Dearest e-votees-
This coming Sunday is the day of Pentecost. It is an ancient festival that took on new meaning when the Holy Spirit came into the church deeply and broadly as recounted in Acts 2. We will look at the appointed text from 1 Corinthians as our devotional focus for this week.
Peace,
Karl
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...no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, NRSV
It is the breath of God (the Spirit) that brings life to the dust in the garden of Eden and life to the dusty bones of Ezekiel's vision. The form and the pieces of the body might be present but it is the divine indwelling that animates us most fully into that divine image in which we were created. When we regard others as anything less than loved by God and formed in God's image we diminish God's body. When we disregard the beauty and the care that God has instilled into us we diminish God's body. When we try to show how our gifts or contributions are more valuable than those of others we diminish God's body.
The body needs all of its parts to exist and function and most fully convey the breadth of life God has given. The church--the community of saints--the spiritual body of Christ needs all of its parts to exist and to convey most fully the breadth of God's love that is for the world. It takes all gifts and passions, all perspectives and sensitivities, all stories and hoped-for futures in order to more fully bear the fullness of Christ.
The Spirit is for us and for all. We should drink of it deeply and invite others to do the same. This isn't to say that all things are equally good or acceptable to God. This isn't to say that we should be whoever our Old Adams and Old Eves imagine without restraint. This is saying that we should allow others to discern about and grow into God as they are moved by the Holy Spirit and we should do the same. We should take the plank out of our own spiritual eyes and let God remove they specks from theirs. If we know anything about God and the Holy Spirit we should know that God can make clear what God needs to say to individuals and communities when God so chooses.
God, blow into our lives again and again. Give us grace to see your body as lacking without others made in your image. Particularly stir us to reach out to those who perplex, annoy and scare us most. What we are not that they are surely conveys some of your majesty. Amen.
This coming Sunday is the day of Pentecost. It is an ancient festival that took on new meaning when the Holy Spirit came into the church deeply and broadly as recounted in Acts 2. We will look at the appointed text from 1 Corinthians as our devotional focus for this week.
Peace,
Karl
------------
...no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
It is the breath of God (the Spirit) that brings life to the dust in the garden of Eden and life to the dusty bones of Ezekiel's vision. The form and the pieces of the body might be present but it is the divine indwelling that animates us most fully into that divine image in which we were created. When we regard others as anything less than loved by God and formed in God's image we diminish God's body. When we disregard the beauty and the care that God has instilled into us we diminish God's body. When we try to show how our gifts or contributions are more valuable than those of others we diminish God's body.
The body needs all of its parts to exist and function and most fully convey the breadth of life God has given. The church--the community of saints--the spiritual body of Christ needs all of its parts to exist and to convey most fully the breadth of God's love that is for the world. It takes all gifts and passions, all perspectives and sensitivities, all stories and hoped-for futures in order to more fully bear the fullness of Christ.
The Spirit is for us and for all. We should drink of it deeply and invite others to do the same. This isn't to say that all things are equally good or acceptable to God. This isn't to say that we should be whoever our Old Adams and Old Eves imagine without restraint. This is saying that we should allow others to discern about and grow into God as they are moved by the Holy Spirit and we should do the same. We should take the plank out of our own spiritual eyes and let God remove they specks from theirs. If we know anything about God and the Holy Spirit we should know that God can make clear what God needs to say to individuals and communities when God so chooses.
God, blow into our lives again and again. Give us grace to see your body as lacking without others made in your image. Particularly stir us to reach out to those who perplex, annoy and scare us most. What we are not that they are surely conveys some of your majesty. Amen.
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