07-13-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 13, 2025
Last night, our evening preacher was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s youngest daughter, Rev. Dr. Bernice King. She reminded us how the Underground Railroad was never legal, but it was the right thing to do. She talked about how the Holy Spirit is not only to dwell within us, but is to pour forth from us. Yet too many of us, according to Rev. Bernice King, are dealing with some spiritual constipation, and for that reason, the Spirit is stuck inside of us. Of course, continuing with the analogy, she talked about the things that clog us up. I believe there was some real confession happening among the people as we pondered the things within us that have kept the Spirit from pouring forth. Fear was one of the things she referenced, and there are those times when we know what is right, but fear of causing trouble, pushing boundaries of respectability, or even what is legal, can bring the movement of the Holy Spirit to a standstill and leave the world around us impoverished of the needed transformative power. How does the gift of the Holy Spirit remain confined and unable to fulfill its intended purpose?

As you dwell more fully within us, Holy and Transformative Spirit, we pray to be the vessels by which this gift is nourishing the world. Amen.