hellfire and humility

Along with driving rain, we have quite an electrical display out there this early morning of the Day of Pentecost. Fire, deep thunder, and rain to wake us. We'd rather watch it from 7H, over StAndrewsBay and beyond coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, but, hopefully, all things in good Time and, as my Pentecostal preacher friend those years in Apalachicola used to say, "and Jesus tarries". Brother Bill was a good guy. Raised an Anglican in Canada, more than almost anything, he wanted to trade places with me. He continuously asked, and eventually I preached at his church one Sunday evening. 

It was the time, I've told this here any number of times, the time I learned that humility is meant to be quite personal. I had simply preached again the sermon I had preached that morning at Trinity Episcopal Church. After the service, as I stood at the door greeting people, a girl who was in my daughter Tassy's seventh or eighth grade class at school shook my hand and said, "Brother Weller, I love your preaching." My head swelling a bit, I said "Why thank you! What do you like about it?" To which she said, quite seriously, "It was short." She meant it sincerely and as a compliment, compared, I realized, to Brother Bill's preaching going on and on, into a wild dance of shouting and arm-waving, filled with threats of hell and promises of salvation into heaven for those who believed and didn't do certain sins.

Anyway, here's the Pentecost story from Luke's book of the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples 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.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 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.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "

Tom

lightning pic pinched online