“The Voice of the Spirit”
PENTECOST
©Thomas B. Cundiff
PSALM 104: 24-34, 35b
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are
there,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to
sport in it.
27 These all look to you
to give them their food in due
season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it
up;
when you open your hand, they are
filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are
dismayed;
when you take away their breath,
they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit,£ they
are created;
and you renew the face of the
ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure
forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they
smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I
live;
I will sing praise to my God while I
have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
35b .............Bless the LORD, O my
soul. Praise the LORD!
ACTS 2: 1-4
1When the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there
came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire
house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among
them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them
ability.
ROMANS 8: 14-17
I.
We listen
for God. We search scripture for what
God says to us about the Holy Spirit. We
pray to God. We then listen for the
voice of God. We await God’s
Spirit.
What we
have discovered, down through the ages, the voice of God may not always be a
voice at all. God often speaks to us
through the blowing of the spirit winds through feelings, emotions, simply
knowing: God’s Sacred Presence in and
between us.
This DAY OF PENTECOST let us open minds and
hearts for the spirit of God we hear about through the voice of experience and scripture.
II.
To repeat a
few verses from Psalm 104:
O Lord, how manifold
are your works!
May You Endure
forever;
may we REJOICE in YOUR
works–
I will sing to YOU as
long as I live;
I will sing praise to
YOU while I have being.
May my meditation be
pleasing to YOU, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Within this
Psalm is our longing to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit through
blessings received. This spirit of
thanksgiving inspires us to give glory to God for all the good things God does
with us and in us and through us. God’s
spirit motivates us to come together to give glory to God through worship.
In
searching for the voice of God’s Spirit consider this—something to think
about: Perhaps the voice of God’s Spirit is our
voice joined with the voices
of others around as we give glory to God for gifts received. Perhaps this voice of God’s Spirit is our
voice joined with the voices of women and men of the past—some of whom are
GOLDEN & DIAMOND MEMBERS who have made this church what it is today. Perhaps
our voice becomes the voice of those who have given their lives to this church
and to God for literally, combined thousand plus years.
Scripture from
the Book of Acts gives us a brief glimpse into the birthing of the church. The “Voice of the Spirit” talks to us
personally – but also collectively as the living Body of Christ. Early, first century believers were together,
in one place, when they experienced the voice of God’s spirit that was blowing thousands
of years ago—the same spirit blowing a short 148 years ago for this congregation
when women and men began dreaming about building a church in East Saginaw .
Perhaps,
through everything we do in worship, we are exposed to God’s Spirit present in our midst….through the light shining
through the stained glass windows, in the smiles and hugs shared in passing the
peace of Christ, in the singing of hymns, in the anticipation of
communion.
And I
ask: Do you feel God’s Spirit in this
place?
IV.
Scripture
from the book of Romans, a bit more challenging, reminds us that God’s Spirit
is “Family”….and families, together, go through a lot of ups and downs. During our sharing of joys and concerns, you
share with your friends and members of this church family your concerns….and
there is a lot of news we embrace as a congregation each Sunday. We share because there is a deep level of
trust among us. We know the care and
compassion we share is sincere.
Romans says
from various translations—we are….
….children of God and then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with
him.
Another
translation (Eugene Peterson) makes this a bit easier to understand:
….God’s spirit touches our spirit and confirms who we
are – we are children of God. We belong
to God. What we go through in life God
goes through also. Our pain and
suffering becomes God’s pain and suffering.
Our laughter becomes God’s laugher.
This is God’s
Spirit working in us and through us as a church family – and our joys and
concerns becomes God’s joys and concerns.
Your sharing your thoughts is in fact an act of prayer!
V.
So to bring
closure to these PENTECOST thoughts…..
Combining
all of our scriptural texts together we discover God speaks to us personally
and as a church—EXPERIENTIALLY. At a
deeper level, God’s spirit connects us making us one…..different people yet the
same spirit that unites us….making us FAMILY…..so that we can truly identify
with each other’s experiences as Christians….members of the living Body of
Christ.
So my
prayer, as we continue our worship and break bread together, let’s listen for
the voice of God -- knowing we are all searching for that same voice that
connects us together with God as a church.
May God
bless us and surround us with winds of the spirit. May God continue to speak to us as Christ’s
Church. May we all continue to search
for and find the spirit of God working in our midst.
Amen
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