An Angel or The Spirit, Who Sent Us?

Here is a trivia question to pursue. There is a movie where Humphrey Bogart plays a ‘hard boiled detective’, classic trope of the 1940’s. It moves fast, so fast that, in the end, a murder, among the several, is left unsolved, is left hanging. What is the name of the movie? It was precisely this idea of unresolution, of being left hanging, that was a part of the sermon this past Sunday.

We were looking at the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch that concludes Acts 8. Our focus on the book of Acts for May is the presentation of the Holy Spirit. So there was an apparent division of divine authority that did not fit so well. One piece fit marvelously. It was the Holy Spirit that guided Philip to approach the chariot of this official of Candace, the Ethiopian Queen. But, the other piece did not.

It says 'an angel' sent Philip into the region in the first place. To follow Philip’s path, he was in Samaria, the upper middle section of the land of Israel. Ministry was going well, bigs guns from Jerusalem, Peter and John, were sent to back him up. With them came the Holy Spirit. Then the angel sends him from Samaria to the wilderness road between Jerusalem and Gaza. The Ethiopian Court Official would take this road down from Jerusalem (up on the central ridge of Israel) to the coast to pick up a ship and go home.

Why the angel and THEN the spirit? There are a number of passages in the Bible where the angel of the Lord is essentially a stand-in for the Person of God we know as “the Father”. Such a being appears to Joshua. But there are other times when the angel is 'just' an angel. One example is from the book of Revelation, where John initially bows down to the angel before him, only to be corrected, that the angel is but a fellow servant.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is a progressing figure in the Bible. What I mean by that is the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, is filled with examples of the Holy Spirit coming down upon people. But these are on particular individuals, often for particular tasks or time periods, and the Spirit can be withdrawn. The Spirit can also be tied to specific circumstances, like Samson’s strength be tied (pun intended) to his hair being uncut.

Come the New Testament, the Greek Bible, in the Gospel of John, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ own continuing presence among us upon Jesus’ return to Heaven. This promise is renewed when Jesus commands the disciples to await the Spirit in Jerusalem when he ascends into heaven. It is a promise fulfilled at Pentecost. It is the Pentecost event that has sent Philip on his ministry tour. It is consideration of the particulars of the Holy Spirit that led to the focus on this passage for Sunday’s service of worship.

It is the presence of the angel that messes up a neat interpretive package. My first “quick fix” interpretive solution is that the Angel is from God the Father, the General, deploying Philip ‘strategically’. The angel sent him to the next field of mission. The Spirit then serves as the local commander, for Philip’s ‘tactical’ deployment. “Go, preach to THAT guy, in the fancy chariot.”

Why did I need to ‘fix’ it? Why did I presume the bible was somehow broken? Am I arrogant enough to think I know better than God why we have the passage sent to us this way? Am I insecure enough to have to find the interpretive ‘fix’? 

As I assess my reactions honestly, these were the questions that led me to surrender myself to God's intentions. God is smarter than I am. It is written this way for a reason and I don’t have to be smart enough to ‘untangle’ it or fear that I am weak in faithful if I can’t ‘figure it out’. 

It’s enough to know we have the Holy Spirit within us and the angel of the Lord outside of us, guiding us and being God’s presence as we seek to live our lives in God’s grace.

Peace, Pastor Peter

Is It Good To Be The King?

 There is a glimpse into the past offering us wisdom today. 

Did anyone watch the coronation of King Charles 3 on Saturday? One bit that sticks out for me is why this one was two hours long whereas the coronation of Elizabeth 2 was apparently more than five hours long. It concerns the swearing of homage and fealty to the new king. In this instance, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke on behalf of the sacred (Charles is head of the Church) and Prince William spoke on behalf of the secular (Charles is ruler of the nation). Then there was the opportunity for a universal swearing by all others, of all classes. 

In 1953, every titled member of the peerage (according to my memory of the commentary) had to come forward one by one. That was a throwback to an earlier time of the divine right of the monarch, of absolute power, of knights and lords rallying to the banner of the king or queen. 

Cutting the long procession of personal fealty was certainly a nod to the times in which we live. But almost everything else in that service returned to the days of yore when the monarch was all-powerful, or as powerful as the Magna Carta and Parliament sought to allow them to be. The power of the king was stressed again and again, in every detail, power derived from Almighty God.

It was a profoundly Christian service of the likes I have never witnessed.

But the one thing that stood out to me again and again, especially in the sermon by the Archbishop, is how the power wielded by the king must be wielded as Christ did, in service to others. The more power, the more the need of service. As the king is, at least ceremonially, something akin to ‘all-powerful’ in the Lord, the demands upon him are all-service.

In this country, the notion of power may be better understood from Spiderman, “with great power comes great responsibility”. But that’s comic book wisdom. This coronation sent a message of so much more.

It is a clarion call for service by all who hold power and claim the Lordship of Jesus in their lives. The more power one has, the more one is called upon to serve. 

Now I am well aware of the two lives that seem to exist side by side in the reputation of the Royal Family of the United Kingdom. On the one hand, the service of the "working royals" is incredible. But their 'other' behavior is the stuff of tabloids and gossip columns. It would made for great television. 

But sinfulness is not limited to the Royals (we just see more of it given the scrutiny they undergo), sinfulness is universal. In Christ, the offer of forgiveness is also universal. The opportunity to serve again, universal. The biggest distinction between people when it comes to service is the power that they wield is commensurate with how many they can serve.

For us, the call of political power and leadership is to serve. The call of fame and wealth is to serve. The call of strength is to serve. The responsibility of people of faith is to serve. The ministry of Christ was to serve, unto death, even death on the cross. 

So there is the Royal family and there are the “working royals”. Seek out the Idol of Knowledge (Google is my preferred search engine) and do a search on just what it means to work as a royal. It is impressive. We of the most powerful nation in the world could learn a lot of what it means to provide service in our power from the example of the UK's new king. Those folks got great accents too.

Peace, 

Pastor Peter

Looking at the Holy Spirit 1: Actions of an Apostle The Scripture and Sermon from May 7, 2023

LESSON: Acts 8: 26-40

26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ 31He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 

34The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

 SERMON:         “Going Where the Holy Spirit Leads”      Rev. Peter Hofstra

 Acts 8: Philip and the Eunuch: The Role of the Holy Spirit…

May 7, 2023 Rev. Peter Hofstra

Theology: (Or, thinking about God the Holy Spirit)

For May, we are looking to the book of the Acts of the Apostles as the last Sunday this month is Pentecost, the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. As we come to Pentecost, our focus in Acts will be on the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. By month’s end, my hope is that we have a powerful sense of just what it was that the early church was receiving in the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

The Acts of the Apostles is written as the sequel to the gospel of Luke. One might call it “Jesus 2: The Coming of the Holy Spirit” because the timid disciples of the Gospel now become Jesus’ force multipliers under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Peter shines in the first part of the book, Paul in the latter part, but others make their marks. Today, we follow the Apostle Philip. 

In the lead up to our passage, Philip was in Samaria, preaching and healing, doing Jesus after Jesus’ ascension. He is SO successful that Peter and John are dispatched to back him up. In so doing, there is an interesting divide here. Philip is baptizing many of them, building up a base of believers in Samaria, but they have not yet received the Holy Spirit (as the apostles did at Pentecost). With the coming of Peter and John, prayers are offered and the Spirit comes down upon the Samaritan believers, causing great rejoicing in a church.

        From here, we come to our passage continuing to follow Philip. An angel of the Lord sends him along a specific roadway to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, a court official and the treasurer of Queen Candace of the Ethiopians. He came to Jerusalem to worship, is headed home, in his chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah (hopefully while someone else is driving).

          The Holy Spirit commands Philip to join the Eunuch in his chariot. Phil does as commanded, approaching and interpreting the words of Isaiah for the Eunuch. This man comes to believe as Philip speaks to him. Enroute, they come past some water, and the man insists that Philip baptizes him. When this happens, “the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.”

            It is from this passage that one of the most ancient ethnic churches, the church of Ethiopia, claims its origins.

            In this passage, there are a few places where it is notable to see where the Holy Spirit is involved and a couple where it is notable to see where the Holy Spirit is NOT. The first place of presence for the Holy Spirit is in Philip. He has received the Holy Spirit with the other disciples at Pentecost, and we are seeing the results. The powers of Jesus are being repeated in the apostles. We see the Holy Spirit at work in him, opening up the good news of Jesus to the understanding of this court official from Ethiopia. As Acts records: Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb  silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 34The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

            This continues what Philip was doing among the Samaritans, doing the work that Christ did. But there are two direct references to the Spirit here. The first is that the Spirit directs Philip to walk up to this important man in his chariot and basically ask, “So, whatcha got there sir?” The second is that the Spirit essentially disappears Philip from the Court Official’s sight when he comes up from his baptism.

            It is not like the Spirit teleports Philip to some far off location. Acts tells us that Philip met up with the court official on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, from the capital down to the south coast where he could then catch a ship to Egypt, then south through to Ethiopia. Acts tells us that the Spirit removed Philip to Azotus, on that same coastal road not far from where they met, and Philip continued north toward Caesaria.

            The two places where the spirit does not appear of note are 1. At the baptism itself. In Samaria, Philip was baptizing but the Spirit came later with John and Peter. 2. The Spirit sent Philip to talk to the court official, but an angel of the Lord is said to have dispatched him to that road.

Evangelism: (Or, so what does this mean for us?)

            Philip appears to be on some kind of preaching circuit, coming out of Samaria, sent on to this road to meet the Ethiopian Court Official. An angel of the Lord sends him to the right place at the right time on the road, the Spirit pushes him to go up to the chariot to engage with the gentleman, the Spirit then whisks him away where he then heads north along the coast, apparently to continue his preaching circuit (although Acts shifts focus away from Philip after this).

            So, now a few questions. Is Philip doubly blessed to receive instructions from both an angel AND the Holy Spirit? Or, taking a step back, what does receiving such transcendent directions even look like? Taking a step forward to us, does this kind of divine direction even happen today? As people of faith, can we presume an angel or the Holy Spirit direct our path? If so, is it done without our knowledge and participation? Can it be done any other way? 

             Another way to look at it, have you ever been at the right place at the right time to either receive an influx of goodness from someone that coincidence or “the universe” just seemed to drop down next to us? Or, even more grace-filled, have you been that person slotted at the right time and right place? Coincidence?  Machinations of the universe? I hope that, being in attendance in the House of God this morning, maybe, machinations of the Holy Spirit fits our profile?

            How about this? As followers of Christ, our daily paths are marked by the machinations of the Holy Spirit that lay out opportunities where we can be as Philip was, a voice to a person in need. That one of the benefits (or discouragements) of who we are is that God’s master plan has us out there, persons of faith sent to engage with a world in need. Whether we want to or not.

            Maybe the reason we see it so plainly spelled out in Acts is that this is not just a history of the earliest church but a ‘how to’ of church, how the Lord gets things done.  Read the first few verses of Luke to see what the gospel writer was intending to share with Theophilus and decide for yourself. So, would a natural concern for us today be something like, “I’m not ready for that.”

            I am not sure I am ready for that. While I am convinced that the Lord, in our God’s infinite humor, is the guiding force in the path I have taken to the pulpit, the notion of the Holy Spirit essentially telling me to run up to somebody’s car to talk about Jesus…does not strike me as optimal in today’s world. 

            But the presence of the Holy Spirit is not just in the coming and going of Philip. More powerfully, it is also in his background. He was in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He and Peter and John and all the rest of the disciples, not simply the twelve but the whole community of Jesus’ followers, were fundamentally transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The most visible part of that transformation was the gift of speaking in all the various languages of the Jews gathered in Jerusalem from around the known world.

            This Court Official of Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians, was in Jerusalem to worship the Living God. He could afford the scroll to the prophet Isaiah. I say ‘afford’ because this is not like ordering off of Amazon. This is a hand-copied edition of Isaiah. This was something it normally took an entire synagogue, an entire worshipping community to afford. When Philip came jogging up, asking “Whatcha got there?”, he was equipped by three years in Jesus’ personal apprentice program plus the blessings of Jesus within him by the auspices of the Holy Spirit. Hm, I wonder if that is why they decided a full time master of divinity program should take three years…

            What I am saying here is that Philip was in tune with the movements of the Spirit guiding his life because he was prepared in the Spirit to share that life in Christ with others. What was the Court Official reading? ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ This is Jesus on Good Friday, humiliated and slaughtered in the denial of justice. His life WAS taken away from the earth. But then he came back. He was resurrected, and everything was made new. That;s the news Philip brought.

            This Eunuch had no frame of reference to understand this. He knew there was something good and powerful and amazing in this faith experience he had in Jerusalem. He’s diligently trying to get his mind around it. He was open to the gospel message. And the Holy Spirit provided him with Philip in that key moment of understanding. A moment that led to baptism and conversion.

            That could be us, Philip, not the Eunuch. It could be us in the right place at the right time for someone who has questions, concerns, sufferings, brokenness, something in need of the gracious forgiveness found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Someone in need of the healing found in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit could be dialing us in to just such a moment in the life of someone in need. How wonderful is that? How fulfilling? How scary? How unprepared do we feel for something like that? 

            As I challenge us, me especially, please know this is not some grand plan for the renewal of our church. It is not the basis of a vision statement to take us forward from this place. It is simply who we are as God’s children, in what we have received through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in how we are called to go out into the world, that it is God’s expectation for us to be out there in the world.

Prayer: (How We Get there)

            The method of such courageous entry into the world is by the power of the Holy Spirit. The thing about the Book of Acts is that the coming of the Holy Spirit is such a deliberate, conscious process. We will see that at Pentecost. But what we are seeing here are the effects of the Spirit. Of how Philip was so heaven-bent and determined to do for the Lord. But pulling up stakes and wandering hither and yon according to the call of the Spirit, that is not the norm. There are some who are called to such a missionary lifestyle.

            But the majority of the time that the Spirit comes in Acts, it is upon the community at hand. In Jerusalem, in Samaria (earlier in chapter 8), eventually on Cornelius and his household (in next week’s reading), these are people who live and work and are established where they are. The Spirit operates there as surely as in the life of the person called to a life on the road.

            Whether on the road or set in a community, the growth of our faith is dependent on the presence of the Holy Spirit. In church each Sunday, we issue the invitation, for the Lord to come into our hearts. But we can have the Lord in our hearts, we can know our salvation lies in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We can depend on the promise that God so loved the world that God gave God’s only begotten Son. But we can also run into a dead end that asks something like, “Is this all, is there nothing more?”

            Is there a presence of God to push us out of our comfort zones? Is there a place in our faith that when we look to the injustices around us, we find we have a heart of mercy for those whom we would stand beside in a world of sin and repression? Is there a desire to do more, to learn what we must to overcome the gaps in our capacities, in our knowledge, in our understanding of our faith? Is there the desire to reach out to the Almighty and confess that which we cannot do and cry out for the tools, the opportunity, the drive to do something more?

            I suggest this is the call of the Holy Spirit to activate in our lives. That Spirit could very well be alive in our hearts, but maybe as an untapped resource. Maybe its just an urge, a tickling in the heart and mind that there is something more that can be done. That there is someone I can benefit. That this gift of Jesus is SO amazing, it must be shared.

            Maybe not “jumping into the chariot of a stranger” shared, but someone is looking down, maybe I can reach out and share in some way. Maybe not a full exposition of a passage in the prophet Isaiah, but a word of comfort to another in need.

How about sharing a bottle of water with someone after a disaster? Sounds almost trite, doesn’t it? Say someone lost their home and are in a shelter, we are able to be there, and we offer…water? But maybe, just maybe this is the first decision the survivor has made for themselves since they lost everything? Maybe, just maybe it is the first step on the road to recovering their lives. Maybe, just maybe the Holy Spirit put us there with water, in that moment.

Maybe afterward, the Holy Spirit is not going to beam me up like Mr. Scott in Star Trek, but have you ever experienced the moment of a stranger being there at the right moment, with the right words, and then being gone again?

            This is how the Holy Spirit operates, working within us to share the grace we have in Christ Jesus. Teaching us what to say, giving us the joy and courage to say it, leading us to moments where we can open our mouths to speak in the name of Jesus. Kind of scary, isn’t it? But I hope the possibilities are exciting as well. Being aware of what the Lord has blessed us with.

            Maybe as we come to the table of the Lord, this is the moment to prayerfully ask the Lord, as the Holy Spirit, to fill, direct us, and give us purpose. This meal is to remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made on behalf of all God’s children, a promise of mercy, salvation, grace, and healing for the whole world. Maybe we pray to the Lord to remind us again of just what wonder that means, and ask for the Spirit to light us up in the wonder of God’s promises. Maybe we ask for the Holy Spirit to give us courage and opportunity to share this joy with someone who does not know what we know. Maybe we open up a whole new world of possibility that is just waiting for us.

Let us pray…

God Loves Jerks

Praise the Lord that God does, because too often I fit that description. But this is not about me, it is about Jonah. He was a prophet of the Lord (see 2 Kings 14). But when God sent him east to Nineveh, he headed west, into the Mediterranean, for Tarshish. So God chased him on the ship with a punishing storm, much of which Jonah slept through. When the captain woke him up, Jonah still did not take responsibility for his actions. It was not until they cast lots and determined that he was to blame for the coming disaster at sea.

It was only then that he repented and gave them their way out, to toss him into the ocean. Then came the fish and a ‘top 10’ Biblical prayer in chapter 2. You would think that three days in the belly of a fish might be sufficient time for a full-on change of heart by this prophet of the Lord. And yet, it is not to be. We have followed Jonah through the digestive tract of the fish, followed him through his carrying out the instructions of God to actually go and proclaim God’s message to Nineveh, to rejoice in the repentance of the city, only to see the 'jerk' resurface.

Jonah goes up a hill to watch the fireworks. He carried the message of repentance but does not seem to get the concept of forgiveness. He’s supposed to be the expert on things of God. Not only does he act the jerk in his disappointment that he does not see the "punishment show" unloaded on Nineveh, but he gets upset when his shade tree is taken away, so upset that he would rather die. Considering that he almost did die in the belly of the fish, he is remarkably contrary to the Lord.

The entire cycle of prophecy in the Bible is that God’s punishment is the result for "behavior unbecoming of the love of God". It is not a matter of “Ha Ha, now you get your beatdown from the Almighty!” It was never that. It is always the call for repentance, for the offering of another chance, for the receipt of God’s forgiveness. Which Nineveh receives. But their prophet, Jonah, is a real jerk about it. He does not want repentance, he wants destruction. He wants a show.

And yet God loves this jerk. Takes him step by step through the process for his understanding of what God’s repentance means. It’s a universal. God loves all jerks. God’s grace is sufficient for every ungrateful type who comes along. God’s forgiveness is sufficient for us all. Jesus died and rose again for everyone, even, maybe especially, the jerks among us.

Jonah is not perfect, far from it. But he is redeemed. So are we all. May be embrace the gift of Christ that is offered to us. Then let us praise the Lord.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

The Changeability of God

So in the techno-babble of the faith, the technical language of theology (of thinking about God), we have a special word to describe how God is unchangeable. That special word is “immutable”. What that means, essentially, is that God is the same in the past, in the present, into the future and forever. It is meant as an assurance of the consistency of God as a loving, forgiving, merciful creator. This is in contrast to the many other 'gods' of the Biblical times who are mean, petty, jealous, and just plain awful to humans. The Greek gods jump to mind in this regard.

But in Jonah, God changes God’s mind. Nineveh is evil and destined for destruction. Jonah tells them as much. But then, when they repent, Jonah is greatly disappointed because God does not carry through on God’s Word. They were doomed and then undoomed. What the heaven God? You are unchanging except that this expresses…a change…

The book of Jonah provides only one example of this. There are other places where God is recorded as changing God’s mind. The ones that come readily to mind are God’s communications with Moses. The people were stubborn disobedient jerks. There are a number of times when God is prepared to destroy them only to be turned from wrath by the prayers of Moses. It looks like God is “mutable” in those moments. How are we to understand that?

I believe we are to understand it not in divine terms but in human terms. God is immutable, unchanging. Obey God and be blessed. Disobey and be punished. Good is rewarded, evil, not so much. In terms of Nineveh, it was not God who changed, but the Ninevites. Jonah’s prophetic utterances struck a nerve, caused a change. So it is across Scripture.

The wages of sin are death. Paul says that. From Genesis to Revelation, that does not change. God does not change. Rather, God seeks change in us. The Ninevites repented and turned from their evil ways. That is the sign that Jesus references when he talks about Jonah in Luke 11 and Matthew 12. In fact, that is the whole point of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It provides for the FREE GIFT of salvation for those who give their lives to the Lord. Those who repent. Those who seek to follow the way of love.

I will say it again. God does not change. Rather, God desires change in us. Those who turn against God are subject to punishment. Those who repent are welcomed into the grace of our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy is God’s gift. Jesus is God’s gift. That does not change. God is immutable, God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness is trustworthy and true. It is a gift offered to us that we may receive to change our lives. In Him.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

The Prayer of Provocation: Disagreeing With God To God's Face

Jonah provides us with one of the most heartfelt AND one of the most provocative prayers in the Bible. The most heartfelt prayer comes in Jonah 2. We spoke of that during the Daily Feed on April 19, ‘The Soul Dump: Prayer in Times of Crisis” so I am not going to repeat all that material. To summarize, Jonah was on the brink of death, a slow and painful death, and cried out to the Lord.

Jonah 4 opens with a very provocative prayer. To paraphrase, Jonah is praying, “You want to know why I ran away from you Lord? You want to know why, when you said East, I went West? You are sending me to tell the Ninevites to change their evil ways or face your destruction. But you are not going to destroy them. You are loving. You are merciful. Better you killed me with the fish than make me open that option to them.”

For his own reasons, Jonah did not want to give Nineveh the chance to repent. He did not want them to know the message of redemption from God. And he surely did not want to be the one sent by God to preach that message. See how far the Lord went, with storm and fish, to bend this stubborn prophet to God’s will.

This was not the way I was ever taught to pray. Heavens, I am told that all feelings are valid, that consequences are for how we act on those feelings. But hating somebody so much that I do not feel they deserve God’s mercy? I would be hard pressed to sit in our sanctuary and be okay with such feelings. Much less offer them up to God, not in confession, but in defiance.

Maybe it would sound like, “Lord, you want me to reach out to these people? In this neighborhood? Holy Lord, NO! They deserve the punishment that You can inflict upon them!!”

You know what, I have heard the expression of such feelings from Christians. Like about New York City after Superstorm Sandy. Maybe even more about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They DESERVE their punishment! (It is a whole other discussion to equate a hurricane with God's wrath). Are there people in New York and New Orleans and in my own neighborhood who deserve God’s punishment? Yes indeed. But there are a WHOLE lot more who need God’s mercy and compassion.

See-love and mercy-that’s how, it seems to me, I am supposed to feel.

But Jonah gives me permission for something very, very important. As chapter 4 begins, “But this (God’s mercy shown to Nineveh) was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord…” There is it. He prayed to the Lord. His feelings were his feelings. They were valid. That means they were not to be stomped on, made fun of, or ignored. That they should be expressed, experienced, and evaluated, which is something else entirely.

There are biological responses to the process of swallowing our feelings. One is called the ulcer. There are psychological responses to suppressing our feelings. One is called depression. There are spiritual responses to “happy-ing” over our feelings. One is the denial of the full healing power of our Lord Jesus. Another is failing to trust the loving mercy of our Lord. There do not tend to be the diagnostic categories of physical and mental health in our spiritual lives.

What then is the purpose of a prayer such as this? The provocative, slap-in-the-face to the mercy of the Lord that Jonah was expressing? Well, our feelings are valid insofar as we experience them. Does not deny their sinfulness. Does not deny that sin can start at our very motivations. It does then trigger the grace of our Lord Jesus to mercy and forgiveness, to the transformation of who we are to be more like Christ. It starts with prayer.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Moving into the Book of Acts and A Personal Note

On a personal note, I apologize for not posting the Daily Feed from Wednesday on last week. I had to go to Canada to attend a funeral service for a family member. I thought I would have the time and focus to be able to continue the Feed at that time, but the Lord had other ideas. Had I more wisdom, I would have shared that ahead instead of offering apologies afterward. Thank you for understanding.

So now, we return to our daily feed. In our preaching time, we are at a point of transition. For the month of April, after Palm Sunday and Easter, we preached through the Book of Jonah. It is not a large book, ideal for the three Sundays following Easter. At the end of May, we have Pentecost Sunday. So, as we shift back to the New Testament, we are going to come to the book of Acts.

For our Sunday preaching, we are focusing on different books of the Bible each month, presently alternating between the Old and New Testaments. When we tackle a book that is too large to be preached through in a month (which is most of the Bible), we seek to come to that book with a certain point of view. What theme might be illustrated? For example, we came to the Prophet Isaiah last December with a point of view of where Christmas finds its prophetic beginnings in this largest of the prophetic books. To that end, we are going to come to the book of the Acts of the Apostles with the question of where the Holy Spirit is made manifest. Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit. But where and how does the Holy Spirit then make a difference in the work of the church and its members?

We are going to look to the following:

In our first week, we look to the direct action of the Holy Spirit in the life and work of an apostle. In this case, we turn to Acts 8, where Philip is directed to share the gospel with the court official of Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians. In our second, we consider the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10, where Cornelius, the Roman Centurion and Gentile, and his entire household receive the Holy Spirit. His background is singled out because this is a unique and special moment in the church. In our third week, we shall look to Acts 15, specifically at how the work of the Holy Spirit undergirded and integrated into the work of the church leaders at the Council of Jerusalem. Then, from these examples of how the Holy Spirit’s work is shown to us in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we come to Pentecost, the day of the Spirit’s coming upon the church, in fulfillment of the promise of our Lord Jesus.

Peace,
Pastor Peter