Thus began the amazing partnership between the Godhead and the newly birthed Church under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the grace and intercession of Christ and by the will of the Father. A time of vision, a time of dreams, a time of adding to the Kingdom daily.
Our lives and ministry are on that continuum and we have every right to
expect the Spirit of God to lead and inspire us even as He did in those
first natal hours of the church of Acts. He is still the vision caster,
the dream giver that the Kingdom may continue to come on our watch.
Listen to what Matthew L. Skinner, a professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary has to say about the importance of this day:
"Sunday's Pentecost observances are more than a celebration of the past. They are not merely an end to Easter or a chance to launch summer programming. They are not opportunities for stoking nostalgia about the church's supposed glory days.
Pentecost is an invitation to dream. For when a community of faith quits dreaming dreams, it has little to offer either its members or the wider world.
Like any good dream, these dreams involve adopting a new perspective on what's possible, rousing our creativity to free us from conventional expectations. They help us see that maybe what we thought was outlandish actually lies within reach. Maybe I can find freedom from what binds me. Maybe there can be justice. Maybe I can make a difference..."
I have just returned from spending a week in the presence of my fellow Mission laborers from around the country and sharing their dreams and visions for inspired ways to address the social ills that beset us. Many have dreams it will take entire communities of faith in partnership with a miracle working God to pull off. Many have small dreams but they dream in technicolor and the fruit of those dreams realized will change the emotional landscape of cities.
We are a church birthed by fire and the scripture assures us that the darker our surroundings the brighter that light becomes- so I am dreaming and letting the Holy Spirit be inspiration for me. Christ has all the answers and some of them may be as unexpected in 2014 as they were in Acts.
May His fire fall fresh upon us. May we welcome it.
Blessing to you all,
JohnLaMantia
Listen to what Matthew L. Skinner, a professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary has to say about the importance of this day:
"Sunday's Pentecost observances are more than a celebration of the past. They are not merely an end to Easter or a chance to launch summer programming. They are not opportunities for stoking nostalgia about the church's supposed glory days.
Pentecost is an invitation to dream. For when a community of faith quits dreaming dreams, it has little to offer either its members or the wider world.
Like any good dream, these dreams involve adopting a new perspective on what's possible, rousing our creativity to free us from conventional expectations. They help us see that maybe what we thought was outlandish actually lies within reach. Maybe I can find freedom from what binds me. Maybe there can be justice. Maybe I can make a difference..."
I have just returned from spending a week in the presence of my fellow Mission laborers from around the country and sharing their dreams and visions for inspired ways to address the social ills that beset us. Many have dreams it will take entire communities of faith in partnership with a miracle working God to pull off. Many have small dreams but they dream in technicolor and the fruit of those dreams realized will change the emotional landscape of cities.
We are a church birthed by fire and the scripture assures us that the darker our surroundings the brighter that light becomes- so I am dreaming and letting the Holy Spirit be inspiration for me. Christ has all the answers and some of them may be as unexpected in 2014 as they were in Acts.
May His fire fall fresh upon us. May we welcome it.
Blessing to you all,
JohnLaMantia
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