Acts 1:6-14 I can certainly understand the yearning behind the disciples’ plea today as they stand on the edge of an unknown future. One cannot fully know why they accompanied Jesus all those years in the first place, but it seems to me some large part of their devotion to him must have been rooted …
Tag: Acts
All Together in One Place…
Acts 2:1-21 John 20:19-23 “When the day of Pentecost had come, the apostles were all together in one place…” (Acts 2:1) “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ …
Pentecost: Oh How the Holy Spirit Still Moves
Acts 2:1-21 I am remembering now a time when I discovered how difference in language can be so symbolic of all that can separate us one from another. It has always been so, of course, and it is what makes the Pentecost Story before us now so very wondrous. Now this story goes way back. I was working corn …
A Slave Girl Set Free and the Unity to Which Jesus Calls Us
Acts 16:16-34 John 17:20-26 While certainly the drama in our lesson from Acts peaks once Paul and Silas find themselves in prison, it is what led up to their being beaten, bound and imprisoned that first captures my imagination this week. For I can’t help but wonder what happened to the slave girl who was …
A Pentecost Wind
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Acts 2:1-21 The wind blew one day a few weeks back. It blew in a time and place where I was not, but I quickly became aware of its power and its presence. It blew across open fields on one of the first days the farmers were able to get out on their …
The Holy Spirit: The Breath of God!
Acts 2:1-21 John 20:19-23 “The bush was always burning. It just took someone moving slow enough to notice it.” —Rob Bell, May 15, 2017, The Festival of Homiletics “When did the Spirit of Life last touch you? You know when it was… If it happened before, it can happen again…” — Barbara Brown Taylor, May …
The Power of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-21 Having a few days off this week, I decided to tackle some big tasks. One of those was digging up the bushes in my back yard which didn’t survive the winter. Now they looked mostly dead, but they weren’t entirely. I expect this made job that much more difficult. First, I trimmed them …
The Baghdad Breeze and the Power of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-21 There are so many images in this week’s Pentecost account that I find my imagination running in a couple of different directions. One is to dwell in the power and wonder of the Holy Spirit as portrayed for us in wind and flame. The other is to ponder the miracle of differences overcome …