Word for Today

Dear friends, Pentecost Sunday is coming up!

Acts 2:12-13

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"  ¹³But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

Psalm 104:30

³⁰You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;

and so you renew the face of the earth.

From Romans 8:26

the Spirit helps us in our weakness

We are a bunch of people put together by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has met individuals and has given them a common bond, which is Jesus, the crucified and risen one. Now, together, these individuals are made into something else, the Body of Christ. Sometimes Christians look a little tipsy (as the onlookers said in Acts 2), likely because Christians are seeking to put their faith into practice, and Christians are so joyful that they have the Holy Spirit. May that joy be yours as well. Claim it! Because the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Here is the logo for the Presbyterian Church USA. What images can you find? Let me know! I can find at least 8 distinct images related to our faith.

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

Word for Today

Acts 8:26

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) 

From First John 4

The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

 

Dear friends in Christ, this Sunday we honor our high school graduates! What a wonderful and life-changing transition for them. May god bless you every step. 

A prayer by John O'Donohue:

BELONGING 

May you listen to your longing to be free. 

May the frames of your belonging be generous enough for your dreams. 

May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart. 

May you find a harmony between your soul and your life. 

May the sanctuary of your soul never become haunted. 

May you know the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time. 

May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within. 

May you never place walls between the light and yourself. 

May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.

(O'Donohue, John (2008-03-04). To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (p. 44). Harmony. Kindle Edition.)

Here is a picture of my sister and me. I might be 8 or 9 years old. There have been one or two transitions for each of us since then! As the scripture above hints, it is good to recognize the road is often "a wilderness road", and that if we love God then we must love brothers and sisters. Biological and otherwise. What I think is wonderful, is that such love is something that brings us to a new freedom. Freedom that allows our "frames of belonging" to be "generous enough for our dreams."

The resurrected Christ is now thoroughly present in our comings and our goings.

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church