10-11-19

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

October 11, 2019

Scripture: Joel 2:28-29

After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days, I will also pour out my spirit on the male and female slaves.

Thought for the Day: After what? According Joel, a vision of transition from despair to life is presented, and then after this period of transition, the Lord will pour out the Spirit upon everyone. Throughout my life, I have heard people describe the current moment as the moment of the Spirit’s arrival. Whatever the events or period of transition might be, this is the designated moment for whatever happens after. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have done that very thing more than once in a sermon. It fits with the text, except to say that technically this is no longer a future moment being described. As followers of Jesus, the Spirit came on Pentecost and started a whole process of dreaming and visioning and transformation. It sure appears as if the church lives in an uninspiring attitude of waiting instead of naming the fact that we are the living proof of the Spirit’s arrival. Using a track metaphor, we should not be sitting in the starting blocks, but fully into the race. Using a car racing metaphor, we should not be at the starting line revving our engines, but going full speed down the straightaway. We are living in the after and we need to own it. Otherwise, we might just spend an eternity waiting for the arrival of the moment after.

Prayer: May the Spirit that has come and continues to move be the gift that I allow to enfold me and fill me. O God whose breath has come upon us in the after, let me be fully available to the life that is lived through this gift. Amen.

---

–

---

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2OF7VDO