Daily Worship

The Spirit at Work

Fergus Buchanan May 31, 2015 0 0

Acts 2:1-13

A Sound Like a Strong Wind

2 1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
    Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
    Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!

“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”

13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”

I couldn’t feel my feet on the ground. 

I was here but not here.

I knew what I was saying

But the words were not mine.

I stood back

And watched the Spirit at work.

 

Their eyes fastened on me.

Their bodies leaning towards me.

Their souls touching mine.

But the words were not mine.

I stood back and watched the Spirit at work.

 

It has happened since.

Not always like then.

But that deep assurance

When the words are not mine.

When I stand back

And watch the Spirit at work.