WATCHWORD:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2:1-6,12
Meditation:
Time Out?
Miracle in your home? Have you thought about that? Miracle, right there where you live. Have you thought about what God is doing within the details of our lives, even as we sit here and consider these 35 days or so that we have been in isolation? What has changed? We have, you know, each one of us. We are not the same.
Sometimes change can be so subtle that it is like a gentle breeze that just goes through and we hardly notice. Sometimes change is like an abrupt something that happens, and our lives are redirected. Or, maybe it exposes something of which we were unaware. Or perhaps expose is too strong word, maybe reveals, is better. Maybe he reveals something within us that we weren’t aware of because of all the distractions. Now that the distractions are stilled, was our blindness lifted? An attitude adjustment?
You know, before that Day of Pentecost, the Disciples had to wait for something, they weren’t sure what. What did Jesus mean? Jesus’ spirit? What they discovered was the imparting of the Holy Spirit within them. Before that happened, how would they know what Jesus meant?
The Holy Spirit has always been here. The Holy Spirit came into this world at creation, and has been here ever since. It is we, that must receive the revelation. Come Lord Jesus.
Isolation doesn’t feel like that same kind of waiting time that the disciples went through, but how would we know? It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes a person, but the power of Christ coming into our lives by the Holy Spirit that changes us. I wonder if sometimes we read the Bible with blind eyes. The infilling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not an experience apart from Christ, it was the evidence of the ascended Christ.
Does any of this make sense? Our accepting Christ as Lord and Savior starts as a decision which we think we make, but I wonder. What has stirred within us? Maybe that ‘decision’ we might think we made on our own, was actually God deciding.
Last night I listened to Pastor Robert Morris preaching on God Is… He made three points: 1. God doesn’t need anything. 2. God decides to need us, and we become partners. 3. We have to decide to need God. God will not do our part. Our part is not supernatural. And we must do our part first. God has fully equipped us to do just that. Never underestimate the power of prayer!
So, is this really isolation? Or, has God given us a ‘time-out’ to restore our sight?
You know, I had trouble with my printer yesterday and I tried everything, and nothing worked. I finally shut off my Wi-Fi and my computer. When I re-booted. Success! What do you know?
Maybe that is the lesson of our isolation. May God bless each one of us in our wonderful and miraculous, time-outs.
–Stan
Bulletin Board:
Don’t blame me, this is from Pete: Thought that this might help for a laugh or two as we go into whatever week it is! You may have run across this during our ‘outside’ life. A Dog Named Mace — There was once a handyman who had a dog named Mace. Mace was a great dog except he had one weird habit: he liked to eat grass — not just a little bit, but in quantities that would make a lawnmower blush. And nothing, it seemed, could cure him of it. One day, the handyman lost his wrench in the tall grass while he was working outside. He looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be found.As it was getting dark, he gave up for the night and decided to look the next morning. When he awoke, he went outside and saw that his dog had eaten all the grass in the area, around where he had been working, and his wrench now lay in plain sight, glinting in the sun.Going out to get his wrench, he called the dog over to him and said, “A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me.” (Did I hear boos?) Blessings, Pete.
From Stan — For some reason, this kept going through my mind these past several days:
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
Where one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love.
Amen?
Closing Prayer:
Chaplain of the U.S. Senate Peter Marshall, offered this prayer June 23, 1947:
We thank Thee, O Lord, that this land is still governed by the people’s representatives. Let democratic processes be seen at their best in this time of testing. As these chosen men (and women) discharge their duties, guide them, O God, in the decisions they must make today. Give them the grace of humility, and shed now Thy guiding light into every mind. Break down every will that is stubbornly set against Thine or that has ignored Thee. May that which is done be so clearly right that it needs no incendiary justification. Soothe our still-smoldering hearts and minds with the spirit of forgiveness. Let us be swayed not by emotion or ambition but by calm conviction. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
