Pentecost Sunday

Our readings for Pentecost Sunday are:

1. Acts 2:1-11
2. Psalms 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
4. John 20: 19-23

• Expect the unexpected
• The disciples did not know what was coming their way on that Pentecost day.  They had gathered for prayer as was their custom.  There was no way that they could have forced God's hand and call the Spirit down.
• What do you think made that group open to the movement of the Spirit?
• We don't hear of anyone leaving their company because of the outpouring of the Spirit, do you think that everyone there was ready for this sort of outpouring?
• How can we as individuals, families, communities be more open to the Spirit's movement?

• Looking for renewal
• Is renewal just dialing things back to the way they were when we, those around us, our communities were younger, or is renewal different/more than that?
• What needs renewal in your life?
• What needs renewal in our Church?
• Where do we and the Spirit start?

• Playing to your strengths
• We all have God-given gifts, some of them latent, some obvious.
• How have you found those gifts in your life?
• Do you think that there are other, as yet undiscovered talents awaiting expression, a breath of fresh air, an opening?
• How would you go about discovering those?

• Peace give I to these -
• Peace may not be the absence of conflict, an absence of separation, but more a permeating experience with the oneness that is Christ.
• We put conditions on that unity, fearful of slipping into error, concerned about losing our integrity, worried that we'll somehow lose ourselves in the bargain.
• Do you think that God lies at the center of true unity?
• How can we achieve that in the world that we live in today?
• If Jesus gave His disciples this peace, how can we make ourselves more open to that inheritance today?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where am I trying to force God in my life?
2. What has died in my life and lies ready for renewal?
3. How am I offering my talents up to God in new ways?
4. Where does peace find me these days?  How has that peace changed me?

Peace Give I to Thee

Really, who is He kidding?  I'm going nuts here with deadlines,

The kids need new shoes, braces are going to eat me out of house and home.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord

I need help that deals with the world that I live in, 

That my family lives in.

Not as the world gives, give I to thee

Peace indeed.  Fine if you have no responsibilities, none relying on you.

But for me, I have demands made on me all the time, 24X7.

Lord God Almighty

Sure, God rules the universe, but in this little pocket where I live,

He's strangely silent, if not absent, what of that?

As the Father has sent me, so I send you

I'm empty handed, beaten, discouraged, drowning.

What do I have to offer anyone else?

Just two things: My Spirit and your brokenness

Well then, brokenness I have in plenty.

You'll hold up your side of the bargain?

My grace is sufficient, rest in that sufficiency

Shalom!