Pentecost
Readings for this week May 13 - 18
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings.
Day 1 – Head of the Church
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Ephesians 1:17-23
In this series we have been looking at how Jesus is supreme over all things. We started with how he is the Lord of the chaos both inside us and outside us, and how he is Lord of healing, with the power to heal, restore and transform every aspect of our lives, including our bodies, souls, and minds. Pentecost is a time when we remind ourselves that Jesus is Lord of the church too. We exist as a body because of him; he is the head of the body of God’s people on earth. He is the head of the church because of his primary role in our creation and our redemption and because of the ongoing guidance and empowerment of his Spirit in us individually and collectively. He loves and cares for the church. We are joined to him as our head and to each other.
We also share in his work. He is our leader and through his Spirit and his word points us in the direction we are to go in fulfilment of his command to us to love the world and continue his saving work. He speaks and acts through us, using us as his hands and feet in the world so that in all we say and do we exhibit the love of God for all people in all places. We are united in his suffering so that we may reveal his lordship – and his love – to a world that suffers because of its rebellion against him. We are his body; he is our head; Jesus is Lord of all we are and all we are called to be in his service.
Question to Consider
What is the importance of Pentecost? What does it mean to you? How does Jesus direct each day of your life?
Prayer
Almighty Father, thank you for your promises, which give us hope for the future, as we look back to the past and the ways you have been faithful to previous promises made to previous generations. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – The Miracle of the Church
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:10
A miracle of Jesus that we perhaps don’t think about as a miracle in the same way we do more obvious miraculous events is the church itself. What began with one man walking the land, calling people to repent and follow him and to join together into a new community for his kingdoms and the world’s sake is still here 2,000 years later, still following, still acting for others, still loving a world turned away from God. Through the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost, the people of God have been able to transcend our own desires, jealousies and hurts and become a vehicle for God’s redemptive love because of his power to unify us and bind us together.
Now this is not to deny that there are things the church gets wrong (just read on a few verses!), things that we could do better, and ways that the institutional church and some of its individual members have acted in the past that stand in direct, undeniable, and horrific contrast to the loving, sacrificial example that Jesus called us to follow. As much as it may be a miracle, the church is also human. But think about the miracle that is the church; think about the disparate, different, diverse, often diametrically opposed people that make up the people of God and the way that, under the transforming guidance of the Spirit, we have been able to form into a community that is slowly changing the world. It is miraculous that we have been able to do this. It is the ongoing miracle of the Spirit of Jesus working in us so that he can work through us.
Question to Consider
How have you experienced the ‘miracle’ of the church lately? What makes the body of Christ so important and transformative in this world?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me to be part of this community of your people. Thank you for the gift of your Son and your Spirit. May your vision for our world and its people also be mine, wherever I am. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – A Different Kind of Storm
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Acts 2:1-4
A simple room doesn’t seem like a particularly auspicious place for a world-changing miracle to occur, but ordinary times and places are no barrier to the miraculous. And what happens in this house is astonishing. There was a sound “like the blowing of a violent wind” – the members of the Twelve present would certainly remember back to the violent tumult on the lake. This is a very different type of storm than the one the disciples had experienced while Jesus had been sleeping in the boat, but nevertheless the language used certainly highlights the awesome nature of what unfolded in the room on Pentecost. This was a ‘storm’, not to induce fear, but to signal the promised bestowing of God’s Spirit upon his followers. Jesus had come to dwell with his people. Now, as promised, by His Spirit he was now going to dwell in his people.
God lives within us. He dwells in us. From creation He has always been with us, always nearer to us than our nearest breath, and now here He was miraculously coming to dwell in His people, to guide, encourage, empower - and above all transform. As stupendous as the gift of the Holy Spirit was on that first Pentecost morning, it was simply the start of the transformation of God’s people into His renewed agents of change in the world. More miracles were to come – the book of Acts is full of them – and more people were to become part of God’s Spirit-filled people. Including us. Same body, same Spirit, same task – same Lord.
Question to Consider
How is the Holy Spirit an active presence in your life? What would be different without His influence and input in what you do?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your spirit. Please fill me again with your Holy Spirit and guide me in my day/week ahead, so that I can lead others to know you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – God for All
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Acts 2:5-13
Another element of the earlier trip across the sea of Galilee (when the demon possessed man was healed) also resonates with Pentecost. The eastern side of the sea of Galilee was – and is still – disputed land. It had never really been Jewish territory in Jesus’ time and the people weren’t Jewish either, hence their raising of unclean pigs. But Jesus still went to them and worked and preached among them, showing that his message was for ultimately everyone, Jew, and Gentile alike. As the true Lord of the entire world, nowhere was off limits to him. The universal nature of the gospel hinted at in this trip across the water is now confirmed and underlined at Pentecost. God’s love is for all people and His desire is for all people to know Him.
Here we see confirmation that God’s plan has always had all the people of the world at the heart of it. Jesus may have come to his fellow Jews first, but as that earlier trip across the sea of Galilee showed, it was always the intention that his message was for everyone – the entire world. Jesus (and the disciples) sailed across the lake to Gentile territory and ministered to Gentiles; at Pentecost we see the disciples now sharing the message with all the peoples of the world. Representatives of the nations of the world are here to witness Peter’s proclamation of Jesus the crucified king, and to see the giving of God’s Spirit to his followers. The gift of eternal life with God and the gift of his Spirit to live out this new life is given to all people.
Question to Consider
How does the fact that the gospel is for everyone change the way you live? How do your words and actions show you believe God is for all?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to remember that your love is for all, not just those I know or am comfortable around. Help me have the same openness to others as you have to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – All People, All Times. All Places
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Acts 2:14-21
Jesus is Lord. He is in charge. He leads us. When they sailed across the sea of Galilee, it was Jesus’ decision to do so. That move to Gentile territory was a deliberate one, made at his command. There they had found a lonely, afflicted, outcast, demon-possessed man, who had no doubt lost all hope that he would ever be rescued from his plight, but one who nevertheless, once he had been freed from his torment, was determined to stay with Jesus, asking to go with him when he left the area. He was receptive to the message of God – not just the healing (miraculous as it was) but also the extended message of faithful discipleship. Here was a foreigner open to the movement of God who heard and experienced the gospel and was keen to share the message.
The people in the crowd at Pentecost are the same. They have come from all around the known world, already seeking and searching for God before even encountering the Spirit-drenched disciples. They are open to the work of God, have experienced the miracle of the different tongues for themselves, and are ready and willing to hear the gospel and accept Jesus as their Lord and follow him into the world, wherever he leads. That call is also our call; that task is also ours: to follow the Lord of All wherever he leads us. The giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is how that worldwide mission happens and the way in which all people come to know Jesus as Lord.
Question to Consider
Who do you know in your life who is already seeking after God? How are you leading people to know God?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, lead me to the people of peace who seek you and want to know you. May I share your call with them, and may we travel into your world together to share your message with all. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)