Narrative Lectionary Program Year – Pentecost
Acts 2.1-4; Galatians 4.1-7 [5.16-26]
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Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Rev. Dr. Clint Schnekloth
Adoption is a crucial motif in Paul’s baptismal theology. Which is essentially also his pneumatology. Keep in mind that what many churches today call confirmation (by which they mean a series of classes you take to learn and affirm the faith) was in the early church, and still is for many Christians, not proof of having attained some developmental stage, but rather the conferral of the gifts of the Holy Spirit immediately after baptism.
Baptism names. Chrismation inspirits.
So we have here two texts that highlight the connection between these. Baptism names as heirs. Baptism adopts as children of God. But the Spirit inspires, fills hearts.
Or as we say in the baptismal liturgy: “Receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence. Amen.”
Now returning to the topic of adoption, if one is an heir, one has (or will receive) everything that the parent has and gives. No longer bound by lack and laws, one is set free through heirship. Full citizens, with all the rights and privileges hereto.
For Paul, this is a huge deal, the hugest deal, for it means those who have received the Spirit are in the Spirit the one who gives the Spirit. There is a sharing here that gives everything making the giver one with the gift and those receiving it.
We could/can make more of a deal of this in the baptismal rite. It is not simply that baptism saves (although it does that), bestows (although it does that), passes (although it is a rite of passage), or names. But because in and through the adoption accomplished in baptism we receive the Spirit, we are full of it.
Alive. Vitalized. Heirs of the kin-dom. Co-everything with Jesus the Son of God.
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The following links and resources are not produced or maintained by Clergy Stuff. However, at the time of this posting, the links were active and considered to be good source material for proclamation for the text for this week. Please scroll down or click on the quick jump menu you find below. For more free worship resources & planning materials, please visit our links for RCL Worship Resources.
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Exegetical Links
The Politics of Language, Amy Allen
Pentecost and Patterns of New Creation, Patrick Johnson
The First Multi-Media Blow-Up, Karyn Wiseman
Assembling in the Spirit, Debra Dean Murphy
Great Quotes
“Without Pentecost the Christ-event - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus - remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christs here and now.”
“Christians have no business thinking that the good life consists mainly in not doing bad things. We have no business thinking that to do evil in this world you have to be a Bengal tiger, when, in fact, it is enough to be a tame tabby—a nice person but not a good one. In short, Pentecost makes it clear that nothing is so fatal to Christianity as indifference.”
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Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
ACTS TEXT
Reader: Narrator
Narrator: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
GALATIANS TEXT
Reader: Narrator, Spirit
Narrator: My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,
Spirit: “Abba! Father!”
Narrator: So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
[Narrator: Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.]