Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author.
Thank you!
Scripture Reading:
Ezekiel 37:1-14 O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. … I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. … suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; …I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. (selected portion)
Acts 2:1-21 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability…. Amazed and astonished, they [the people] asked ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our native language? (selected portion)
Devotional Thought:
I am torn! Upon which of these two passages should I place my focus for this brief reflection? The valley of the dry bones must be one of the favourite Ezekiel visions. Yet the dramatic movement of God’s Spirit upon those early disciples of Acts turned their world upside-down! However, there is a common theme to be celebrated here. These are both stories of re-creation and hope. Ezekiel’s message was to a people in exile – seemingly in despair and without hope. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act. (Ezek. 37:14 NRSV) There is hope of the re-creation of a homeland that is as sure as God’s steadfast unrelenting love. Only God could do this, and he is doing a new thing.
The events recorded in Acts 2 come while the disciples devoted themselves to prayer and pouring over the Scriptures. It seems like a rather inward-looking activity as they strived to make sense of Jesus’ ascension. Is this the time? What is next? Their confusion and uncertainty were no less confronting as the exiles in Ezekiel. But here we read that on the day of Pentecost while they were all together the Holy Spirit came upon them. A re-creation took place whereby this group of seemingly unified disciples were blessed with a diversity that was God inspired. In a time and place where it appeared that every nation of the known world was represented, people began to hear the Gospel in an understandable language! God empowered these disciples to proclaim Jesus Christ, dead, buried and raised to life as Lord. At the Tower of Babel, there was diversity that created confusion through many languages. There was disintegration. Here at the birth of the church, there is the ability to proclaim the Gospel through many languages. God is doing a new thing. Diversity in the midst of unity is celebrated. Rather than disintegration because of the diversity, now we have a unity in Christ while we live out of diversity. Now that is a God thing!
Prayer:
Gracious Father, thank you for re-creating through the presence of your Holy Spirit. Help us become deeply aware that the Gospel is for all people – even people not like us. Thank you, Father, for sending your Holy Spirit to work in us and through us to your glory. We acknowledge that such transformation is by you and you alone. Help us to be agents of re-creation as your Spirit works in and through us. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Bruce G Allder
NTC Senior Lecturer in Pastoral Theology
God Bless, Julie McKenzieOffice ManagerNazarene Theological College
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