Calling the Holy Spirit into a wholly unsuspecting congregation Sunday seemed almost reckless. So I was nervous. But God was, as God is, faithful, and merciful.
What Does the Spirit Sound Like?
“We believe the Holy Spirit teaches us, counsels us when we stray, comforts us when we are in sorrow, and revealing the Holy One to us when we are overcome with faith or beauty.”
Amid the tongues of dancing illumination, things got clear. Christ’s followers suddenly knew what they were trying to say, and they said it. They were so full of the telling that they seemed drunk. They spoke right to the hearts of their listeners.
Pentecost invites all of us to place ourselves in the path of the great wind and earth shaking of and by the Spirit, the place of awe and attention to what God wants of us.
There are only 22 days left in The Great Fifty. Are you ready for Pentecost?
Across the street from us in the first house I grew up in, one of our neighbors was a retired teacher who was a rock hound. His cellar was filled with all kinds of strange things: rose rocks and hourglass crystals that were native to our state, and other rocks he had found on trips: fossils of fantastic sea creatures from the great inland sea that once covered the Plains, amber that glinted like the truculent eye of the tabby […]
The frightened fugitives in the upper room were transformed into powerhouses of evangelical grace .Inarticulate fishermen became spellbinding preachers. Marginally literate country folk became towering evangelists. Fair weather disciples became fearless martyrs for the faith.
The first time I heard the word “paraclete” used in a sermon, I thought the preacher was saying “pair o’ cleats.” I kept thinking, “Why’s Jesus talking about cleats? Baseball and football hadn’t been invented yet!”
Archbishop Justin says that the Holy Spirit “draws Christians from very different background and tradition together, in a body that loves one another”.
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