The advent of the Spirit is actually reversing the curse of Babel. The Spirit of God brings diverse peoples together as one family and one “kin-group.” The Spirit forges the Church as a new humanity which is reunited as a downpayment and sign of God’s eschatological purposes to bring all peoples to unity before God.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as described in Acts chapter 2, was an epochal and unrepeatable event in salvation history. This was not simply the first time the disciples received the Holy Spirit (remember, Jesus breathes on them in John 20 shortly after his resurrection). Neither was Pentecost simply [...]
In my last post, I quoted a line from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet who lived between the years of 1844 and 1889. The poem is so magnificent, I felt compelled to reproduce “God’s Grandeur” in its entirety. If some of the lines seem a little dense, try this commentary for [...]
Gracious Lord, whose generous hand is open to every living thing: send forth your Spirit according to your promise, that, in the overflow of your liberality, all creatures would find new life, and the earth itself experience rebirth, through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the [...]
In the last post I developed the idea of flesh/spirit, particularly from the angle of eschatology. To understanding the Spirit biblically, it must be considered in light of eschatology because the Spirit is the life and power of the age to come. The Spirit is not simply a force or power, but a person who [...]
The Biblical discussion of the concepts of “flesh” and “spirit” are highly problematic for several reasons. “Flesh” is one of the grand enemies of the Christian, along with the “world” (another problematic term) and the “devil” (yet another problematic term…). Hence the Christian must “war against the flesh.” As long as this remains theoretical, no [...]
From the Liturgy of the Church of England:
The Lord be with you
(All) and also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
(All) We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
(All) It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you [...]
Today is the First Sunday after Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord. Today we commemorate with joy and thanksgiving the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. As I am gathering that you may have never even heard of such a holiday or may not have thought of celebrating the [...]
Previously, we discussed how the Scripture describes the very nature of the Spirit as fellowship or relationship. Not only does fellowship constitute the essential nature of the Holy Spirit, but Scripture seems to indicate that the Holy Spirit himself is indeed love itself. This concept finds its seed and foundation in the fourth chapter of [...]
Last time I began discussing the need to understand spirituality, the present activity of the Spirit in our lives, through a Biblical understanding of the person of the Holy Spirit as revealed in his primary roles in history. Through looking at the history of the Holy Spirit we hope to learn about the person of [...]
