Eastertide
May 30, 2022
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-21
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” –Acts 2:1-14
And so it begins. The disciples had to shake the fog out of their heads before they could read the scriptures of old and see themselves in them. They had to replace Judas and move on. We, too, go through times of fog when nothing is clear, and all seems out of sync. We are living in such a time as that right now. Our world is still fighting a stubborn virus while trying to recover from its aftermath. Mass shootings are happening repeatedly. We keep asking why. Our leadership seems impotent to address the issues that confound us some stand staunchly in the way of progress while others are being corrupted by greed and lust for power.
We, too, might benefit from an old hymn for evil has always lurked in the background and we are the servants of God called to overcome it.
1 Let justice flow like streams
of sparkling water, pure,
enabling growth, refreshing life,
abundant, cleansing, sure.
2 Let righteousness roll on
as others’ cares we heed,
an ever-flowing stream of faith
translated into deed.
3 So may God’s plumb line, straight,
define our measure true,
and justice, right, and peace pervade
this world our whole life through*.
Prayer: Amen.
* Let justice flow like streams by Jane Parker Huber, See at https://hymnary.org/text/let_justice_flow_like_streams
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.