listening for the Spirit

Good evening friends,
Today's passage continues Jesus' discussion with his disciples at the last supper. He promises that he will send the Holy Spirit to guide them. He thinks the Spirit is so important that the disciples are better off with the Holy Spirit than with Jesus himself. Still, sometimes we forget that we have the Holy Spirit with us. As we learn to listen for the Spirit more, we will find guidance for life and joy in our faith. Try to pay attention for the Spirit's whisper. The more you cultivate a prayerful heart, the easier it will be to hear the Spirit speaking.

God bless,
Sam

John 15:26-16:15

²⁶”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

”I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. ²They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. ³And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

hypocrisy and integrity

Good morning sisters and brothers,
This morning's reading is somewhat disturbing, but it is a great reminder to live with integrity. Integrity is a word we hear often enough; probably 80% of us work for a company that has integrity somewhere in it's mission statement. To me the heart of integrity is saying and doing what we believe, and its opposite is hypocrisy. Jesus warns his disciples about the "leaven of the Pharisees" and says that in the future everyone's secrets will be made known. The accusation is that the Pharisees aren't practicing what they preach. In the same way, if we believe in Jesus, we should never be ashamed of that.

The other focus in the passage is the importance of the Holy Spirit. As we've talked about some in worship, this may be the most neglected person of the Trinity. We believe in the Holy Spirit, but we don't necessarily make a practice of listening for her guidance. God always surrounds us with love and the Spirit is always available to guide us in Christ's footsteps. That certainly comforts me when I don't know what to do. I hope it will comfort you the next time you feel in over your head.

Blessings,
Sam


Luke 12:1-12
Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

4“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

bold proclamation

Good morning everyone,

In yesterday's reading Peter and John used the opportunity created by healing a man to tell the story of Jesus. Today we see that their action not only created positive interest and curiosity, but also hostile attention from the authorities. Peter's defense strategy is interesting: the authorities are upset because Peter and John were teaching about new life in Jesus, but Peter turns the conversation to the healing of the man. It's easy and, at least within religious institutions, it seems to come naturally to us to argue about teachings and doctrines. By turning the conversation to the healing Peter is showing that the new teaching about Jesus isn't just about words but about God's power to act in the world. If the authorities want to question Peter and John about their teaching they must deal with the fact that that teaching is clearly associated with a miraculous healing.

I admire Peter for his boldness here as well. There is no effort to soften what has happened; instead Peter speaks the truth clearly and boldly. He also uses scripture by calling Jesus the stone the builders rejected but that God makes the cornerstone. This is part of Psalm 118 which was a psalm for the coronation of Israel's king. The "Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" that is so familiar for us from Palm Sunday is from the same Psalm because that was a coronation parade for the Messiah. May God give each of us boldness and honesty in our speech and actions.

God bless,
Sam


Acts 4:1-12

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, 2much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. 3So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

5The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, 10let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. 11This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

replacement

Good morning folks,
There's a lovely symmetry to having twelve apostles: there are twelve tribes of Israel, and there are twelve apostles. Jesus chose twelve out of the many people following him for special positions of leadership. The trouble is, one of those twelve betrayed Jesus and is now dead. The other apostles decide that the position should be filled so that the twelve apostles can be restored. This is the story of how that happens. It's a useful insight into how the early church begins acting after Christ's ascension into heaven. They seek God's guidance through prayer and they trust that God will guide them.

A couple of side notes: a Sabbath day's journey reflects the Jewish practice of not walking more than 2000 cubits (about a quarter of a mile) on the Sabbath as part of the obligation to rest. This passage gives one version of the death of Judas; Matthew's Gospel gives a different version. Matthew says Judas went back to the Jewish counsel after Jesus' death to return the money, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." The counsel says, "That's your problem," at which point Judas throws down the money and goes to hang himself. Since they can't put blood money in the temple treasury the counsel uses the money to buy a field for the burial of strangers. The stories are pretty different, but the interesting thing is that in each case Judas's death is associated with a field that comes to be called, "Field of blood."

Now that there are again twelve apostles, the church is ready to move forward in ministry. Thanks be to God that the Spirit still leads the church forward when we seek that guidance.
God bless,
Sam

Acts 1:12-26

12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’ 21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.