The Season of Pentecost - Rev. Catherine Gregg  

          Pentecost in the Christian Church is the Feast of the Holy Spirit.  In the lectionary readings leading up to Pentecost, the gospels have brought us close to Jesus.  We sat beside him at the last supper, we stood with him at the foot of the cross, we were amazed at the doorway of the empty tomb, and we listened and looked deeply into Jesus’ eyes as he asked us “do you love me?” on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after his resurrection.

          The season of Eastertide culminating at Pentecost is a time of great intimacy in these technicolor moments of Christ’s life.  The breath of the Holy Spirit blows across the disciples as they gathered in a room, and each was empowered to speak about the reality and closeness of God’s mercy to all who would listen.  The readings after Pentecost continue to illumine encounters with Christ that stun us with God’s power manifest in the disciple’s boldness in witnessing to the events of Jesus’ life and death. 

          In the experience of the Upper Room, when the Holy Spirit “descended upon the disciples like tongues of fire,” and each began to speak in new languages that the peoples gathered in Jerusalem could recognize as the languages of all the earth, something both new and oddly familiar happened.  Can you imagine what it felt like when the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks and the Mesopotamians heard the good news of God’s love for them coming out of the mouths of the Galileans?  Have you ever been to another country, and heard someone nearby speaking in your own dialect?  At a time and place when we may be feeling a little out of place, when we recognize the cadence, the vocabulary, the familiar sound of our own language, we may feel a little bit more at home. 

          Isn’t that one way that God speaks to us?  Not in a strange or alien tongue, but something that we recognize deep within us.  Words and meanings that we already know, but are spoken in a way that resonates with our innermost being.  When God speaks, it is familiar to us.  Sometimes it’s not in words that God speaks to us, but in what we recognize as a “gut feeling”.  It may be more like our own experience of communicating with someone who doesn’t share our language, but because of a shared experience, we can communicate by pointing, or signing, or by smiling.  We connect not because we use the same words, but because something even deeper than language unites us in a common experience.

          Our day to day lives may be less spectacular than the tongues of fire in the upper room, but God is no less active, and God’s Spirit is no less present to us today than on that first Pentecost.  YOU are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and God indwells you, bringing forth both the fruit (loving kindness in all its forms) and the gifts (empowering for ministry) of God’s own being. 

          In this season of Pentecost, we will be living into that reality together as a people of Grace.

          Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
              Send forth your spirit and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth.

 

 

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Intercessory Prayer at Grace

      Our prayer team meets after every service at Grace with those who have need of prayerful support.  People are anointed with holy oil, and prayed for according to their stated need.  The prayer team continues to hold these precious people in prayer during the week, and, often prays again in succeeding weeks if the need is continuing.  Many of the things that people request prayer for are intangible; but others are very specific.

      Some are related to physical needs, others to emotional, spiritual, or family concerns.  All are welcome for prayer, and all are welcome to come as many times as is helpful.  Many situations are on-going, and long-term, and the need for a supportive, compassionate, prayer of faith from the community is, indeed a blessing.

      While all needs are held in confidentiality by the prayer team, I want you to know that there are many reports of answered prayer.  We have heard reports of people being relieved of physical conditions, healed of diseases, and able to give forgiveness where there had been years of bitterness. We have had reported that people are able to receive God's love for them in a way that they can recognize and that effect their well-being.

      God is present in our midst, doing the same things that happened in the days of Jesus' ministry on the earth.  Now, the power to heal, and the acts of compassion flow through US - the very body of Christ.

      If you recognize something in yourself that you know needs to be touched by a power beyond your own; or would like to minister to others who are hurting, please call the church office (435-628-1181) and ask to be connected to our prayer team ministry.

                                                                Catherine+

 

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