Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

In yesterday’s blog, I juxtaposed two sets of scriptures that in their essence talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit in different ways. In the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is promised by Jesus to come and lead the disciples into all truth, and who will serve as the presence of the Divine within their midst and within their individual lives. But as we read further in John, this doesn’t happen at Pentecost, as it does in the story in Acts. In John, it happens after the resurrection of Jesus. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the...

Last Sunday in church, I preached about the Ascension of Christ. That story is found in Acts 1:1-11.  In that sermon I stated that the Ascension of Christ was the upbeat to the downbeat of Pentecost. This coming Sunday is a celebration of that downbeat, which remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus: 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.  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are ...