Several years ago a friend and I started playing a game to
see who could find the best/worst messages on church signs. There were really
good messages like; “Don’t drive faster than your guardian angel can fly” which
was appropriately placed on a little church sign on a windy, country road known
for fatal accidents due to excessive speed. There were also some messages like;
“Our Pastor’s hot…The high today in Hawaii is 102” I have no idea what provoked
that message.
Shortly after our game began, my friend found a calendar of
daily church sign messages, which she gave me for Christmas. One message from
that calendar that sticks out in my mind as summer approaches reads, “God has NOT gone on vacation and left YOU
in charge!” Do you feel as if God
has gone on vacation and left you to deal with weight of the world’s problems,
or at least your family’s or the church’s problems alone?
I wonder if Peter and the other disciples felt that way after
Jesus’ death. Even though he had appeared to them and commissioned them as we
read in Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came
and said to them, ’All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to
the end of the age.” He then left them to go out and do the work on their
own. We, like the disciples, can begin to feel discouraged that we are alone in
our mission to share the gospel when it seems that everyone, even God, has
taken a vacation from being involved in the mission of God’s work. One magnificent
thing we must remember about God is...God never goes on vacation!
We are approaching an exciting time in the church year! The
season of Pentecost, which in the Jewish tradition was a harvest festival,
celebrated 50 days after Passover but has become for us a celebration of the
first time the Holy Spirit moved with great force among the first disciples. It
is a celebration of the beginning of their ministry to the world and our
continued ministry even to this day. In Acts 2 we hear of the Holy Spirit, like
a rushing wind or blazing fire filling each one present with the power and
ability to share the Word of God. They were renewed in their quest to tell the
story of Jesus Christ. The first disciples weren’t expecting it, they weren’t
given a heads up that it was about to happen. They were taken by surprise and
led in a brand new direction with life, energy, and a transformed vision of
God’s presence among them!
Maybe that is what we need, not a brand new direction, but an
openness to let the Holy Spirit take us by surprise and move us into lively
action. Instead of insisting that it is God who has gone of vacation and left
us to our own devices, we need to let Holy Spirit’s windy, fiery passion for
sharing the gospel move us where It will transforming us along the way, not
only on the Sunday of Pentecost but ALWAYS! I hope the Holy Spirit moves in you today.
As a side note another friend found the 2012 version of the
church sign calendar, I am patiently waiting for one worthy of a blog post! It
will happen, I promise.
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