Come, drink
water flows out of the hearts of God's people
and this water is the Spirit
Do I understand this reading correctly?
tom in ga
tom in ga...that's what I read too. A friend recently told me Pentecost was the most difficult for him to preach...this is my first Pentecost sermon but I get excited about this celebration - the breath of God, indwelling believers. We've been expecting the H. S. for weeks now, Jesus has been promising, bringing comfort to his friends...now that it's time, it's humbling, what do I say...this is delicious to ponder...g.g.
tom in ga...that's what I read too. A friend recently told me Pentecost was the most difficult for him to preach...this is my first Pentecost sermon but I get excited about this celebration - the breath of God, indwelling believers. We've been expecting the H. S. for weeks now, Jesus has been promising, bringing comfort to his friends...now that it's time, it's humbling, what do I say...this is delicious to ponder...g.g.
A river runs through us. -Paul of SC
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, did anyone see what tennis great Michael Chang said in USA Weekend's News and Views section, May 14-16, 1999 issue (page 10)? To the Star Wars question, "What does 'May the Force be with you' mean to you?" Chang replied "The Force is the Holy Spirit, who lives in each Christian believer's heart. He guides, protects, comforts, convicts and, of course, loves. And since the Holy Spirit is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, you know this Force is always with you." WOW! Right on, Michael. That'll preach, especially on Pentecost. He just summed up my sermon for today, Ascension Sunday, and gave me momentum for next Sunday, "The Force Be With You -- Part Two." (The helecopter toy I sent to the ceiling with Jesus' picture attached went over real well as the children's sermon on "Ascension." Any ideas how to top that?) revup
Well, revup, I don't know if you CAN top what you've done, but I'll toss out a couple of ideas. Get a whole bunch of red balloons and blow them up with helium. Then tape them everywhere in the sanctuary.
The other idea was told to me by my congregation which they did before. They took crepe paper (I think) and cut flames out of them. They taped them to the railing between the pulpit and lecturn (hanging down behind the railing). Fans were put behind them and when they were turned on, the flames came up and flickered.
Good luck in what ever you come up with.
Brandon in CA
Revup- I tried this one year . . .but in Sunday school, not worship. You might have difficulties setting this one up in the sanctuary. I filled up several red balloons with helium and hid them in an area behind where the children would be sitting. There was also a fan in that room and an accomplice. I told them the story of Pentecost and at a preassigned signal my accomplice turned on the fan and blew the red balloons into the room from behind the childrens heads. I also had flash paper (available at a magic supply store or science supply) and threw it so that little flames flashed in fromt of me. (Flash paper is safe. No need to worry about starting a fire.) (If you do this, make sure to either use helium ballons or, if you use regular balloons put the helium in them just an hour or so before you do this. If you put helium in regular balloons the night before you do this, by morning the helium will have all leaked out and you'll be left with "flat" balloons. If you have trouble finding flash paper, see if there are any magicians in your area who could help you, or phone a local children's museum that has a gift shop, or perhaps a local chemist could help you.) Crystal
Jesus and his disciples are the living water - this is the oneness, the unitive vision of Pentecost. Is it possible for us to live in this singleness of love and purpose? Why do red-ballons inflate us, and the day itself leaves us cold?
tom in ga
Just a note of context - Pentecost in the Jewish calendar is the anniversary of Moses coming down the mountain with Law to guide the Chosen people. It seems to me that there is a parallel here: Passover - freedom from slavery in Egypt is the model for Easter, freedom from slavery to death. Pentecost - receiving the law to guide is the model for the receipt of the Holy SPirit to guide our lives. A cool breeze comes from God, to allow us to live in the confidence and assurance that God will guide us. A warm breeze that comes down from heaven which creates a new way of life for those who breathe it. ogremtb - PA
Speaking of red balloons… One of my favorite Winnie the Pooh stories – the Milne not Disney version – has Piglet giving Eyeore a broken red balloon for his birthday because he fell down trying to beat Pooh to the party. Pooh gives Eyeore an empty pot, because on the way to Eyeore he forgot where he was going and ate all the honey. Now here’s the Holy Spirit stuff. Pooh & Piglet are feeling quite badly until they notice that Eyeore is putting the balloon in the pot and taking it out again as pleased as could be. The Spirit takes the balloons we’ve broken trying to be first and the pots we’ve emptied through neglect and makes something useful, which is why I’m preaching the psalm – you send forth your Spirit and they are created and you renew the face of the earth. The Spirit’s work is to create the church whose mission is to renew the face of the earth. This earth could use less Star Wars – sorry, it’s a modern version of Persian dualism – light and dark co-existing throughout eternity – and more renewing through the healing work of the Spirit. That healing work begins with empowering people to proclaim the name of Jesus the Christ in word and deed. The disciples response to the Spirit on Pentecost was to proclaim Jesus of Nazareth as Lord. If you want to preach the force be with you, that’s the force that conquered sin and death, not light swords but that which F. Beuchener calls the Magnificent Defeat – innocent suffering and death on a cross. The world will be renewed not by might or force of arms but by service, sacrifice and love. May that force be with the church on earth until the day of Jesus Christ. Rev. Phil in TX
Rev. Phil of TX, I also would probably not use a sword to represent the Holy Spirit, although Eph 6:17 says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."(NIV) It seems you will preach the crucifixion this Sunday? I hope not. The crucifixion of Jesus was celebrated at Good Friday and the resurrection was preached at Easter. The reason Pentecost is celebrated is to recognize Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to the followers on a permanent basis. Pentecost is the great time to remind parishioners they can be victorious in their lives due to the Holy Spirit as a powerful force (or the "Force")in their lives. Incidentally, the "Force," according to the original Star Wars author, is to represent the Holy Spirit, still conquoring evil in the future. (Sorry about your appearant "dualism" misinterpretation of it being a symbol of light and dark coexisting.) The Holy Spirit gives we Christians the power we need to battle darkness until Christ returns in final victory. I do not see Jesus' death on the cross as the force which gives us power today, as you seem to say. Did I misinterpret you? I see the cross as an event, a final sacrifice which gave us victory. The power we Christians have to defeat evil in our world is the Holy Spirit. Given the situation in our schools, I assume we all can agree evil still exists in our world today, in constant battle with good and God. (Is that Persian dualism?) revup
Revup, Yes. I’m a Lutheran. I freely admit it. Augustinian in regards to sin. Pauline as regards to justification. Luther preached a theology of the cross over and against what he called a theology of glory. So I stand firmly in the Pauline tradition to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2) I preach the cross every Sunday as the only way to get to the tomb, as the only way to get beyond its portal. When I read the first Pentecost sermon Acts 2:14-36 I see that the kerygma of the church from it’s very beginning has been the “event” of Jesus life, death, and resurrection – with the cross being the center of that story. In fact, Peter ends his sermon with the cross, “God has made him both Lord and Christ whom you crucified” Indeed, the cross is the central theme of the NT. I won’t put all the Biblical ref in since you’ll recognize them… In baptism we are crucified with Christ, We are to crucify the sinful nature, we carry in our bodies the death of Christ, so that the life of Christ might be revealed, fix your eyes on Jesus the author & perfecter of your faith who for the joy before him endured the cross... and the story of his appearing and the description in Revelation would seem to indicate that Jesus bears the marks of the cross throughout eternity. I do preach victory but it is that we are victorious in our weakness – again Paul, I can do all things through him who strengthens me – therefore when I am weak I am strong. The cross is the victory we offer our people. Crucified to self with Christ we gain victory over the sinful self, the devil and the world so that we might be righteous in God’s sight set apart to do good works so that God might be glorified. Now as to Star Wars, I do enjoy the movies and I beg your forgiveness if my comments seemed to be directed at your plans for Sunday the Star Wars hype has got to me – The Holy Spirit will speak through us all to our particular environments as the Spirit wills, of that I have no doubt. But as I understand Persian dualism – Zoaroastranism (sp?) there are two forces that co-exist seeking dominance over the universe. The good force is light. The dark force is evil. Humans serve one or the other having been taken over by that force. At the end of the trilogy the dark side has been defeated but is not ultimately destroyed. It can and, one assumes in a sequel, will rise again to threaten the empire. Therein lies the critical and perhaps, dangerous difference. Christian theology recognizes a very real and present danger in the power of evil in which, you are right, a sword is employed to fight against powers and principalities etc. The difference is that when Jesus cries, “It is finished” the future and final destruction of the enemy ( Revelation 20:10) is put into motion. In the end God will swallow up death forever, the beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the bottomless pit forever. It’s a small point granted, but add to that the presence of the Yoda & Ben spirit guides who help you on your journey to the force as you ascend to higher spheres of understanding and I smell a Gnostic somewhere. AHHHH! Gnosticism rears it’s ugly head again! Back, back you beast. Thank you Revup for the conversation and yes, may the force be with us all on Sunday. Rev Phil in TX
Rev Phil in TX, as long as we are confessing, I've never seen ANY Star Wars movies, and all I know is "the Force" be with you was written to be the Holy Spirit. Yes, the "Force be with us all this Sunday. revup PS I do preach the Cross every Sunday too, but feel we UM's need to be reminded the Spirit is there to help us be victorious. This will be the only time this year I do not preach mainy on the Gospel lesson!
Amen, Revup. Interesting that UM would need to be reminded about living the victorious life. Wasn't Weslely's contribution to the wider church about how one applied the gospel to life - hence Method - for the purpose of living faithfully, i.e. overcoming? Equally ironic, perhaps, that my people, Lutherans, seem to always need to be reminded about grace. We each have our burdens to bear. God bless your preaching this Sunday. Rev Phil in TX
For past Pentecosts, I have: taken crepe paper, similar to another contributor, red & orange, and taped them to the side walls of the sanctuary in a "flame" pattern. Another year, I got one of my high schoolers who took Spanish to read the Pentecost Story in that language, I read it in Greek, and finally, it was read in English. This year, I'm thinking about red balloons!!! Historically, I've read that some churches would drop red roses from the church rafters to symbolize the tongues of flame (kind of costly now!), and that some churches would loose a dove (symbol of the HS) to fly around the sanctuary. The church also used Pentecost as one of its traditional days to baptize & receive new members. In line with this passage, I'm receiving new members, baptizing, & offering baptismal renewal, based on the theme "rivers of living water." Ken in WV
Ken in WV - We add John 3:16 to the Acts lesson at the point where it reads about "hearing the marvelous deeds of God in their own language..." As the lector reads John 3:16 in English people in the congregation stand and recite the same passage in whatever language they are able. This year we have French, German, Greek, Russian, Latin, Spainish, Japanese and Filipine. It sounds like babble, which, of course, is the point. Another idea is to bring wind chimes and at the sound of the rushing wind have choir members - or a strong air conditioning system - make a joyful noise. We also encourage our congregation to wear red. With the festival liturgy,including brass and this year tympani and bells, Pentecost is a proper birthday celebration for the church. Rev Phil in TX
I have invited the local fire and ambulance personel to attend worship to be recognized and affirmed for their contribution to the area towns. The image in acts of tongues like fire seems fitting, but when I added the Gospel it spoke of STREAMS of living WATER! We do not want the streams of living water to put out the flames of the spirit! W-G in Coastal Me.
I have invited the local fire and ambulance personel to attend worship to be recognized and affirmed for their contribution to the area towns. The image in acts of tongues like fire seems fitting, but when I added the Gospel it spoke of STREAMS of living WATER! We do not want the streams of living water to put out the flames of the spirit! W-G in Coastal Me.
Dear Pastor Phil,
A very interesting discussion! I have searched and searched for evidence
that the author of Star Wars intended The Force to symbolize the Holy
Spirit as understood by Christians and as proclaimed by the Nicene Creed.
There are many novels, all written by different people. There are novels
by A.C. Crispin, but they seem to follow the movies, not vice versa. Other
novels are spin-offs and novelizations, post-movie attempts to cash in on
the craze. It is unclear which influences Lucas brought into the scripts
of the many ideas he has available to him in his substantial library of
the worlds ancient myths. I guess the Bible is one of the sources he could
have used, but I suspect it wasn't his prime material.
I tried, but was not able to verify the claim that the original author (I
assume Lucas) intended "The Force" to be "The Holy Spirit".
More to the point, assuming the (Force=Spirit) equation is more than urban
legend, I find no evidence that the original author understood or believed in
the Trinity or understood the Holy Spirit well enough to have correctly written
an accurate metaphor. (see _The Book of the Dun Cow_ by Wangerin for a much
clearer and more accurate portrayal). Lastly, in the many interviews with Lucas
that I found on the web (over the last twenty years), never once did I read him
claiming that there is Christian meaning in his movies. Mostly, he spoke of
marketing and money and retribution for those who didn't believe in his creative
talents.
But, let's examine the issue ourselves:
The Force: (according to the movie dialog)
-Has never been properly explained.
-An energy field created by all living things.
-A power that holds all the Universe together.
-Something you can command.
-Can command you only if you learn how to surrender to it.
-Something Han Solo has never seen in his travels from one end of the
galaxy to the other.
-Something that gives Obi-wan Kenobi powers over men's minds and over
weapons.
-Something that can learned by only a limited class of beings, the Jedi
Knights.
-Something that gives Luke help to make an almost impossible shot that
results in the demise of the Death Star.
Phrases to invoke The Force:
-"Let yourself go, Luke," says Obi-wan
-"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them."
-"Let go your conscious self and act on instinct."
-"Stretch out with your feelings."
Han Solo's demonstrates his conversion from skepticism as calls his
goodbye to Luke, "May the Force be with you."
The Holy Spirit (according to the Bible):
-Is properly explained: The Divine Person who spoke through the prophets,
was given as Comforter and Advocate to the disciples on Easter evening to start
the Church, who came to them at the Barley Harvest embolding the huddled,
fearful, and exclusive Church to get outside and spread the Good News in all
languages for all people, and Who remains with us today as Paraclete and
constant Witness to our longing hearts that Jesus is the Christ.
-Is the Lord of and Giver of Life.
-Proceeds from the Father who created and holds the Universe together.
-Is not someone we can command.
-Never commands us, but constantly urges us to turn back around and face
the Cross when we turn away.
-Is evident everywhere in the Laws of the Universe and the hum of life
itself.
-Does not give us magical powers over others or weapons.
-Is for all people and seeks all people (the Hound of Heaven as Luther
would say)..
-Does not conquor Sin, but directs everything to bear witness to the
Cross and the One who did.
Phrases to invoke The Holy Spirit:
-Come Holy Spirit.
-Open our eyes, we want to see Jesus.
-Enlighten our hearts.
-Come, Holy Light, guide divine, now cause the Word of life to shine.
Teach us to know our God aright and call him Father with delight. From
every error keep us free; Let none by Christ our master be, That we in
living faith abide. In him, our Lord with all our might confide. (Martin
Luther)
Personally, I like the Harvest Festival connection in this Lection.
I'm looking forward to Sunday!
Mike Middleton