"Wildfire"

This evening I attended a worship service at this local church. They were celebrating Pentecost! It has been too long since I have been in a church that recognized the church calendar. I miss it. It was a contemporary service and so the music was lead by a band and a few lead singers. It was okay. The sermon was preached by the associate minister. He skillfully used a manuscript to proclaim the word of the Lord. It has also been a while since I've heard a sermon in that style. I miss it too. It was excellent.

The scripture was John 20:19-23. Jesus appears to his frightened disciples who had locked themselves in a room. Jesus came and stood in the midst and instead of railing on them for taking off during his trial and crucifixion, he offers them a greeting of peace. He says it twice, "Peace be with you." It must have been good news to their hurting hearts and confused spirits. Jesus then breathed on them, offering them the Holy Spirit. It was his amazing way of sending them out to do what he longs for all believers to do - love the world. Jesus instructs his followers of a specific way that they may show love. It is no coincidence that it is something that I have actually struggled with recently. According to Christ, "if you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." Forgiveness is a theme I think on often. In fact, it is ironic that the Sunday school lesson I taught three teenagers this morning at my church communicated the forgiving nature of God. We need to be forgiven by the Lord and so we confess our sins and receive the promise of cleansing. In turn, we ought to forgive others so that they may know the love and forgiveness of Christ. I appreciated the minister's emphasis that forgiveness is only possible by the power of the Spirit. It does not come naturally to any person, nor is it that easy even when you've got the Spirit.

There were other areas of life that the sermon called attention other than forgiveness, such as fighting fear, controlling anger, setting aside pride, serving others, and seeking justice. Believers have the power of the Holy Spirit to live unbelievably free from all kinds of destructive attitudes. If only we would! If only we lived by the Spirit on Monday that we worshipped by on Sunday, maybe then more of the world would see and know and believe! Maybe then the church would look a lot more like the church that Christ commissioned to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth.

And so, as we took communion tonight, I prayed. Praise the Lord for forgiveness and His Spirit which makes it possible to forgive self and others. May God's Spirit be evident in my life this week - as evident as rushing wind and a wild fire!