The Spirit and the Church

Download: Audio

Photo Credit: Before the Fire by Lisle Gwynn Garrity © A Sanctified Art (https://sanctifiedart.org)

Sunday Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-12 (NRSV)

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Read more…

Looking to Sunday: Prepare to Hear from God

by Elaine Poproski

Pentecost is the day in the Christian calendar when we’re reminded that Jesus kept His promise to send the Spirit to teach us and remind us of everything Jesus said (see John 14:26). The Spirit is the presence of God with us. The Spirit empowers, enlightens, and inspires. The Spirit created the Church and continues to be the life-force of the Church. Without the Spirit, we are simply men and women doing what we can to make the world a better place. With the Spirit we are men and women making God’s Kingdom present on earth as it is in heaven.

On Pentecost we are reminded that we don’t worship a God who sits in some distant heaven, oblivious and uncaring. On Pentecost we are reminded that we don’t worship a God who expects the impossible of us. On Pentecost we are reminded that we have been invited to participate in nothing less than the transformation and restoration of all creation to the way it was intended to be in the beginning.

On Sunday, we will hear the story of God’s Spirit infusing the disciples with life and power. We will hear the story of the birth of the Church. As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to read that story as it’s found in Acts 2. When you consider your own experience in light of the disciples’ experience, are you encouraged? Are you disheartened? Are you frustrated? Are you excited? What is your experience of God’s Spirit? Does it seem like the same Spirit then as you’ve encountered now? Is that Spirit, the same one who breathes life into your church? Do we, Jesus’ present-day disciples, exhibit the same Spirit as did those first disciples on that first Pentecost? Do you exhibit that same Spirit?

As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to pray with me: Come, Holy Spirit.