Pentecost Sunday

Our readings for Pentecost Sunday are:

1. Acts 2: 1-11
2. Psalms 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
3. Revelations 8: 8-17
4. John 20: 19-23

• Does this robe make me look fat?
• Stage fright generally has many components.  You could worry that you'll forget what it is that you want to say, or that that particularly critical member of the audience will find issues with what you deliver, or that you really are not worthy of making such a presentation, or that you have really not prepared enough, or that you forgot to lock the front door when you left the house or ...  But the early disciples seemed to be more focused than that.
• When you give yourself away to others, in lectoring, visiting the sick, singing in the choir, helping someone with a DIY project, how important is preparation?
• How do you know that you have prepared enough, that you are truly ready?
• How has God prepared you for the ministries that you have today?
• What might He be preparing you for tomorrow?
• Why do you want to know that?

• Renewal on tap
• Throughout history there have been renewal movements that sought to bring new life to an established order.  Some have been wildly successful, others not so successful.
• What needs renewing in your life?  What has gone stale or lifeless?
• Is that renewal likely going to be a matter of throwing out the old and starting over, finding new purpose and meaning in what you are already doing, returning to the past when things were simpler, more pure, more focused, or ...?
• How can your renewal serve the larger purpose of renewing your family, community, parish, the earth?

• The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself
• The lyrics to a song Fear is a Liar are here.  I think that the composer has a lot to say about fear and its hold on us.
• What are your recurring fears?
• What are you doing about them?
• Are all of them real?

• I once was blind but now I see
• Jesus' post resurrection appearances read as though He was very selective about who He manifested Himself to.  Perhaps He had had his fill of crowds before the crucifixion and decided more intimate gatherings were called for.
• When do you feel closest to the presence of God?
• How have those times changed you?
• Do you think that you could get that same sort of intimacy in other contexts, other phases of your life?
• Why or why not?
• What does that say about the "rest" of your life?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to prepare for what God has for me tomorrow?
2. How am I bringing new life to those around me?
3. Which fears are holding me back?
4. Where can I be more present to Jesus and He more present to me in my life?

Those Wounds

The scar tissue felt rough to my fingers.
The pain that they bore witness to
Still burned in my memory.

Yet Jesus stood there, radiant.
Full of life, laughing with us,
Celebrating a life that could not be quenched.

He tells us that we have a share in that life.
That we have all that we need.
Easy for Him to say.

These wounds speak to me
Of desire stronger than death
Of a life so much larger than me.

These wounds call me into a horizon
Larger than any I have ever known.
And I dare not hold back.

Even though the future is uncertain,
The path ahead far from clear.
I now know that the secret to life

Is to give it all away,
Fearlessly,
Recklessly.

Shalom!