Tag Archives: Spirit

Spirit

Kingdom Building

October 22, 2019

Scripture Reading: Joel 2:23-32

Then afterwards
   I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
   your old men shall dream dreams,
   and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
   in those days, I will pour out my spirit. –Joel 2:28-29

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ John 3:8

It was chilly when I exited my car and walked across the parking lot to the church entrance on Sunday. When I exited the same door following worship the sun was shining brightly and a gentle breeze was blowing. Walking home instead of driving was tempting. In Oklahoma, the only weather constant is change. Thus, I understand well why John used the metaphor of wind when describing the Spirit of God. For the spirit to pour out on all flesh, it must be malleable as a cloud and strong as a hurricane at any time, at the same time—tough assignment.

Our part in the workings of the Spirit is faith that God is with us and God wants the best for us as we strive to work toward the best for all God’s children in our world today and in the future. I do rejoice in a personal relationship with God and I know deep in my heart that that relationship is synergistic, creating a response greater than the sum of its parts, when it is shared among all people.

I cannot imagine the cacophony of chaos, God experiences when God’s children are caught up in divisiveness and power struggles. Our scripture from Joel quoted above suggests that the Spirit even in our dreams suggest alternatives for better living in the future, if we are willing to open ourselves to letting go of the ways of the world and following the dreams and visions of God.

Prayer: Holy One, cleanse us of all that is holding us back from being the light of the world you challenged us to be. 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.

Spirit

Jesus’ Ministry
February 22, 2019

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50

Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. –1 Corinthians 15:45-50

God is spirit possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting*

What is the essence of a human? What does it mean to be made in the image of God? God is often drawn in our physical image. Paul suggest here that we might want to examine more closely God’s demonstrable action-related traits to fine the source of our image. We invest millions of dollars every year working on our physical attributes from makeup to haircuts, exercise to diet. When we examine Jesus’ life, we are given few if any hints about his physical appearance, but we are provided story after story demonstrating how he acted. He welcomed children, fed the hungry, healed the sick, and taught life lessons in most of those stories.

Synchronizing our way of being with Jesus’ is a good place to find who we are and what we are called to do in advancing the Kingdom of God.

Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me**.

Prayer: Lord, broaden our understanding of your example as a guide to developing our spirits. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/4151.htm
**Spirit of the Living God by Daniel Iverson The UM Hymnal, No. 393 see at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-spirit-of-the-living-god

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.

The Advocate

ParacleteEastertide May 23, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 15:26-27 ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

Advocate* is the English translation of the Greek paraklétos** that was the word used to describe an attorney at the time the book of John was written. Merriam-Webster identifies three definitions and one example:

1. one that pleads the cause of another : defender

2. one that argues for, defends, maintains, or recommends a cause or proposal

3. one who supports or promotes the interests of another: someone giving evidence that stands up in court.

To whom is this Advocate speaking the truth in our scripture today? It would seem that this Spirit of truth is sent to each of us to help us discern our way in the manner of Jesus Christ. Yet, the word is always oriented to the other and the coming of the Spirit is to, not only help us discern what is right and just, but to also help us to share the truth with others.

I am reminded of Pilate’s question at Jesus’ trial: What is truth? (John 18:38) We live in a time when truth is not cheap, but seems to be decided by the highest bidder as the media competes for our attention in any way they can to succeed and make money. Beyond that Christians seem to have differing spirits whispering in our ears as we speak opposing truths in the name of Jesus. What is truth indeed?

In Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul writes, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. Perhaps we need to work a little harder at the oneness Jesus called us to live by opening ourselves to the leading of the Advocate and perceiving the truth together.

Prayer: Lord, as we celebrate our diversity help us to claim our oneness in you. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quench My Thirst

Holy SpiritAdvent
December 11, 2014

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.—1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Quench is not a word I use very often. I am most acquainted with its use when talking about quenching a thirst, which means to satisfy* the thirst. Are we not to satisfy the spirit? If we dig deeper into the source of the word quench, the word extinguish is also used. Now that makes more sense in our modern use of language. When we extinguish a fire we put it out, stop it from burning. Thus when we quench a thirst, we are extinguishing it. The Greek word, sbennumi, translated here as quench does not have satisfy in its definition.**  Besides extinguish it does include the words suppress and thwart.

Now you may not share my intrigue with words and the way we use them, but I think we need to understand what Paul is saying to us. How do we suppress or thwart the Spirit or, worse yet totally extinguish the Spirit? Paul was a bit of a mystic. He talks about his relationship with the Spirit and when and how it guided him. Our post rationalistic world is perhaps not as comfortable describing such experiences. We prefer to talk about a still small voice that tweaks our conscience and wonder if that small voice is from God or not.

Faith like all relationships involves habits of communication. When we or our friends talk about someone who is having relationship problems we say, “They just cannot seem to talk to each other anymore.”  Something is suppressing or thwarting their communication and until that “something” is identified and dealt with the relationship will continue to diminish until it is extinguished. So too goes our relationship with the Spirit. It takes work to make relationships flourish. It takes our commitment to communicate our fears and frustrations with God so that the lines of communication can work and we can be confident in that still small voice.

Prayer: Lord, quench my thirst to have a meaningful relationship with you. Clear away my fears and my hesitations. Make me whole in my relationship with you so that I can do your work wholly with others. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/quench
**http://biblehub.com/greek/4570.htm

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Fish and Strawberries

Living in the Spirit
July 27, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. — Matthew 13:47-50

I eat a lot of strawberries and have discovered that every box of strawberries contains a diverse assortment of these tasty delicacies from barely ripe to over ripe, from small to very large. I try to eat the ripest first so they do not spoil before I get to them thus I usually finish the box with the not so ripe berries left. This morning I had a combination of both as I finished the last three berries in one box and added three berries from a new box. Refrigeration is the key to maintaining the very ripe as long as possible. Sunshine might encourage the under ripe to mature. Occasionally I find a berry with a bad spot that I cut out and rarely, but sometimes, I find one that is so rotten, I must throw it out. And so goes our example regarding fish from our scripture today.

The first thing I notice about this scripture is that every kind of fish were caught. I take that to mean that God’s desire is for all people to be included in God’s Kingdom. The second thing I notice is that God has assigned angels to separate the evil from the righteous that is not our job.

So if we believe that the Kingdom of God was initiated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, what is our role right now in regard to preparing for the full fruition of God’s Kingdom? I believe, we are called first to stay in synch with God in our own lives. If we are all capable of both good and evil, we need to be intentional in our striving for God’s good that is reflected in our love for God and our love for one another. We are also called to be stewards of the fruits of the Spirit available to everyone, working toward a world where all can experience these fruits in their fullness whether they are mature and ripe or blossoms on the vine. Our goal is to reduce as much as possible the work of those angels assigned to sort out evil.

Prayer: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me*. Amen.

*From Spirit of the Living God by Daniel Iverson

 

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Bone-tired for God

Living in the Spirit
July 11, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-11

 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. — Romans 8:11

 My sister and I had an interesting conversation the other day. We were comparing notes about how tired one can get sitting at a desk all day with very limited exertion of our bodies. We both grew up on a farm where we did hard physical labor and know well what it means to be bone-tired. I must confess, I was never a good candidate for working in the garden. My mother finally gave up on me and assigned me to cooking and housework when I was about ten. My sister and mother though were closest to God doing that backbreaking work of hoeing and planting and harvesting.

When one is bone-tired there is usually an accompanying sense of work accomplished and productivity whether we are sitting at a desk or using a hoe. The tiredness I experience when I just go through the motions of living has very different results. I think the word ennui would best describe that state of being. Ennui is a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction:  languor or emptiness of spirit.*

Paul is telling us in our scripture today that the Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead will give life to [our] mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in [us]. It is OK to get bone-tired for Christ. If our lives are filled with going through the motions of living, however, we probably need to reengage with our Maker and seek the work God knows will give us fulfillment and also honor God.

Prayer: Spirit that Dwells Within, we dedicate our lives to being fully engaged with you so that our vocations and avocations are a testament of our Love for God. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/ennui

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.