WEATHER ALERT:

Wednesday, February 5, Childcare at Leawood, West, Overland Park will not be open during morning due to local public school systems announcing late arrival schedules.  All church buildings will operate on regular schedule. However, at Leawood, West and Overland Park, programs requiring childcare will not be held prior to noon Wednesday.

IMPORTANT:

On Sunday, February 9, we’re moving our regular 5 pm worship service to 4 pm so everyone can get home in time to watch the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.

The Holy Spirit’s power and mystery

September 24, 2024
SHARE

Daily Scripture

Acts 2:1-6, 15-18, 32-33, 37-38

Did You Know?
“Shavuot, (“Festival of the Weeks”).… was originally an agricultural festival, marking the beginning of the wheat harvest…. During rabbinic times the festival became associated with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai…. It became customary during Shavuot to study the Torah and to read the Book of Ruth. Celebration of Shavuot occurs on the 50th day, or seven weeks, after the sheaf offering of the harvest celebrated during Passover. The holiday is therefore also called Pentecost from the Greek pentēkostē (“50th”).” *

1 When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.

15 [Peter said,] These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your young will see visions.
    Your elders will dream dreams.
18     Even upon my servants, men and women,
        I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
        and they will prophesy. [Joel 2:28-29]

32 This Jesus God raised up. We are all witnesses to that fact. 33 He was exalted to God’s right side and received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit. He poured out this Spirit, and you are seeing and hearing the results of his having done so.

37 When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Just seven weeks after the Passover when Jesus died on the cross, the Holy Spirit came to his disciples in a highly visible way. Some Jerusalem skeptics claimed the Spirit-filled Christians had started drinking early. Peter forcefully told them this was God pouring out the Spirit and quoted the promise of Joel 2:28. They did not always experience those exact signs afterward, nor do we. But the Holy Spirit remained active in their lives and in ours as well.

  • In John 15:26, Jesus said the Holy Spirit “will testify about me.” That’s exactly what the Spirit did at Pentecost. Peter’s Spirit-filled sermon said, “This Jesus God raised up. We are all witnesses to that fact. He was exalted to God’s right side and received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit.” How has the Spirit testified about Jesus to you? When you have a chance to share your experience with Jesus, how can you rely on the Spirit to make your sharing effective?
  • Surely the creator God could have thundered the news of Jesus from the skies if that were desirable. Instead, God’s main way of carrying out the mission worked through Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered people. What made it more effective, in the end, for God to use people as witnesses? Whose witness has shaped your life? In what ways have you been able to live out Jesus’ calling for you to be one of his witnesses?
Prayer

Heavenly Father, you kept your prophetic promise on Pentecost, as in the end, you keep all your promises. I claim your promise today and call on the name of the Lord for my salvation. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of Ann Williams

Ann Williams

Anne Williams has served as a pastor at Resurrection since 2011. She is now the Resurrection Downtown Location Pastor but was a promising Care Pastor when she wrote this blog in 2012. She loves to guide the process of reconstructing faith. She and her husband, Eric, raise two sons, Jude and Reid. Anne writes real, honest devotions about everyday life at thebradshawdrafts.com.

 

Crucial to today’s lesson, I think, is remembering the story of Pentecost when God sends the church the gift of the Holy Spirit. God sent that because the people needed help. Imagine yourself there. As a disciple, you were used to being with the presence of God through Christ–flesh and blood. And so the idea that you were to continue these good works without that physical leader and guide must have been pretty intimidating. That’s why Jesus’ words were so reassuring to them, when he said “’I have said these things to you while I am still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (John 14:25). Then Jesus’ promise came true at the time of Pentecost and the church was empowered to continue the work of healing that Jesus began. And in this story, we realize that Jesus’ coming is only just the beginning of the revolution.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I have the power, that you have the power. We feel small. Insignificant. Ordinary. We feel anything but powerful. Surely we’re not holy. Surely we are not powerful in the way that Jesus was. And yet, there is this itsy-bitsy gift. It’s a gift that holds all the power and we are promised if we tap into that power that is greater than ourselves we could follow in the footsteps of Jesus in meaningful and transformative ways. Doing anything else is cheating the world of the unique giftedness God has provided in you.

I want to end with a quote from Marianne Williamson’s book Return to Love. I hope it will remind you the double-blessing of all this is that responding to God’s call naturally invites others to do the same. May you tap into the power and do your part to add to the insignificant responses God is nurturing to become the transformation of the world!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.”

© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* Article “Shavuot” at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shavuot.