The Day of Pentecost
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
-- Romans 8:14
In the creation story of Genesis 2b ff, it is when God breathes the breath or Spirit into the earth creature that it became a living human being. Our lives depend on this Spirit enlivening us. The psalmist says, "When you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust." There are many who prefer to live in denial of that intimate and necessary connection with God. We prefer to think of ourselves as biologically determined. We are born as a result of a male sperm impregnating a female egg. We are nourished by the food of the earth and continue to grow until one day our biological frame is either cut short or is used up and we die. Such a perspective makes us slaves to the physical aspects of life.
If we are myopic enough, life is determined by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Yet the human brain has always been restless with the conclusion that we are nothing more than a biological phenomenon. There is a restless spirit within us that wants to believe that we are connected with something greater than our finite selves. Most religions seek to give expression to this connection. Paul built on the Jewish belief of our connection through the Spirit of God. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." We are touched by eternity and ennobled by this connection. As Christians affirm that Jesus was the Son of God, so we also affirm that we are all children of God. If we deny this connection, we can easily become slaves to the moment and "fall back into fear." Paul expressed this reception of God's Spirit as a spirit of adoption that makes us "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." To receive our inheritance, or the benefits that come with being an heir of God, requires more than just an intellectual assent.
We are joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, "we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." The path of Christ was a resistance to a life focused on one's own needs and a willingness to trust God regardless of the circumstances. To live a life like Christ is to believe that we are connected with something greater than ourselves. It is also to live our life in response to that greater reality even when doing so is at the expense of our own pleasure or safety. Pentecost is a renewal of our covenant with God so that we might live in the Spirit of Christ.
-- Romans 8:14
In the creation story of Genesis 2b ff, it is when God breathes the breath or Spirit into the earth creature that it became a living human being. Our lives depend on this Spirit enlivening us. The psalmist says, "When you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust." There are many who prefer to live in denial of that intimate and necessary connection with God. We prefer to think of ourselves as biologically determined. We are born as a result of a male sperm impregnating a female egg. We are nourished by the food of the earth and continue to grow until one day our biological frame is either cut short or is used up and we die. Such a perspective makes us slaves to the physical aspects of life.
If we are myopic enough, life is determined by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Yet the human brain has always been restless with the conclusion that we are nothing more than a biological phenomenon. There is a restless spirit within us that wants to believe that we are connected with something greater than our finite selves. Most religions seek to give expression to this connection. Paul built on the Jewish belief of our connection through the Spirit of God. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." We are touched by eternity and ennobled by this connection. As Christians affirm that Jesus was the Son of God, so we also affirm that we are all children of God. If we deny this connection, we can easily become slaves to the moment and "fall back into fear." Paul expressed this reception of God's Spirit as a spirit of adoption that makes us "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." To receive our inheritance, or the benefits that come with being an heir of God, requires more than just an intellectual assent.
We are joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, "we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." The path of Christ was a resistance to a life focused on one's own needs and a willingness to trust God regardless of the circumstances. To live a life like Christ is to believe that we are connected with something greater than ourselves. It is also to live our life in response to that greater reality even when doing so is at the expense of our own pleasure or safety. Pentecost is a renewal of our covenant with God so that we might live in the Spirit of Christ.
