Heard and Seen

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John Berryman (1914–1972)

11 Addresses to the Lord (4)

If I say Thy name, art Thou there? It may be so.
Thou art not absent-minded, as I am.
I am so much so I had to give up driving.
You attend, I feel, to the matters of men.

Across the ages certain blessings swarm,
horrors accumulate, the best men fail:
Socrates, Lincoln, Christ mysterious.
Who can search Thee out?

except Isaiah & Paul, who saw,
I dare not ask that vision, though a piece of it
at last in crisis was vouchsafed me.
I altered then for good, to become yours.

Caretaker! take care, for we run in straits.
Daily, by night, we walk naked to storm,
some threat of wholesale loss, to ruinous fear.
Gift us with long cloaks & adrenaline.

Who haunt the avenues of Angkor Wat
recalling all that prayer, that glory dispersed,
haunt me at the corner of Fifth & Hennepin.
Shield & fresh fountain! Manifester! Even mine.

From John Berryman; Collected Poems 1937–1971, edited and introduced by Charles Thornbury (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux).

THE BIBLE can change the way we live:

through sickness and health

through joy and sadness

through challenges and triumphs.

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Encounters – taking steps of faith.

Ask a question
Give a little
Pray for a friend
Light a light
Throw away a stone

Look at the Cross
Listen into Jesus’ parable
Get with creation
Visit a church
Follow a prayer recipe

Read a gospel
Don’t worry
Make a ‘why God’ list
Join a local church course
Pray for an enemy

Give to homeless
Give up something that matters
Repent
Forgive someone
Begin a new life with God.

THE MESSAGE OF PENTECOST.

The teaching and experience of the Holy Spirit is central for the believer who follows the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew and Greek words Ruach and Pneuma, respectively, mean breath, sprit and wind.

Psalm 51/7 and Isaiah 63/10-11 are the only passages in the Old Testament having the world Holy Spirit. If the word ‘wind’ and related passages are taken up, there are many more references.

The word wind is used as a force to part the sea in the O.T. It is both a destructive force, as found in Hosea 13/15 and as power of God in I Kings 18/45 to bring rain. The word ‘overshadowed’ in Matt.17/15 (on the mount) and Exodus 40/35 (relating to the tabernacle) teach us deeper understanding of the Spirit of God.

For a fuller study of the subject, Paul’s teaching in Romans 8th chapter, I Cor.2/12-14, II Cor. Chapter three and Galatians chapter five are possible passages for meditation.

It is an interesting study to note that the Holy Spirit is mentioned in twenty of the twenty eight chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Chapter 12 which deals with persecution and the death of Herod, Chapter 14, which accounts the visit of Paul to Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and the return to Syrian Antioch, Chapter 17, where the visit to Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens, are recorded, and Chapter 18 that records his visit to Corinth, return to Syrian Antioch and many other places do not have the word Holy Spirit. So also the chapters from 22 to 27 that account primarily the speech of Paul after his arrest and the journey to Rome do not have the world Holy Spirit. Perhaps these ten chapters contain more of the activities of people who were against the activities of the Spirit of God. A closer study will reveal deeper truths.

Saint John’s teaching in his writings teaches us the following message:

a)      The Spirit possesses Christ (Jn.1/32-33).
b)      It is indicative of the New Birth (Jn.3/1-16).
c)      Will come upon Jesus’ departure (Jn.16/7-11).
d)      Will endow the believer after resurrection (Jn.20/22).
e)      Christian community is anointed by the Spirit (I Jn.2/20).
f)        The Spirit assures the believer of the indwelling presence of Jesus (I Jn.3/24).

a) Are we filled with the Spirit of God?
b) Are there any indications in our lives of New Birth?
c) With whose presence do we begin and end the day?
d) Are you endowed with the power from on high? If not, why?
e) What are your thoughts and experiences about anointing?
f) Have you got the assurance of a permanent indwelling presence of Jesus for eternity?

Rev.M.Gunabalan.

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