Saturday Reflection – 28 August 2021

Saturday Reflection – 28 August 2021

“The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” Acts 2:39

It was the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on God’s people all gathered together in one accord in the upper room. And as they spoke in other tongues, and others mocked them, as if there were in fact drunk. There the Apostle Peter corrected their delusion and declares what is popularly known and recorded in Acts 2 verses 16-17 “No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘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.”

Further in his message, the Apostle Peter preaches Christ, the one who was crucified, as the one in whom alone, the people can be saved. We are then told that the people were cut to the heart, and asked what is it that they could do to be saved. Being told by Peter that they should repent and be baptized, there Peter declares “The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (verses 39-40) And that they heard the message of salvation, was that day saved, and added to the church.

When we reflect on the Day of Pentecost, we can never forget the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church, and their speaking in other tongues. Further Peter’s message to the people cannot be forgotten and their response in accepting the message and being baptized, and scripture tells us that about three thousand people were added that day. Just a few weeks ago, we reflected on our own Moravian experience of Pentecost, and in that light, reflected on the promise of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who pours into our lives, the love that is unmatched by the world, the peace that passes all understanding and the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

The promise, my brothers and sisters, is offered by our Lord Jesus Christ is his invitation to all of us, to come to Him, who is the Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life, the Way, Truth and Life, the Door, the Gate, the Light of the World and the Resurrection and the Life. When we accept the salvific message, and experience God’s grace, then we will find in Him our all-in-all. Christ offers to us new life, and promises to us, that in Him, we will experience abundant life in the here and now, and eternal life in the next. That in Him, we experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, living on the inside and working on the outside, bringing about the change in our lives. And being so filled and led, we experience the love, peace, and joy that the Holy Spirit offers. We find in Him our all-in-all.

This promise is to all who would come to Him, no matter the state that we come in, as it is written “…where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.” (Romans 5:20) In a world, where sin, sorrow, sickness, darkness, depression and despondency abound, as Christians, we can rejoice in the fulfilment of God’s promise in our own lives, as God fulfils His perfect will, and we can impart the message of hope and promise to the world, that they too may come and experience the promise. As a church, we remember this promise, in the gift of the Holy Spirit as having birth the church, and continues to propel us to fulfil the mandate of Christ. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are strangers to this promise, and our work is in vain. With the Holy Spirit, the teacher of truth, our guide and defence, then we given all that we need, to be all that God intends us to be. This promise is open to the Body of Christ, to community of committed believers, to believe, to engage and trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, only then will we be complete.

Until next week, may we recommit our lives, and our mission to Christ, that we may experience afresh the love, peace and joy that comes with being a sheep of Jesus. Then let us shine the light and love of God, in an otherwise dark and lonely world, that others may hear and experience the promises of God. Amen.

Dominic J. Blair