Shalom (שָׁלוֹם)

Act 9:31-42  Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Now as Peter went here and there among all the believers, he came down also to the saints living in Lydda.  There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, for he was paralyzed.  Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!" And immediately he got up.  And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.  Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.   At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.  Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, "Please come to us without delay."   So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.  Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.  He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.  This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

 

Luke tells us that the church “had peace and was built up”. The word peace / שָׁלוֹם / shalom means far more than the absence of violence. It expresses wholeness in body, mind and spirit.  Luke then uses the stories of Aeneas and Tabitha (Dorcas) to illustrate the peace that Jesus brings.

Aeneas, bedridden with paralysis, lived in Lydda, about 40 km from Jerusalem. For eight years he had been unable to travel to the temple to make the obligatory prayers and offerings. He was not at peace, both spiritually and physically - until Peter brought the peace of Jesus that healed him in every way possible. Sixteen kilometres further on in Joppa – the ancient seaport for Jerusalem – lived Tabitha. Here was one who had brought shalom to the poor through her sewing, but now there was only death and weeping. Again, Peter brings the peace of Jesus that silences the crowds and restored Tabitha to life.

Central to this story is the link between Jesus and Shalom. The life and teaching of Jesus is all about living in peace: it is all about bringing wholeness, healing, restoration, joy and a richness to life. All who follow Jesus are committed to shalom. It is simply impossible to claim to follow Jesus while destroying peace through anger, violence and death.

Prayer for Today:

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
(Words: Sebastian Temple - based on a prayer by Saint Francis)    

 

First Sunday after Trinity

31 Mercy, Justice and Love
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 197.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

Beautiful Gate

Act 3:1-10  One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o'clock in the afternoon.  And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.  When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.  Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us."  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.   But Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk."   And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.   Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.  All the people saw him walking and praising God,  and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The Beautiful Gate is only mentioned in Acts 3.2 when Peter and John went into the Temple, and is not mentioned in any other historical sources. Archeologist  Leen Ritmeyer suggests that it was the Double Gate in the southern wall of the Temple Mount, which he describes in his book The Quest, pp. 67-74. [1] I like the idea that something beautiful happened at this gate – and it therefore gained a nickname amongst the disciples.

In the light of this I am intrigued to discover another “Beautiful Gate”. This is an NGO, founded by Toby and Aukje Brouwer, that began as a project for street children in Cape Town. Today Beautiful Gate has grown into an association with organisations in South Africa, Lesotho and Zambia.[2]  And the thought struck me that we can all create our own “Beautiful Gates”. Let us see those who hang around the closed gates and doors begging for morsels of life – and find ways of offering moments of beauty. This can range from a greeting and a smile, to assistance, to advocacy for change in social structures.  Each of us will have our own particular contribution – but all of us can echo the words of Peter: what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

 

First Sunday after Trinity

31 Mercy, Justice and Love
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 197.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

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(1)  See also http://www.ritmeyer.com/2010/12/14/the-beautiful-gate-of-the-temple/.

(2) http://www.beautifulgate.org/BGInter/about_his.html

Survivor

Acts 28:7-10  Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They bestowed many honors on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

Paul is under arrest, being transported from Jerusalem for trial in Rome, when his ship is wrecked on the island of Malta. Today there is an inlet called St Paul’s Bay which tradition locates as the site of this shipwreck.  A leader of this community is cured by Paul’s prayers, and they end up staying three months on this island.

What is remarkable is Paul’s generous spirit. He has been arrested, unfairly accused, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and just as the survivors haul themselves onto the beach – he is bitten by a snake![1]  Yet, instead of using the moment to plead his case before an important leader, he visits his home and prays for his health.

The question raised by this passage asks whether we are so wrapped up in our own misery that we do not see the needs of others. An ego-centred world will blind us to the suffering of people around us. The Christian response is always one that puts injustice and suffering in our community ahead of personal desires.

Talk about suffering here below
And let's keep a-loving Jesus.
Talk about suffering here below
And let's keep a-following Jesus.

(Greg Graffin)

 

First Sunday after Trinity

31 Mercy, Justice and Love
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 197.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

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[1] Acts 28:6

Pray for One Another

James 5:13-20  Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.  Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.   Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.   My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,  you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

 This letter is thought to have been written by James the Just, the brother of Jesus, between AD40-50, at the time of the stoning of Stephen and persecution of Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 8). This is encouragement to new followers of Jesus, who find themselves excluded from their community and chased away from Jerusalem. James encourages them to pray, to confess sin, and not to give up hope.

There is a lesson in this: ours is a world that thrives on popularity and acceptance. We hesitate to do anything that is outside of the norm, and as a consequence it is difficult to stand firm for things we believe when such a belief is unpopular. This requires courage, and prayer is the means to access courage. If you are experiencing hardship because of your faith – stand in the tradition of the early Jesus followers and be prayerful and cheerful.    

 

 

 

 

An afterthought: According to James - if we see someone we love who “wanders from the truth”, then they should “be brought back”. Such action is only permitted after an acknowledgement of personal sinfulness (James 5;16), and a willingness to go the journey to find the person where they are. All too often followers of Jesus confront sin from a platform of their own self-righteousness, without being willing to stand alongside the sinner as a fellow pilgrim.  Martin Luther described this as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

 

 

 

First Sunday after Trinity

31 Mercy, Justice and Love
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 197.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

In His Steps

1Peter 2:21-25  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

In 1897 Charles Monroe Sheldon wrote a book entitled In His Steps  which was to become a Christian classic of its time. The title is borrowed from 1 Peter 2:21 “so that you should follow in his steps” , and this book challenges its reader not to do anything in life without first asking “What would Jesus do?” I am fascinated that although this book went on to sell more than 30 000 000 copies, and many, many more contemporary followers of Jesus have worn wrist bands with WWJD etched on them, very few have taken the time to think about the context of the verse that started it all: 1 Peter 2:21.

This verse comes from Peter’s letter written from Rome in approximately 67AD, to encourage Christians in the north-east province of what is known as Asia Minor (Turkey). They are dealing with the struggle to remain faithful to the way of Jesus in the face of religious and political persecution. Peter points out that Jesus also suffered “leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps”.  Therefore following in Jesus steps (by asking the question “What would Jesus do?”) is specific to suffering.

The question more accurately asks: “What would Jesus do when confronted with suffering, persecution and difficulty?” Jesus responded to persecution without returning the abuse, or threatening the abuser. Instead he “entrusted himself to the one who judges justly”.  So, following in the steps of Jesus, asks us to be grace-filled in the face of suffering.

The challenge for today is for us to complain less about the violation of our dignity and human rights, and learn to respond to abuse with the love and grace of Jesus.

 

 

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
Chorus:
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

 Words: Sebastian Temple - based on a prayer by Saint Francis    

 

 

 

First Sunday after Trinity

31 Mercy, Justice and Love
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 197.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

 

One with God

Colossians 2:1-10  For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.  As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,  and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

Here is an invitation to become part of the Divine: “you have come to fullness in him”. This is clearly not to act and think as if we are God, but is rather the invitation to recognise our unity with the Spirit Who first breathed life into us. Once we admit this, we will then see our unity with every other human being... because we all have been made by God. The dream is for hearts to be encouraged and united in love.

Come almighty to deliver
Let us all thy life receive
Suddenly return and never
never more thy temples leave........

 

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

God Language

Ephesians 3:14-21  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This is a blessing that has been loved by many generations of Christ followers. It deserves to be read slowly and thoughtfully, savouring the richness of the language and receiving the benediction of the words. Perhaps you might read this aloud, pausing to reflect and allow the words to sink into your thinking.

As we read this we also discover how its author, St. Paul, struggles to speak about God:     I bow my knees before the Father.... strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.... to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God... him who by the power at work within us ...to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus... This is rich Trinitarian language that overlaps the various ways we use ‘God-language’.  Ultimately, we are reminded that our ‘God-language” is always inadequate to capture a Divine Being who is beyond our imagining.

The language of Trinity reminds us that God is more than we can conceive. Those who wage war in the name of God, and those who export terror in God’s cause, and those who condemn homosexual and lesbian people in the name of God, and those who claim God’s sanction for their wealth and privilege ......

All of us need to discover that God is bigger than our understanding of Divinity.   

 

 

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

God – One in Three and Three in One

Ephesians 1:3-14  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,  just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight  he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,  so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;  this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

Here is an ancient Trinitarian statement of faith: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.... In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance... In him you also...were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.  Orthodox Christianity holds one thing in common – irrespective of other denominational emphases - we affirm the Trinitarian nature of God: God is Three in One. God is One, but is experienced in three different ways. God is One, but is expressed in Three forms. God is One, but is three persons in the One Godhead.  

Whew – this sounds complicated. I have Muslim friends who shake their heads at me and sigh in dismay. And I think of a wonderfully thoughtful psychologist friend who would laugh and say “That’s bullshit!” Yet I cling to this as a defining boundary to my faith. I serve a Complex Deity, Who defies explanation. I owe my breath and being to God as the Creator and Sustainer of life. I see Divinity in Jesus that inspires me to follow in his ways. And I have experienced the touch of the Spirit of God that has prodded my life into new paths not of my choosing – but to my benefit. I can only respond by affirming my belief in a Triune God. This does not make me right. Neither does it make my explanation of God better than that of any other faith. This is just my way of explaining the way God has engaged with me. 

The invitation for today is to give up trying to explain God. It is far more useful for us to follow God’s commands to be just and compassionate, than for us to debate the words we use for God.  

 

 

 

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

Different Gifts

1Corinthians 12:1-11  Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;  and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;  and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,  to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

 Corinth was of strategic importance for its shipping and trade. In addition, it hosted the annual Isthmian Games, and was home to the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It was therefore the gathering place of people from all over the world: some came to buy its bronze articles, some to use it as safe port for trade with Greece, and some to worship in the temple on top of the Acrocorinth.

 Paul came to this city in AD50 from Athens.[1] He found work as a tentmaker, in partnership with Priscilla and Aquilla. In the absence of modern hotels, travellers and tourists would live in tents, so there was always work for a tent maker. Acts 18 tells us that Paul preached to both Greek and Jew about Jesus, and a Christian Church was soon established here.  It would seem that this church was made up of the variety of people that made up Corinth – and it was not long before they began to develop schisms. They wrote a letter to Paul asking him for advice.[2] Paul replies, probably in AD57, from Ephesus,[3]     

 The passage for today addresses them at their place of division: their understanding of the Holy Spirit. It would seem that some used their own unique experience of the Spirit to feel superior to others. Paul responds by pointing out that the Spirit of God was never given so that people could gain status. Instead, God’s Spirit was given for service: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;[4] Different gifts are given, but no one gift is greater than another: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.[5]   

Yet still today followers of Jesus vie with each other for status. We claim superior music, preaching, buildings, service projects and mission statements. Paul is quite clear: All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.[6] Let us resist the temptation to spiritual superiority. All are blessed by the one God.

 

Today I ask your prayers for my friend and colleague Ecclesia De Lange. I have known her for the past ten years as one who has lived her life in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, not all her colleagues have been able to see the Spirit at work in her life. She was born as a gay person, and reached a point in her life where she married her (female) partner. This led some of my colleagues to question her spirituality. Ultimately she was expelled from the Methodist Church – a decision she is now fighting in civil court. I am asking for our prayers – that we might discover that God gives different gifts to different people “for the common good”. In time may we learn to appreciate this.      

 

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

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[1] We know this because Acts 18:2 talks about Paul meeting Prisca and Aquilla who

had just been exiled from Rome, and that was the year that Claudius exiled the Jews from Rome.

[2] 1 Corinthians 1:11

[3] 1 Corinthians 16:8

[4] 1 Corinthians 12:4-5.

[5] 1 Corinthians 12:7.

[6] 1 Corinthians 12:11.

The Inexplicable God

John 5:19-23  Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.  The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.  Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,  so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
......Joh 5:30-32  "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.  There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.

The Gospel of John is the most difficult to read, and passages such as the one above do not help! While Matthew, Mark and Luke provide an account of “what Jesus did”, John’s Gospel wants to explain what Jesus means to us who follow him. This passage is part of a chapter that tries to explain an unexplainable concept: the Trinity of God. This was written fifty years after the event it describes, at a time when followers of Jesus are struggling to explain the relationship between Jesus and God. Many God-like characteristics had been ascribed to Jesus, and people did not know how to put this in words.  

John’s explanation borrows from Greco-Roman philosophical language: “the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise..  These words, spoken in the third person, are an attempt to explain that Jesus is divine – the son of God – who does nothing that God would not do. A few verses later we see an allusion to the Spirit of God: “There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true”.  This is difficult and complex theology,that has been developed over time in an attempt to explain the inexplicable.

I believe that this difficult language is a necessary correction to those who would reduce our faith to a few simple explanations. It is necessary to be reminded that the Divine Being who calls our name is beyond our explanation and our control. An impossible concept like The Trinity helps us remember that we do not have adequate language to describe God, and God’s thoughts are beyond our understanding. Sometimes the only response to our Creator is silent awe.

 

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Words: Re­gi­nald He­ber, 1826.
Heber wrote this hymn for Trin­i­ty Sun­day while he was Vi­car of Hod­net, Shrop­shire, Eng­land.

 

 

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

 

A Spirit that will not be restricted by the Church

“The Spirit of God works where he wills. The Spirit of God cannot be restricted in his operation by the Church. He is at work not only in the offices of the Church, but where he wills in the whole people of God. He is at work not only in the Catholic Church, but where he will in Christianity as a whole. And finally he is at work not only in Christianity, but where he wills in the whole world.
The power of the Spirit of God can pass through all walls – even church walls”.
From: The Church by Hans Kung.

A Psalm for Pentecost

(try to read this with another person: alternate the verses)

 

Psalm 104:24  O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Psa 104:25  Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.

Psa 104:26  There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

Psa 104:27  These all look to you to give them their food in due season;

Psa 104:28  when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

Psa 104:29  When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

Psa 104:30  When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

Psa 104:31  May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works--

Psa 104:32  who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

Psa 104:33  I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

Psa 104:34  May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

 

Marked for Life

Ephesians 4:30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Eph 4:31  Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,
Eph 4:32  and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Eph 5:1  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
Eph 5:2  and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul describes the Spirit of God as a “seal” which marks each person as belonging to God.[1] This draws on the practice of sealing a letter with wax and then stamping it with the insignia of the sender. Paul suggests that once the Spirit has touched our lives, we ought to be visibly recognisable as belonging to God. This will be evident in the refusal to show “bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander”; Instead the insignia of our Lord is seen in the way we are “kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another”.

This means that we cannot be secretive about our allegiance to Jesus. Ours is a very public faith, meant to be demonstrated in the way we live out the values of Jesus each moment of each day. This is possible only by allowing the Spirit of God to claim more and more ownership of our lives. As we surrender our lives, we allow the Spirit space to work through us.

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. The best way to celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit is through acts of kindness, forgiveness and service.

 

I am so far from perfect
I thought life was worthless
Until you showed me who I am (don't forget you're)
Not here by mistake
No luck, only grace
I'm on my way to
Who I am (now called your son), I am (forgiven for what I've done)
I am (forgiven for what I've done), I am (yes)
Thank God I am (sealed by your grace)
I am (still here, help me say), I am                                                            KIRK FRANKLIN

 

Pentecost

29 The Church of the Spirit
Scripture reading taken from A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants p.184

 

 

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[1] Ephesians 4: 30; and also Ephesians 1:13

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.......

Zechariah 4:  The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.  And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."  I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"  Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."  He said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah is a prophet of God during reign of Darius the Great. This was in the period of the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. Zerubbabel and the high priest Yay-SHOO-ah had led the first group of Jews who returned from the Babylonian Captivity. The rebuilding of the temple was being led by Zerububbel, who had been appointed as governor of Judah. This proved to be a difficult and demoralizing job. The temple had been abandoned for seventy years and was ruined. The returning Jews were more interested in building their own houses than in building the temple. And their moral character was fragmented and selfish.  Zerabubbel was demoralized – at the point of giving up.

In this passage Zechariah is given a vision to share with Zerabubbel. This is a vision of the great candle in the temple: a menorah. This candle comes from Exodus 25, where Moses is instructed to build a lamp stand of pure gold. This is modeled on an an almond tree with branches, flowers, and bulbs. The branches came out, three on a side, as well as the main stem, giving seven lights. Exodus 27 tells us that the lamps were to burn olive oil. This meant that priests had to be on duty night and day to keep the lamps burning.

Here is a vision of a lamp stand that is perpetually lighted, not by priests on duty, but by the olive trees that are planted on either side of it.  This speaks of the light of God being kept alight – “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts”.  Here is a word of reassurance for Zerabubbel: the Spirit of God is not confined to human endeavour alone. God is present in the work of the temple beyond the efforts of the governor.  

I suggest that there we can take a word of reassurance from this for us today.  Hard work can accompany much – but there is spiritual life beyond human effort. We do not control the Spirit of God! We do keep the candle lighted, because God is capable of keeping the light burning without us. The presence of the Spirit is not dependent on singing the “right” hymns, or on praying the “right” prayers. The “correct” worshipful atmosphere is not a prerequisite for the presence of the Spirit.  God’s Spirit is available with – and without – the songs, prayers and invocations.   

Take hope from a God who never leaves us, even when we feel alone and discouraged. God’s strength is greater than our human effort.

 

 

We like to think, that we can handle problems on our own.
We buckle down, apply the steam,
work our hands down to the bone,
But when we’ve gone around in circles,
and there’s no place left to turn,
The Lord reminds us quietly, there’s a lesson to be learned.

It’s not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit.
It’s not by might, nor by power,
Sayeth the Lord.
by Psalty

 

Pentecost

29 The Church of the Spirit
Scripture reading taken from A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants p.184