Tag Archives: All Powerful God

God’s Presence

Living in the Spirit

June 3, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ –Acts 2:1-13

I was not a good student of Spanish. I learned to read it but I failed at being able to do any more than the simplest of conversations. Fifty or so years later, I cannot even read it. That is proof, I guess, that if you do not use it you lose it. I worked with a man whose native language was German. He was chronically slow to respond. He told me once that he had to translate what people said to him into German then form his response in German and translate it into English before he could speak it. He was very quick at it when you consider the work his brain was doing in the background. Basically, he came across as being thoughtful. What happened at Pentecost was one of those events when one had to be there to get the fullness of what happened. They were just as bad at foreign languages as I am. Descriptions just failed the participants.

Pentecost was when the disciples realized that their sojourn with Jesus had just begun. They realized his presence with them was directly from the Holy. As Paul described the empowerment, in Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So can we.

Prayer: Lord, we know you will guide and help us remember that. Open our hearts and minds to your presence as we struggle through a challenging world. Amen.

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.

No Other gods

Epiphany

January 8, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
   worship the Lord in holy splendor.

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
   the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
   May the Lord bless his people with peace! —Psalm 29:1-2, 10-11

I read recently that Christianity is losing followers at a high rate. Many of the people leaving are in search of a spiritual experience. Now, for me that is a contradiction in terms. The Christian faith is Spirit fed. So, what is going on here? I have said before in these devotions that I find it uncomfortable at times to describe myself as a Christian when I see some of the things reported on the news that are being done in the name of Christ. At those times I fall back on the descriptor, Christ follower. It seems to me that one of the greatest temptation that people of all faiths fall into is the trap of creating a lesser god to follow in an image that is more comfortable than the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient—all-powerful, always present, and all knowing—God described in the above scripture. After all it is hard to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves, to feed the hungry who do not seem to want to take care of themselves, to turn the other cheek when our greatest desire is to hit back at those who hit at us.

I think God in creation had a vision of a world of diverse people working together in harmony. He noted some were having problems with doing that on a continuous basis so God Incarnate came to us in the form of Jesus Christ to teach us and model for us the way that vision can become reality as N. T. Wright describes when heaven and earth become one. God’s will is for people to work together and love one another by choice not for personal gain or profit but for the sheer joy of the synergy that comes from wanting the very best for all people. We get there on rare occasions when responding to disasters, but God wants that for us all the time for all eternity.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we resist your power by trying to define a lesser god to follow that does not hold us to the standard you set forth for us. Forgive us when our example turns others away from you. We thank we for the gifts of the Spirit which enable our following in Christ footsteps. Amen.

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.