Spirit Talk

Today is a beautiful day with a gentle cool breeze. How refreshing! I joyfully opened the windows of our home today so that we can breathe deeply of the fresh air, listen to the birds sing, and pretend as though fall has already arrived. The sound and feel of a gentle breeze or a strong wind reminds me of the Spirit.


Our scriptures tell us that the Spirit of God has been moving in the world since the beginning of time and that same spirit continues to move in our world today. The Spirit seems to be a mystery to us, although we have an abundance of Spirit stories in our scripture and tradition. Jesus spoke often about the Spirit, breathing the Spirit upon his followers, giving them peace and comfort. How does the Spirit speak to you? What do you feel, see, smell, hear, and taste when the Spirit is present? Do you have questions about the Spirit? Would you like to learn more about the Spirit? Would you like to feel comfortable talking about your spiritual experiences with people you trust?

As with most things in life, we have no hard and fast, firm answers or rules about how the Spirit of God acts in the world and in our lives, but we can learn from one another, scripture, tradition, and experience. We can become a Spirit filled church by becoming Spirit filled people. Does this mean that we will radically change our worship style, begin speaking in tongues of fire, reject reason and dumb down our theology or intellect? Absolutely not! Scripture tells us that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Surely we could all use a little more of those things? Acts 2 paints a picture for us of a Spirit filled church. The Spirit filled church is a community of people who forgive one another. The Spirit filled church is a church where people are welcomed into the community with open arms, regardless of their status, class, race, or gender. According to Acts 2, the Spirit filled church is a community of people who spend much together. They break bread together, share their possessions, praise God, enjoy the goodwill of all the people, and they follow in the teachings of Jesus. A church that is Spirit filled is a church that is growing; growing in Spirit, theology, outreach, compassion and number.

This fall I will be offering a variety of experiences so we can grow in Spirit. You will have an opportunity to attend a workshop on Spirit, be part of group meditations, join a prayer group, study Spirit scriptures, hear personal stories, and ask questions pertaining to the Spirit. I hope you will choose to become involved in some of these activities, so your life and our ministry will be filled with the Spirit of Christ.

May we be open to the beauty, joy and mystery of the Spirit as we journey together in the days ahead.

Joy and peace of Christ,

Pastor Deb

Love Sweet Love

In February we find hearts, flowers, candy, cupid, valentines, and of course, Love, sweet love. Our scriptures have much to say about love. "Love one another." "Love your enemies." "God is love." "Love those who persecute you." "Love is patient and kind, it is not envious..."

Remember the song, "What the world needs now, is love sweet love?" Perhaps what the world needs now is for those of us who call ourselves Christians to seek the wisdom of Jesus, concerning love.? Most of us would prefer to stick with our romantic love and family love over Jesus' radical love. Jesus was the living expression of Divine love. His love brought healing and welcome to the outcast and the oppressed. Jesus' love was extended to those most of us would find difficult to love. His love forgave time and time again. Jesus loved God with his heart, soul, and mind by loving his neighbor as himself. Jesus loved God by loving his enemies.

How will we love God in the month of love? Do we dare to love God by loving those difficult to embrace? Can we love our neighbor (or the estranged family member) by forgiving and then forgiving again? Rev. Senior Pulliam says this about love. "There is nothing in nature like love. Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is a learned application without reason or motive except that it is God."

What the world needs now is for Christians to love like the one they claim to follow.