These verses remind us that the beauty surrounding us does not occur through coincidence.
I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got – wherever good people gather, and in the congregation. God’s works are so great, worth a lifetime of study – endless enjoyment! Splendor and beauty mark God’s craft; God’s generosity never gives out. God’s miracles are God’s memorial – this God of Grace, this God of Love.
These words remind us that God’s miracles are gifts from a loving creator.
God gave food to those who love the LORD, God remembered to keep God’s ancient promise. God proved to the people that God could do what God said. God manufactures truth and justice; all God’s products are guaranteed to last – never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof. All that God makes and does is honest and true.
These verses remind us that God’s authority and works are authentic and sustaining, and last forever.
God is so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.
These verses remind us that God’s love is intimate and transforming, bringing with it the healing of our woes, the blessings for a lifetime.
The good life begins in the love of God – do that and you’ll know the blessing of God. God’s Hallelujah lasts forever!
These words remind us that we might join in with God’s great Hallelujah.
The ten Hallelujah Psalms are numbers 106, 111-113, 135, and 146-150. When we spend time with these songs and compare differing translations, we find renewal in the Spirit of Pentecost.
If we want to have more context around Peter’s first sermon, we will want to begin our Noontime reading at verse 1 of Chapter 2, Acts. With the opening words of this story, the miracle of Pentecost opens before us like the beginning scene of a film. A rushing, violent wind. Startled disciples speaking languages they cannot comprehend. We might at first doubt the truth of this scene but then while some bystanders marvel, others proclaim, “They are filled with new wine”.
We register our own viewpoint as we take this story in. Are these disciples of Jesus actually filled by the Spirit, or are we watching drunken men stagger into the street? We wonder how we would have viewed this scene had we been present so today we take the opportunity to reflect on Peter’s words and courage. And we imagine that we are truly there.
Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.
We hear Peter’s crisp words describe the story of Jesus’ life, passion, and death. We hear the miracle of resurrection and the coming of the Messiah as predicted by David. How does the crowd respond?
Luke describes their response simply: They were cut to the heart . . . Those who welcomed Peter’s message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
As we reflect on this story, we also consider our own reaction to Peter’s first sermon, and we ask ourselves: Do we remain faithful to The Way that Christ teaches us? How do we witness to this story of hope and love? And do we raise our own voices with Peter so that a world waiting for salvation might hear this good news?
Tomorrow, Peter’s second sermon following Pentecost.
The verses cited above are from THE NRSV. To compare these words with those in other translations, use the scripture link and the drop-down menus to witness Peter’s courage as he raises his voice to deliver his message of a Living Hope.
In this book which describes the birth of a community, we see how the followers of Christ dissent and argue, come together and unify. They are much like members of any community we might see today. In this reading, church members gather in an effort to both communicate and to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We witness the concern for what some believe to be a lack of controland what to others appears as micro-management.We can find ourselves at the office lunch table or coffee pot, at a family or neighborhood gathering to say the same things about our own society. Who has control over what and why? Where do we leave room for the Holy Spirit to speak? Are we falling back on old rules, customs, habits and traditions? Are we seeking change because we are bored or because it is needed? Today’s reading can give us a good deal to ponder.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Tower of Babel
In many churches, authority comes not only from the bishops and the hierarchy, but also from the people in the pews; yet sometimes the little voice is overridden by the bigger, more powerful one. In a family, each generation’s voice must be heard if the large unit is to flourish and give life; yet sometimes the children, the tired and those who are marginalized are ignored. God’s diversity not only allows for a variety of voices; it requiresan array of choice. We have only to look to the story of the Tower of Babel to see why. (Genesis 11) Humankind survives the great flood yet still has the impression that they are in charge, and so God sends an assortment of languages upon them, causing them to separate and diversify.
Those of us who teach the acquisition of language know that we teach far more than verbs and nouns; we teach a way of thinking and various modes of expression. We teach a way to step out of ourselves and into the shoes of another. In God’s plan, this rainbow of sound and form is brought back from its prism of variety at the feast of the Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles who go out to tell the story of Christ. The amazing part of the story is that people from differing lands understand what the apostles say. The people were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language?” (Acts 2:7-8) This variety of people hears because the Holy Spirit speaks . . . and it is the presence of the Holy Spirit we must seek when we feel ourselves to be in a circumstance where control or passive aggression are being unjustly exercised – either by others or ourselves.
We might, when we find ourselves in these restricted places, intone the words of Psalm 133.
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
We are a week away from Pentecost Sunday and so we take time to review our Eastertide Noontimesto consider God’s wisdom in each of us as we look for the answer to these questions: What does Jesus have in mind for us this Eastertide? How does Jesus expect us to bring compassion to the world? And, where will we find the wisdom, courage and strength to do so?
A foundational theme in Jesus’ work and words is the importance of inclusion. We see him interact with women, tax collectors, Pharisees and lost souls. He walks among the clean and unclean alike; he ministers to the deaf and blind as well as the comfortable and well-off. Today and tomorrow we reflect on where and when we might step into the mission God extends to us. Do we move out and away from the community in which we are planted or do we remain and look for new windows of opportunity to enact our commission? As we prepare for our newest assignment in this important work, we do well to remember Jesus’ words.
Go to the lost sheep . . .
Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons . . .
Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give . . .
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it and stay there . . .
As you enter a house, wish it peace . . .
If the house is worthy l let your peace come upon it . . .
If not, let your peace return to you . . .
Use the scripture link above to search other versions of these verses . . . and allow God to reveal to you the commission he has in mind for your work. Enter the word Pentecostinto the blog search bar and explore.
Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.
In several weeks we will witness again Christ’s passion and death. Let us prepare the temple of our hearts with God’s written Word. Today we choose a chapter and book in the Bible that we have never explored before. As we read, we allow the Spirit to open our ears to God’s words.
My messenger is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. My messenger will sit refining and purifying.
In several weeks we will experience again the Easter miracle. Let us prepare our hearts and minds with the refining fire of Christ’s presence, the Living Word. Today we compose a prayer of thanksgiving to the Living God for all that heals and sustains us each day. As we write, we allow the Spirit to open our hearts to God’s living presence.
Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.
In several weeks we will experience again the phenomenon of Pentecost. Let us prepare ourselves to receive the Spirit in this special way. Today we spend time with someone who is suffering to allow the refining fire of God’s love to transform all mourning into joy.
For more on Malachi’s imagery of a smelter’s fire of a fuller’s lye, enter the word refiner into the blog search bar and explore.
“By a barrage of questions, by challenges both serious and ironic, by paradox heaped upon paradox, even by insults hurled at his opponents, [Paul] strives to awaken in his hearers a true sense of values and an appropriate response.” (Senior 275). Sometimes in community we need to do the same. We need to challenge, and we also need to use uncomfortable means to save souls. Yet we do this from a stance of weakness, as Paul says, and not from a position which overpowers. We call, we do not force. Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. . . For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong.
Paul and the Jesus community of Corinth struggled within a long, faithful, combative covenant, the one never giving up on the other. Scholars believe that this letter may be a cobbling together of several smaller letters and for that reason may seem disjointed; but it is evident that the people in the community of Corinth kept these missives and read them aloud at their gatherings, even though there are passages that are critical of the Corinthians themselves. These people are a solid example of those who are willing to remain in relationship with one another through trial, beyond criticism, straining toward unity and the formation of community. Paul says in these verses that his own amazing strength comes from his weakness, and that he relies on this mystery of strength through weakness as it was taught by the risen Jesus. And it is Jesus who continues to teach this lesson to us each day.
We have been celebrating Eastertide and we have examined the gifts we receive through discipleship. We move toward the Pentecost event when the Spirit comes to live in intimacy with us. As we witness the mystery of Christ’s passion and resurrection, and our own redemption and restoration, it is good to look at the closing words of this letter. We recognize some of them as the prayer we hear at Mass just before the kiss of peace.
Rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
And may the peace of Christ be with each of you. Amen.
In this time of pandemic, we welcome the Holy Spirit into our midst as we gather in families who shelter in place. In this time of pandemic, we remember that when we follow The Way Christ shows us, every day is Pentecost.
Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes an upright person because he is upright will have the reward of an upright person. If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then in all truth I tell you, he will most certainly not go without his reward.
We think of prophets as people who hear God’s word easily and who are dedicated to speaking God’s word no matter how it threatens their lives or livelihood. We see prophets as living in ancient times to lead God’s faithful through troubling times. If this is our thinking we miss Matthew’s message to us today . . . for prophets dwell and work and play among us today, sharing God’s word with us, urging us to stay close to God. Yet how many prophets speak to us each day and we ignore them? How many of us are prophets and fear speaking out the words God asks us to speak?
We think of upright people as those who have a strong moral compass, as those ethical, decent few who remain in God’s Way despite all the temptations and lures that might draw them away from following God closely. We see upright people as that small percentage of somber and serious faithful who eschew fun because it threatens their serenity. If this is our thinking we miss Matthew’s message to us today . . . for the upright live and labor and enjoy human company as much as the divine. Yet how many upright people do we avoid as too pious or too starry-eyed? How many of us avoid showing our uprightness and fear sharing our thoughts about God because we do not want to be perceived as odd or strangely different?
We think of disciples as people who follow God so closely that they rely on God for every decision they make despite the tug of social, political or religious influences. We see disciples as those marked with a special sign or those given special courage or graced with exceptional perseverance. We somehow believe that they are scarce in any given group of people and that they were born with unique perception and power. If this is our thinking we miss Matthew’s message to us today . . . for disciples walk and talk and co-mingle with us each day all day. How many of us avoid God’s disciples because they seem a bit off and are not influenced by sports figures, by politicians or church leaders? How many of us are clearly disciples but are leery of identifying ourselves as one who follows Christ?
Today Matthew tells us that the miracle of Pentecost is timeless, that its power is endless, and that its space is unlimited. Today Matthew invites us to be those upright, prophetic disciples whom Christ has called. Today Matthew urges us to be our best selves. Today Matthew calls us to be one with Christ . . . to be divine. And so we pray . . .
Dear God: We hear your voice and yet for some reason we falter; give us the courage and strength to look nowhere but at you.
Dear Jesus: We know your command to put our feet in your footsteps and yet somehow we stumble; give us the fortitude and fidelity to never give up to any threat and never give in to any voice that calls us away from you.
Dear Spirit: We gather ourselves to step forward in acceptance of your gift of discipleship. In this Eastertide, as we rejoice in your in-dwelling, remind us of the holy privilege we share with your upright prophets and disciples as we follow Christ, and shelter in your presence.
Bless and keep us always as we celebrate with you and all your holy ones. Amen.
During the shelter-in-place practiced in much of the world during the Covid 19 pandemic, we know that domestic abuse, and abuse against women in particular, will rise sharply. Let us remember that although we “turn the other cheek” to offense, we never promote the idea that anyone remain with an abuser. Wherever we are, whenever we find violence in the home, we look for help for ourselves or others. A helpful resource and hotline in the U.S. can be found at https://www.thehotline.org/help/
Imagine the consternation that would stir in hard hearts if instead of subjugating women we celebrated them as this canticle does: The Lord Almighty thwarted them, by the hand of a female!
Imagine the change that might take place in the world if we allowed our love of God to shine from our eyes and go forth from our mouths: Judith, the daughter of Merari, by the beauty of her face brought him down.
Imagine the world as a place where we helped those who have few or no resources rather than took advantage of the vulnerable: When my lowly ones shouted, and my weak ones cried out the enemy was terrified, screamed and took to flight.
Imagine the impact our lives might make on the world if this could be sung about each of us when we have died: During the lifetime of Judith and for a long time after her death, no one ever again spread terror among the Israelites.
The Canticle of Judith holds dreadful, vengeful, Old Testament imagery that celebrates retaliation against our enemies. It also reveals the coming of the New Testament when Christ tells us that a new Way has come to dwell in us. We are to turn the other cheek and pray for those who brutalize others; we are to heal the wounded with soft words and gentle gestures; we must take risks with Christ and trust in the guidance of the Spirit; and we are called to witness to the coming of this newness. We are called to be one of the powerless, one of the vulnerable, one of the abused disciples of this New Way. And we are called to witness and celebrate God’s gift of discipleship to us.
Judith 16 is a famous canticle of praise for the woman who dares to do God’s will against all advice, against all odds. Her tools are not power and influence that she has gleaned for herself; rather, they are her beauty and her fidelity to God, both gifts from her creator.
Let us pause today to thank God for all we are given. Let us sing a canticle of praise, and let us imagine how the world would be if we all believed that we can do the impossible by following God’s voice . . . just as Judith does. And let us imagine the impact our lives might make on the world if this could be sung about each of us:During her lifetime, and for a long time after her death, no one ever again spread terror among the Israelites.
Tomorrow . . . a prayer in celebration . . . Pentecost . . .
![file[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/file1.jpg?w=433&h=142)
The Noontimes 
