Thursday, June 19, 2014
This week, I’m gathering with Presbyterians from across the country for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Whatever your faith-community or denomination, I invite you to join with me and with others in morning prayer each day this week, engaging the Pentecost text from Acts 2:1-21. Over the course of this week, I invite you to read and engage the full text of that Scripture in your life and in your prayer.
For these next three mornings, let us pray with aspects of verses 17 and 18 of Acts 2: “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your daughters and sons will prophesy; your youth will see visions; your elders will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both women and men, I will pour out my Spirit and they will prophesy.”
In verses 17 and 18, we encounter the emphatic ALL of Pentecost. They all were gathered in one room. All of them were filled with Holy Spirit. All began to speak. All heard and understood in their own language. I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Daughters and sons. Youth and elders. Women and men. All of them. Everyone.
Here are some questions for your prayer this morning:
- Where are you experiencing the expansive “all” of God’s love?
- Where are you experiencing the expansive “all” of the outpouring of God’s Spirit?
- How can you be more present in your listening?
Holy God, pour out your Spirit on all people. May all your children find freedom to speak; may all your people seek earnestly to listen and to understand. May we experience your love and your Spirit in the experience of listening and of seeking to understand and of being understood. Amen.
FULL text of the Pentecost Scripture (NRSV):
NRS Acts 2:1-21 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 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. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 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. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Scott Clark is the Chaplain and Associate Dean of Student Life at San Francisco Theological Seminary, a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and of the ecumenical Graduate Theological Union. Additionally, Scott’s ministry includes advocacy for the full inclusion of all people within the life of the church. A former attorney, he has represented Presbyterian ministers who have been brought up on disciplinary charges by the church for celebrating the marriages of same-gender couples, and he currently serves on the board of More Light Presbyterians.
This week, Scott is participating in the national General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which will be considering a number of faith issues, including the marriage of same-gender couples. Scott is participating in the Assembly as an “Overture Advocate” (one of the advocates sent from regional presbyteries on a particular issue). With others, he is advocating for an amendment to the Presbyterian constitution that would affirm marriage equality for all people, including same-gender couples and their families. Scott also is participating in the General Assembly as part of the team representing San Francisco Theological Seminary, hoping to open and energize discussion about innovation in ministry and in theological education.
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