Advent Devotions
All are invited as we Make Room this Advent season.
Pentecost
Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Steve Sveom.
There are three primary festival days in the Christian calendar. Christmas and Easter are the first two. Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection are the focus. The third key festival is Pentecost. Jesus promised to send his Spirit and Pentecost celebrates that gift. What is the significance?
The giving of the Spirit is the assurance that God’s work is not simply in the past, but that it continues. It holds the promise of God’s presence with us, in us and through us. And, in a way, it is a redemptive gift – bringing hope and healing to an injured world.
In Genesis, we hear that God’s creation is good. We also see how sin and separation bring disruption and corruption to what was good. One example is the Tower of Babel. It shows both human achievement and human pride: people believed they no longer needed God and could build a tower reaching the heavens. Yet in the story, God cannot even see this tiny tower without “coming down.” The people start to speak different languages and can no longer understand each other – pride is their downfall and their judgment is an inability to work together in harmony.
While this story may be an ancient attempt to explain things like different languages and the dispersion of people to different parts of the earth, it is a story about human pride, failure to acknowledge God, and the disruption of a society that becomes too proud and self-centered.
If we look at ourselves today, we see an Ebola outbreak in Africa that is impacted by the discontinuation of USAID. We see human pride bring war and undermine long-standing alliances.
The story of Pentecost, in Acts 2, is a reversal of the Babel story of Genesis. The disciples, filled with the Spirit, speak in other languages and the people hear the message of God’s love, in Christ, each in their own language. Pentecost is about God’s grace and God’s work to influence and overcome our human arrogance and divisions. It is redemptive. The message of Pentecost is that the Spirit continues to do God’s work in the world and through God’s people. Thanks be to God.
By your Spirit, o God, continue to speak to us in our own language and move us to be people of humility and grace in the world. Amen.
Previously…
An Unexpected Grace
Today’s author is Prince of Peace member & retired ELCA Pastor, Rev. Scott Tunseth. This past Sunday the theme of the service focused on forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but I am struggling these days with forgiving. It is at the very center of our Christian...
Love That Rewrites the Story
A woman with a reputation enters Simon the Pharisee’s house. She carries no words, only her tears. Kneeling at Jesus’ feet, she pours out costly perfume—an extravagant display of love. Simon is scandalized, but Jesus sees her differently. He tells a parable of two debtors: one forgiven little, one forgiven much. “Who will love more?” Jesus asks. The answer is clear. Her love is evidence of the mercy that has already rewritten her story.
Blowing in the Wind?
Today's author is Prince of Peace member, Paul Sponheim. Luke 7:15-32 wikipedia.org The Minnesota resort season may have peaked, but it figures to be busy in Hibbing this Spring; Bob Dylan is auditioning for the role John the Baptist played in the life of Jesus. To...
What Language Do You Speak?
Today's author is Prince of Peace member & retired ELCA Pastor, Rev. Gary Olson. Please read Luke 7:18-23 John the Baptist was in prison; put there by King Herod Antipas because John had dared to speak truth to power. John told Herod and whoever would listen that...