of rant. Let's dive down and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming. After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Welcoming was a big theme in Jesus’ sending talk, because his followers were to go out to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them – and if they were not welcomed some place, they were to move on, save their breath.
This is important for us to hear. So often people express anxiety about discussing faith with others; they assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will, some won’t. Move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does welcome that conversation, and will welcome you, and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a matter close to the heart.
Our culture makes little room for the spiritual, though it is starting to work its way in from the margins into corporate retreats and yoga weekends (maybe because Christians have left such a vacuum?). When we introduce spirituality and faith into a conversation, whether with a friend or stranger, we are making space for a holy connection. And we rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.
Do you anticipate rejection when you contemplate talking about God with someone, or do you anticipate welcome? Either way, we can be surprised…
Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation? What do you think his or her reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?
Here’s the thing: we don’t have to go out cold-calling people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can ask God in prayer, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the right approach? When do you think I should do it?” I think that’s a prayer that God will answer… maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening to talk. That very prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.
Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming Him, and in welcoming Him, they are welcoming our Father in heaven. It’s like a CEO showing up on a sales call, or the chief of surgery administering a shot. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.
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