Pentecost - Week One
Liberation Lectionary
Purpose in Pride
Dazed, by Lina Iris Viktor
“And God who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Them, who are called according to Their purpose.” Romans 8.27-28
Pentecost is often called the birthday of the church. It is a remembrance of the day when the Holy Spirit came to God’s people, and gave them the unified purpose of founding the church. But we celebrate Pentecost as a season, at least four weeks, just like Advent, or as long as six weeks - just like Lent. We do this because everyone who believes in the Trinity should learn about the Holy Ghost. Living with the Holy Spirit is what helps us to live with each other. Learning godly love through the Holy Spirit is the reason that we love and care for each other.
God has given us a Guide to find the purpose of our lives, the Holy Spirit. When we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, we think about the way that God has given us life. When we celebrate Pentecost, we think about God’s purpose for our life. The Holy Spirit was sent to set us free from assuming that our purpose has to be popular or lucrative. We also do not need to look the same, or live the same way. We can all be united in God’s purpose without holding one type of vocation. Jesus showed us how much he loved how different we are by living among many different kinds of people. The Holy Spirit shows us that God loves our differences by living within us.
Breath Prayers for Purpose
Inhale: Shape my identity, O God // Exhale Slowly: According to your purpose
Inhale: Protect my life, dear Jesus // Exhale: According to your purpose
Inhale: Guide my way, Holy Spirit // Exhale: According to your purpose
~ Learn more about liberated purpose in our Pentecost Devotional, Liberated Pride
Daily Readings - The Story of Pentecost
Sunday: 2nd Corinthians 3.17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Monday: Acts 1.1-5 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Tuesday: Acts 1.6-9 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Wednesday: Acts 1.10-14 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Thursday: Acts 2.1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
A Heaven, a Hell, a Drem Deferred by Lina Iris Viktor
Friday: Acts 2.5-12 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Saturday: Acts 2.13-17 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”. Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your children, sons and daughters, will prophesy ; your young people will see visions, your old people will dream dreams.”
June is Black Music Month!
As we celebrate Pride and Pentecost, we are also uplifting different genres of Black music.
“Holy Ghost Power” by Chicago Mass Choir is a classic choral gospel song in a subgenre of Black gospel music that many people call “traditional” gospel. Early rock and roll and the blues came from this genre. Little Richard, BB King, Ray Charles and others are part of the legacy of traditional gospel that moved outside the church. Shirley Ceasar, Albertina Walker, and Dorothy Norwood are examples of vocalists in this genre as well. Watch the Chicago Mass Choir performance of “Holy Ghost Power” here.
Download the Devotional
Check out LIBERATED PRIDE : A Pentecost Devotional - celebrating this season with learning and prayer practices designed for groups of all ages.