Pentecost

Today’s Pentecost thought comes from Robert Beer, “Bethlehem was God with us, Calvary was God for us, and Pentecost is God in us. “

In 1 John 4:12-14 we read, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

Have you ever noticed that people have more boldness to do something when someone goes with them? A person is more willing to sign up for that challenge if a friend does it with them. A child is more willing to try the ride if a parent goes with them. An employee is willing to keep company policy on an issue if their employer backs them up. So it is with us and God. We are more willing to fulfil a task as people if we know that God is with us. God told Joshua he’ll go with them. God has told us that he’ll be with us wherever we go too (Hebrews 13:5).

Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians, was converted in an art gallery in Dusseldorf while contemplating a painting of Christ on the cross which had the inscription, "I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me?" This picture had been painted by an artist three hundred years before.

When he had finished his first sketch of the face of the Redeemer, this artist called in his landlady’s little daughter and asked her who she thought it was. The girl looked at it and said, "It is a good man." The painter knew that he had failed.

He destroyed the first sketch and, after praying for greater skill, finished a second. Again he called the little girl in and asked her to tell him whom she thought the face represented. This time the girl said that she thought it looked like a great sufferer. Again the painter knew that he had failed, and again he destroyed the sketch he had made.

After meditation and prayer, he made a third sketch. When it was finished, he called the girl in a third time and asked her who it was. Looking at the portrait, the girl exclaimed, "It is the Lord!"

That alone makes the coming of Christ meaningful to the world--not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came--Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus promised, ‘…. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.’ John 14:16-17

God of all time and space,

you initiated the relationship

of love and generosity with creation

at a time before and beyond all knowing.

Through the Word and the Spirit,

you continue in eternal love for all beings.

Fill us with a deep 

and abiding awareness of your presence, your call, 

and your grace in our lives and in our world.

Shape us to into the people you have made us to be

poured out in creative mercy

for the sake of Jesus Christ in all creation. Amen.