You. Yes, You.
Stories
Contents
“You. Yes, You.” by C. David McKirachan
“Dream, Pray, Plan” by Frank Ramirez
You. Yes, You.
by C. David McKirachan
Acts 2:1-21
The symptoms get all the press as we celebrate this day, Pentecost. Wind, flames, communication across national and cultural boundaries are pretty spectacular in their own right. But as we’ve learned from the pandemic presently locking us up and shutting our culture’s norms away, it’s the cause that is important to watch out for. The Holy Spirit is the virus that infected these disciples, blowing them out of their normality and into a new dimension of living.
One of my New Testament professors said that the book titled Acts of the Apostles should be named Acts of the Holy Spirit. But it’s hard to communicate about the Holy Spirit to people in the pew. Is God a man or a woman? Neither. God is a spirit. Good luck selling that one. We have been born and raised in a culture of materialism that demands touch and proof to allow something to be real. Jesus, we get. God, who made stuff, we get. But this sort of not thing that only gives us inklings that it was there, is here… Well, it’s kind of hard to get involved with.
The trouble is that this hard-to-nail-down Holy Spirit is the part of God that moves among us, inspires us, binds us together, calls, and empowers us. Again, hard stuff to put our fingers on, but critical for our lives as Christians. No wonder some of the people witnessing this whole event wondered why these guys were drunk so early in the day.
This is probably why people put so much emphasis on feeling the Holy Spirit. The problem with an emotion centered faith is its lack of depth. Emotions are fickle, and if I don’t feel like praying, studying, giving, caring, growing, learning, helping, tolerating, forgiving… why should I? The Holy Spirit better be more than emotions.
See? This is rough.
Right now, we are tangled in a wilderness of anxiety, isolation, and confusion. The institutions and disciplines that have kept us closer to the way are not there. The disciples were in the same desert, but that’s why they gathered to pray. We can’t. We can’t visit. We can’t worship together, we can’t study together, and the messages we get are shaken, not stirred.
I went to one of my dependable sanctuaries, the hardware store. Masked, quick visit to get something to keep my house standing. A lovely lady at the register asked me why I was wearing the mask. “People are sick. Our neighbors got the virus, the whole family.” “Oh, most people don’t die, they get better.” Blasé. She hit my buttons. Hit my buttons, I preach. “My daughter is a doctor, working night and day to keep people alive. At risk to her own life.” I almost said, idiotic people like you. But I settled for, “You ought to watch what you say to your customers.” So much for looking forward to going to the hardware store. So much for good feelings. So much for getting clear information from our media and from our leaders. Don’t get me started. If our faith is founded on the Holy Spirit’s presence, I ain’t feelin’ the spirit right now.
But this is exactly the time of the Spirit. Desert times have been formative for our mother’s and father’s faith since the dim beginnings. Normalcy does not encourage our dependence on God’s presence. Change? Our ruts are so deep it’s hard to see over the edges. We’re busy. We always did it this way before. Now new normalcy is a take out meal from our favorite restaurant, by candlelight, if we can negotiate with the kids to put themselves to bed and leave us alone, on our anniversary. Or trying to stay in touch with our kids via skype, if we can figure out the blank, blank machine’s idiosyncrasies. Yup, desert time. Jesus left. Now what?
Those times are our times. We aren’t here to look for comfortable. It’s time to pray for a still small voice that will blow us out of our confusion and despair into a deeper relationship with a living God. It may not be what we expect or even want, but it will be there.
The Holy Spirit’s child, the Church is still there. It’s challenged, it seemed boxed, but it’s still there. Study, contact, encouragement, guidance, the Word, mission, even worship are available. Maybe you, yes you, can be a shaker and a mover in helping to get some of that going to reach people who need encouragement and hope. Me? The Holy Spirit knows you, knows your gifts, knows your fears and will be there to help. You. Yes, You.
The Holy Spirit’s message, without exception (it’s dangerous to say that, fact checking) is to put on your big girl (or boy) pants and get moving.
I prayed about my encounter with the hardware store lady. No wind, no fire, just a still small voice. I had an extra mask in the car. I hope she wears it.
* * *
Dream, Pray, Plan
by Frank Ramirez
Numbers 11:24-30
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to (Moses), and took some of the Spirit that was on him and pour it on the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. (Numbers 11:25)
The implication in this scripture is that the ecstatic experience of prophecy was not a regular occurrence for the seventy elders. This was a singular occurrence, brought about by special circumstances.
Kind of like a revival for most of us. We go knowing that sometimes we need to get out of our tracks and into a little more excitement and commitment when it comes to living our faith. And for many of us there’s that one special moment when what was something we knew in our heads became something we felt in our hearts.
What we know as the revival had its origins in the 19th century. Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) is given much of the credit. It is said after his fiancé, his preacher, and a friend all spoke to Finney about his spiritual state, which they feared was endangered by his work as a lawyer, he prayed and pondered for three days. He decided that indeed his sins were not forgiven. After further prayer in the woods he returned to his law office where he saw the face of Jesus and experienced conversion.
After that he gave up lawyering and took up preaching. He led a series of revivals in upstate New York in the late 1820’s. Finney’s style of preaching was loud and boisterous, with extravagant gestures. Though some considered him crazy, his off-the-cuff sermons, which mixed both the logic of the law with clear, simple, and fervent language, led to the conversion and baptism of many. Finney is also given credit for developing the “Anxious Bench” (sometimes called the “Mourner’s Bench”), the practice of having converts come forward, and protracted meetings, where people met for ten, fifteen, twenty days or more, according to the leading of the Spirit. Everything was purposed to bring people to make a choice based on their spiritual state.
By the early twentieth century these meetings were a commonplace for many denominations. They were more than worship. They were a form of entertainment, with singing, preaching, and eating all combined to lead people to Christ.
A description of one such meeting appeared in the November 2, 1918 edition of The Gospel Messenger, the weekly paper of the Church of the Brethren. Alma Feiler from Hutchinson, Kansas, wrote a description of the event.
For over two weeks Bro. J. Edwin Jarboe preached the Word in its simplicity and with the power of the Spirit at this place. The audience also appreciated the message in song, by Sister Jarboe, each evening. Twenty-six received Christian baptism. Oct. 6 will long be remembered as a day of triumph for the kingdom of God. A “high water mark” attendance at Sunday-school was followed by the morning theme: “Elijah’s God or the Gods of the Prophets?” At the noon hour all enjoyed the social hour and basket dinner in the basement.
A consecration service was next held, with prayer for a new life, a clean life and a life of service, after which Christian baptism was administered. In the evening 147 took part in the ordinances given by Jesus and practiced by his disciples.
Those ordinances “given by Jesus” included a several hours long communion service, that began with the foot-washing ceremony shared by the entire church, followed by a meal called the Love Feast, and concluding with a bread and cup communion. Typically, communion was shared following baptisms because this was the first opportunity for the newly baptized to take part. There follows this stark note:
Because of the State quarantine further meetings had to be abandoned, without even a farewell to all. Our brother’s visits were appreciated in the homes, and the prayers of the Hutchinson church follow the evangelistic party as they go elsewhere with the Gospel Message.
Obviously the meetings, which been going on for over two weeks were meant to continue, but these emotional, exuberant evangelistic meetings came to a screeching halt with the onset of the Spanish Influenza, which closed schools, churches, businesses, and brought the nation to a standstill in the wake of a worldwide plague!
What does it take to quench the Spirit? Or rather, do we allow ourselves to quench the Spirit, rather than listen for the Spirit’s guidance when things get difficult?
After reporting on the abrupt forced close of the revival, Alma Feiler reported what the congregation hoped the baptisms would lead to, despite the temporary restrictions imposed because of the influenza:
Since our last communication Brother and Sister E.H. Eby gave our Junior League a splendid missionary address and presented us with a beautiful stereopticon and many pictures from the mission field. We appreciate their kind gift and trust that it will awaken a greater interest in missions. May God speed the day when one of our Hutchinson juniors shall represent Jesus on the Foreign field.
A stereopticon was one of the latest devices, a high-tech innovation embraced by many churches in that era. One held the device to one’s eyes and saw two pictures turned into one 3-D image. If a revival could not be held, juniors could use something like this equivalent of social media to see the state of things far away, and be inspired by what they saw to go forward into the mission field when conditions permitted. Maybe not just then. Churches were closed for months because of the influenza, but new Christians, having experienced the emotions of revival, could be challenged afterward to dream, pray, and plan.
*****************************************
StoryShare, May 31, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
“You. Yes, You.” by C. David McKirachan
“Dream, Pray, Plan” by Frank Ramirez
You. Yes, You.
by C. David McKirachan
Acts 2:1-21
The symptoms get all the press as we celebrate this day, Pentecost. Wind, flames, communication across national and cultural boundaries are pretty spectacular in their own right. But as we’ve learned from the pandemic presently locking us up and shutting our culture’s norms away, it’s the cause that is important to watch out for. The Holy Spirit is the virus that infected these disciples, blowing them out of their normality and into a new dimension of living.
One of my New Testament professors said that the book titled Acts of the Apostles should be named Acts of the Holy Spirit. But it’s hard to communicate about the Holy Spirit to people in the pew. Is God a man or a woman? Neither. God is a spirit. Good luck selling that one. We have been born and raised in a culture of materialism that demands touch and proof to allow something to be real. Jesus, we get. God, who made stuff, we get. But this sort of not thing that only gives us inklings that it was there, is here… Well, it’s kind of hard to get involved with.
The trouble is that this hard-to-nail-down Holy Spirit is the part of God that moves among us, inspires us, binds us together, calls, and empowers us. Again, hard stuff to put our fingers on, but critical for our lives as Christians. No wonder some of the people witnessing this whole event wondered why these guys were drunk so early in the day.
This is probably why people put so much emphasis on feeling the Holy Spirit. The problem with an emotion centered faith is its lack of depth. Emotions are fickle, and if I don’t feel like praying, studying, giving, caring, growing, learning, helping, tolerating, forgiving… why should I? The Holy Spirit better be more than emotions.
See? This is rough.
Right now, we are tangled in a wilderness of anxiety, isolation, and confusion. The institutions and disciplines that have kept us closer to the way are not there. The disciples were in the same desert, but that’s why they gathered to pray. We can’t. We can’t visit. We can’t worship together, we can’t study together, and the messages we get are shaken, not stirred.
I went to one of my dependable sanctuaries, the hardware store. Masked, quick visit to get something to keep my house standing. A lovely lady at the register asked me why I was wearing the mask. “People are sick. Our neighbors got the virus, the whole family.” “Oh, most people don’t die, they get better.” Blasé. She hit my buttons. Hit my buttons, I preach. “My daughter is a doctor, working night and day to keep people alive. At risk to her own life.” I almost said, idiotic people like you. But I settled for, “You ought to watch what you say to your customers.” So much for looking forward to going to the hardware store. So much for good feelings. So much for getting clear information from our media and from our leaders. Don’t get me started. If our faith is founded on the Holy Spirit’s presence, I ain’t feelin’ the spirit right now.
But this is exactly the time of the Spirit. Desert times have been formative for our mother’s and father’s faith since the dim beginnings. Normalcy does not encourage our dependence on God’s presence. Change? Our ruts are so deep it’s hard to see over the edges. We’re busy. We always did it this way before. Now new normalcy is a take out meal from our favorite restaurant, by candlelight, if we can negotiate with the kids to put themselves to bed and leave us alone, on our anniversary. Or trying to stay in touch with our kids via skype, if we can figure out the blank, blank machine’s idiosyncrasies. Yup, desert time. Jesus left. Now what?
Those times are our times. We aren’t here to look for comfortable. It’s time to pray for a still small voice that will blow us out of our confusion and despair into a deeper relationship with a living God. It may not be what we expect or even want, but it will be there.
The Holy Spirit’s child, the Church is still there. It’s challenged, it seemed boxed, but it’s still there. Study, contact, encouragement, guidance, the Word, mission, even worship are available. Maybe you, yes you, can be a shaker and a mover in helping to get some of that going to reach people who need encouragement and hope. Me? The Holy Spirit knows you, knows your gifts, knows your fears and will be there to help. You. Yes, You.
The Holy Spirit’s message, without exception (it’s dangerous to say that, fact checking) is to put on your big girl (or boy) pants and get moving.
I prayed about my encounter with the hardware store lady. No wind, no fire, just a still small voice. I had an extra mask in the car. I hope she wears it.
* * *
Dream, Pray, Plan
by Frank Ramirez
Numbers 11:24-30
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to (Moses), and took some of the Spirit that was on him and pour it on the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. (Numbers 11:25)
The implication in this scripture is that the ecstatic experience of prophecy was not a regular occurrence for the seventy elders. This was a singular occurrence, brought about by special circumstances.
Kind of like a revival for most of us. We go knowing that sometimes we need to get out of our tracks and into a little more excitement and commitment when it comes to living our faith. And for many of us there’s that one special moment when what was something we knew in our heads became something we felt in our hearts.
What we know as the revival had its origins in the 19th century. Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) is given much of the credit. It is said after his fiancé, his preacher, and a friend all spoke to Finney about his spiritual state, which they feared was endangered by his work as a lawyer, he prayed and pondered for three days. He decided that indeed his sins were not forgiven. After further prayer in the woods he returned to his law office where he saw the face of Jesus and experienced conversion.
After that he gave up lawyering and took up preaching. He led a series of revivals in upstate New York in the late 1820’s. Finney’s style of preaching was loud and boisterous, with extravagant gestures. Though some considered him crazy, his off-the-cuff sermons, which mixed both the logic of the law with clear, simple, and fervent language, led to the conversion and baptism of many. Finney is also given credit for developing the “Anxious Bench” (sometimes called the “Mourner’s Bench”), the practice of having converts come forward, and protracted meetings, where people met for ten, fifteen, twenty days or more, according to the leading of the Spirit. Everything was purposed to bring people to make a choice based on their spiritual state.
By the early twentieth century these meetings were a commonplace for many denominations. They were more than worship. They were a form of entertainment, with singing, preaching, and eating all combined to lead people to Christ.
A description of one such meeting appeared in the November 2, 1918 edition of The Gospel Messenger, the weekly paper of the Church of the Brethren. Alma Feiler from Hutchinson, Kansas, wrote a description of the event.
For over two weeks Bro. J. Edwin Jarboe preached the Word in its simplicity and with the power of the Spirit at this place. The audience also appreciated the message in song, by Sister Jarboe, each evening. Twenty-six received Christian baptism. Oct. 6 will long be remembered as a day of triumph for the kingdom of God. A “high water mark” attendance at Sunday-school was followed by the morning theme: “Elijah’s God or the Gods of the Prophets?” At the noon hour all enjoyed the social hour and basket dinner in the basement.
A consecration service was next held, with prayer for a new life, a clean life and a life of service, after which Christian baptism was administered. In the evening 147 took part in the ordinances given by Jesus and practiced by his disciples.
Those ordinances “given by Jesus” included a several hours long communion service, that began with the foot-washing ceremony shared by the entire church, followed by a meal called the Love Feast, and concluding with a bread and cup communion. Typically, communion was shared following baptisms because this was the first opportunity for the newly baptized to take part. There follows this stark note:
Because of the State quarantine further meetings had to be abandoned, without even a farewell to all. Our brother’s visits were appreciated in the homes, and the prayers of the Hutchinson church follow the evangelistic party as they go elsewhere with the Gospel Message.
Obviously the meetings, which been going on for over two weeks were meant to continue, but these emotional, exuberant evangelistic meetings came to a screeching halt with the onset of the Spanish Influenza, which closed schools, churches, businesses, and brought the nation to a standstill in the wake of a worldwide plague!
What does it take to quench the Spirit? Or rather, do we allow ourselves to quench the Spirit, rather than listen for the Spirit’s guidance when things get difficult?
After reporting on the abrupt forced close of the revival, Alma Feiler reported what the congregation hoped the baptisms would lead to, despite the temporary restrictions imposed because of the influenza:
Since our last communication Brother and Sister E.H. Eby gave our Junior League a splendid missionary address and presented us with a beautiful stereopticon and many pictures from the mission field. We appreciate their kind gift and trust that it will awaken a greater interest in missions. May God speed the day when one of our Hutchinson juniors shall represent Jesus on the Foreign field.
A stereopticon was one of the latest devices, a high-tech innovation embraced by many churches in that era. One held the device to one’s eyes and saw two pictures turned into one 3-D image. If a revival could not be held, juniors could use something like this equivalent of social media to see the state of things far away, and be inspired by what they saw to go forward into the mission field when conditions permitted. Maybe not just then. Churches were closed for months because of the influenza, but new Christians, having experienced the emotions of revival, could be challenged afterward to dream, pray, and plan.
*****************************************
StoryShare, May 31, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
