Community

This past Sunday (June 8, 2014) was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the celebration of the coming gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Christ. It gains the title of Pentecost because it was a Jewish celebration of the fifty days after the Passover fest. So, it was fifty days since the death and Resurrection of Jesus and just days after His ascension into Heaven on the Mt. Olive. There are some traditional passages preachers read on this Pentecost Sunday. The most obvious is from the book Acts of the Apostles. It tells of what occurred on that day to the disciples when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 2: 1-13). The other traditional passage is a prophecy from the Old Testament about the coming of the Holy Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28-32). But I did not preach on either of these passages. For there was great power unveiled on the disciples and the followers of Christ that day, but is was not in the signs and wonders that were seen and spoken about by the authors of Acts and the prophet Joel.

The gift granted on Pentecost was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was and is a great gift to the people. The result of that gift is not great and powerful "tricks" or "powers" that we witness in the telling to the story of Pentecost. The greatest gift was unity of people. In the old covenant made between God and Abraham, the unity was maintained by inheritance. Unity was that you were a decedent of Abraham. In the new covenant, God needed a way to unify His people. They would no longer just be relatives who are being brought into the kingdom. The spirit offers that unity. This is what I see as the great gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds of the unity we have:

Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

We are unified though the Holy Spirit to the followers around the world and next door in our neighborhood. It will be once we demonstrate the unity we poses through the gift of the Holy Spirit that I believe the world will once again take seriously the Christian faith. Followers of Christ were not meant to fight and be divided, we are called and pulled towards one another through and by the Holy Spirit. As the old hymn is sung, may it be our prayer:

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me; 

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. 

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. 

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. 

Spirit of the living God, move among us all; 

make us one in heart and mind, make us one in love: 

humble, caring, selfless, sharing. 

Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love. 

(http://www.hymnary.org/text/spirit_of_the_living_god_fall_fresh)

Fourth Thursday of Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional
Luke 2-3

Today in Luke we enter into the heart of Jesus birth and young life.  Luke is the only writer to speak about Jesus' early years.  With this, all we hear about is a minor moment when he remands in Jerusalem during a pilgrimage.

This is the part of the narrative I have found intriguing over my life time.  It is because so many times we look down on children and young adults.  They do not have the wisdom or the knowledge that older adults have gained just by being alive.  We might consider a younger person more adapt at technology or new gadgets, but politics and history and theology is for the older and more wise.  But not in this case.

Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

In the time of Jesus, most of the great and honored teachers were aged and well read.  To have a young man life Jesus at the age of twelve answering and give wisdom greater than the work of the wise teachers was a true miracle.  Jesus was blessed with a great spirit of wisdom even at the young age.  He knew who's he was and what his life was all about.  Can we say the same for our self? 

Are we confident in proclaiming that we are children of God?  Are we willing to trust that God is willing to give us the wisdom we need at the right moment to answer questions posed and the need for wisdom?  

Truth

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
(John 16:12-15, NIV, Bible.Logos.com)

The week prior to Trinity Sunday was one full of unique moments of God's grace and presence as I prepared for the Sunday worship service and the sermon I needed to deliver. I was lead a month ago to deliver a sermon on the passage at the top of the page, John 16:12-15. The passage discusses how the disciples are not ready as of yet to hear everything Jesus has to teach them. Part of hte reason (I believe) is because of what is about to happen to the followers of Jesus with the crucifixion and the doubt of who Jesus really is. Jesus proclaims a Spirit of truth to be given as a teacher to the followers. The remarkable part of the past week is the conversations and moments of focus on truth I had this past week.

The first experience of truth was a book I read (amazingly quickly) on the discipleship of men in the church. I read The Map: The Way of All Great Men.The author, David Murrow, presents a journey of men that is three fold. This journey resembles the life of Christ and comes from the Gospel According to Matthew. The journeys revolve around men traveling in a direction surrender to God's desire and willingness to follow His will. The second journey is one of strength. This is where my other conversations came into a focus.

The second encounter was with leaders from another church who I was meeting to work on projects of the regional body of my denomination. Over lunch we discussed many of the issues facing our denomination and the churches' we work with. As we discussed, I was asked how we can keep and get people into the church again. The other leaders were able to spend time in churches not of our denomination on a regular bases and look at what they are doing to teach and reach people for the Kingdom of God. I stated that we leaders (lay and ordained) need to make a solid deceleration in what we believe. We need to state that the Bible is God's instruction and we need to live according to those standards. Many of the churches and religious groups who are growing and receiving new followers are those who are putting a consistent message of beliefs and expectations of the followers. Jesus demanded the same from His followers. They were expected to learn and live the life He called them to accomplish. The demand was so great that many people did not come and follow because of that demand.

I was challenged even further on this point in respects to putting forward too strict a lifestyle. I followed that with the fact that we must teach God's grace. We cannot live this life demand of us on our own. If we could, there would be no reason for God to send His Son. We need the grace and the Spirit that is sent. I believe we must teach the truth of what Christ has accomplished and is accomplishing in the lives of His followers. We also must teach that Christ came to offer grace to live the life that He called to live.

In my sermon, I challenged all the listeners, myself included, that we must teach the truth that the Spirit is teaching us. We also must teach the grace that Christ has bought us. I also challenged the young people to hold our feet to the fire that we teach these great truths to them. We cannot fail. Their future and our demands on our willingness to answer the call of Christ. I hope that I cannot answer the call and stand firm on Christ's truth.