Life in the Spirit

June 2, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.

Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

God, the Creator, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit have been engaged in growing us and guiding us since the beginning of the world. Made in the very image of God, we are fully capable of loving like God. We were provided a role model in Jesus and salvation in his death and resurrection so that we can love and be loved as we strive to develop the Kingdom God envisioned in creation. We, like are ancestors in faith worshipping God in a tent in the desert, are gifted with the Holy Spirit serving as our advocate and our guide.

If the world is going to be that Kingdom, we are the ones who must make it happen. We can no longer let the lesser gods of the world rule our world. The idols of greed and lust for power are the root causes of the strife and divisiveness pandemic among us today. They rear their ugly heads in racism and classism and violence. Mighty armies cannot rid us of such evil. Only God can do that. God has chosen repeatedly to deliver the message to God’s followers that we must be a part of the overthrow of evil. Today let us renew our commitment to that calling.

Prayer: Lord, strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees* as we move out into the world spreading so much love there is no longer space for evil. Amen.

*See Hebrews 12:12

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.