Friday, May 25, 2012

Devotional 5-24-12

Pentecost--Breath of God
 

Lectionary Readings:Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b; Romans 8: 22-27; John 15:26-27 & 16: 4-15.
"When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force--no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them." (Acts 2:1-4 from The Message)

One of my favorite choral works is "Elijah" by Mendelssohn. It contains many special passages, but one that inspires me is a tenor aria with the lyrics: "If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me. Thus saith our God." God promises to be available, to be approachable, to never leave us comfortless. His very breath gives us life. His word creates anew all living things. He asks that we seek Him and wait for His presence to fill us.

That was the instruction to the disciples--to wait in the upper room for the promise of a baptism of the Holy Spirit. No one in that room knew how or when the spirit would be made known. Luke describes the scene as a wind that came without warning--filling the entire building. Then each individual was filled with the fire of the spirit which ignited their very souls. The "fire" ignited the birth of the church--the spread of the "good news to the world."

As "modern" Christians. we are not very effective in the art of waiting. We live in the instant gratification era--cell phones, I-pads, Instant messages, Insta-grams, etc. Waiting, according to Paul, should be like the pangs of pregnancy where the waiting increases our longing for delivery. The longer we wait, the higher our expectations are for a joyful result. But do we approach the Holy Spirit with this high level of expectation? Do we seek the challenge of a creating God who will mold us and re-fire us? Do we just take it for granted that the Holy Spirit is somewhere 'out there' and never seek a true baptism of its power in our lives? What would happen if we became seekers of the Holy Spirit?

There is a song by Michael W. Smith : (hear him sing this by doing a "you-tube" search)
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I, I'm desperate for you
And I, I'm, I'm lost without you.

Are we desperate for this wind which is the breath of God? The Hebrew word is ruach which can mean "air in motion", "breath", "life" and also "spirit". The Greek word used in the Acts scripture is pneuma. Translated into English,pnuema means "a current of air", "breath", a "breeze" or "spirit". As an adult we normally breathe 12-20 times each minute. Our brain takes care of sending signals that cause the diaphragm and rib muscles to contract to create an inhalation. We don't have to think about it. We are dependent on the exchange of air during the act of breathing for our very life. If there is a problem with the breathing process, we become desperate for air.

God is waiting for us to seek His breath. The Holy Spirit is our promise of relationship with Him. Let us take on the task of waiting for the Spirit to fill us. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." (Psalm 150)

Jeff Taylor wrote this prayer and although I don't have his permission, I include it as our prayer for this day:

Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew. Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you. Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do. Come Holy Spirit, come! Amen.

Chyrl Budd

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