Today we celebrate the Festival of Pentecost. Sometimes called the birthday of the church, it is actually the day when Jesus’ followers began to approach the world outside their small community. It’s always easier, of course, to stay within the communities we know best rather than risking stepping outside, but it is so necessary.
Stepping outside of our comfort zone means a willingness to take on new ideas and new approaches to solving problems. We do need to have an understanding of who we think we are but we also need to be open to the fact that perhaps we are different than our perceptions of ourselves.
Sometimes the perceptions of others make us painfully aware that we are not who we purport ourselves to be. The same is true of the community we call the church. Those perceptions can open us to a new realization of our mission in the world should be. This day, Pentecost, is a good day to consider broadening our vision of ourselves as a people called to follow Jesus now become the Christ through death and new life.
Prayer for the Day
Transfiguring God, open us to your Spirit and broaden our vision,
Empowering us to be truly your people in the world;
Enabling God, let us not shirk from what is required
But that through your Spirit we experience your power.
Inflame us with a passion for your righteousness and mercy
So we open our hearts to the world around.
In the name of the One who opens us to the world.
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.
- M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and writer (1936-2005)
I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.
- Anne Lamott, American writer
I hoped for the Lord, my being hoped, and for God’s word I waited.
My being for the Master – more than the dawn watchers watch for the morning.
Psalm 130: 5-6 (Trans. Robert Alter)