Morning Grace

I Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ~ NRSV & NET You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? ~ The Message The Spirit that rushed out to the community of believers at Pentecost wasn't done with being personal or intimate either. As Spirit gives life, she makes herself at home.  (Note: you may be asking yourself: "Did she just say 'she' about the Holy Spirit?? Well, yes...I did. There is a tradition of referring to the Holy Spirit sometimes as 'she.' One of the reasons is that there was a somewhat loose history of connecting the Holy Spirit with the feminine "Wisdom" of the Old Testament. But also, another reason is because the Hebrew word " ruach " is feminine, something shared with many of the other ancient languages. The Greek word, " pneuma" , is neuter. Now, I don't think the gender of a word necessa...

Acts 2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ~ NRSV 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. ~ The Message And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting ~ King James Version In the Genesis creation story, the wind of God - the Spirit of God - is hovering. It's poised and ready for action, but almost in a calm kind of way. And in the giving of life (and the taking of the Spirit from Saul), it still feels like an intimate action - from God to an individual. But that breath of God - the ruach , the pneuma - isn't always just a quiet, sedentary thing. At Pentecost, God makes a statement! This Holy Spirit is ready to take Holy Action and not in any subtle, intimate way. Instead in a communal, over...

I Samuel 16:14 Now the spirit of the Lord  departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord  tormented him. ~ NRSV Now the Spirit of the Lord  had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord  tormented him. ~ NET At that very moment the Spirit of God  left Saul and in its place a black mood sent by God  settled on him. He was terrified. ~ The Message But the Ruach of Hashem departed from Sha’ul, and a ruach ra’ah from Hashem terrified and overwhelmed him [Sha’ul]. ~ Orthodox Jewish Bible They say "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." I'm not going to lie. I've never liked that phrase. It doesn't seem to me to describe a God whose very essence is to love and to give life. And yet, when something so dark in our life is upon us, that's how it feels, isn't it? It feels as if God has completely left our life. As if God has taken God's Spirit away. Saul was someone who didn't listen to God a lot of the time. He...

Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord  God formed man from the dust of the ground,  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. ~ NRSV The Lord  God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. ~ NET God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul! ~ The Message And Hashem Elohim formed the adam of the aphar min haadamah, and breathed into his nostrils the nishmat chayyim; and the adam became a nefesh chayyah. ~ Orthodox Jewish Bible The purpose of breath is life. The purpose of the Spirit is life. First thing God does with this new being is to breathe life into it. To take dirt - soil, dust, "aphar" or loose earth - and turn it into a flesh and blood human being. The Spirit breathes life into us. When we find someone particularly lively, we call ...

For the next few weeks after Pentecost Sunday, I'll look at some of the ways in which the Holy Spirit is made known to us and what that might mean for us! Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning when God created  the heavens and the earth,  the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God  swept over the face of the waters. ~ NRSV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. ~ NET Bible First this: God created the Heavens and Earth - all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. ~ The Message In the beginning Elohim created hashomayim (the heavens, Himel) and haaretz (the earth).  And the earth wa...

After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,  but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him;  but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall,  lowering him in a basket. When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.  But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.  So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.  He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him.  When the believers  learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria...

For several days (Saul) was with the disciples in Damascus,  and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”  All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”  Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus  was the Messiah. ~ Acts 9:19b-22 The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. ~ Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis If there has been a theme this week, maybe it is either "God comes to us in unexpected places" or "don't be so certain you are right, because when you are, God will show you otherwise! But I also like Rob Bell's version of this: God can't be figured out with neat lines and definitions. God is way more complicated than t...