QUOTES
-Christianity is a fancy way of saying, "You don't get it, it gets you" Wilimon
-The world is still tongue tied. Dr. Frank Hegedus
-Our worlds are more full of babble than Bible
-The H.S. not only the way God speaks to us but also the way that we are enabled to speak to God
- No one is a natural child of God--all are adopted. No birthright Christians
-"Inspired"....God breathed
-Spirituality is becoming conscious of a relationship with God. We are already in that relationship but are we conscious of it?
- "Mystical moxie"
-We are blind-sided to the Presence beside us and within us.
-Life is really only a spiritual foreign-exchange program.
- "A happening" An unplanned, unexpected, unorganized, yet vivid and exciting.
ILLUSTRATIONS
-Well they didn't really have camp meetings back in Jesus' day but they did have the festival of booths or tabernacles. At this festival the Israelites would camp out in booths or tabernacles. It was a way of commemorating the time when the children of Israel camped out in the desert. At the beginning of each day's festivities water was carried from the pool of Siloam and ritually poured out. This was done to commemorate the water that God gave from the rock in the desert. On the last day there was more fanfare and ceremony attached to the event. so the events surrounding Jesus' statement "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink" were like an old fashioned camp meeting. They may not have been singing "Give Me That Old Time Religion," but they were recalling the good old days when the children of Israel followed God manifest as a pillar of fire. I am sure they didn't Sing "Shall We Gather At The River," but they did recall the water that gave life to their ancestors in the desert. Rev. Alex Stevenson
- illustration: Orchestra playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony everyone working towards same end. No in fighting, To glory of God. No discord, one purpose, following the leader. Inspired.
- A scientist walked through the jungle and saw piles of wood as if someone was going to start a fire. He discovered that the apes, mimicking man, laid the pieces of wood down. The only trouble was the apes were missing the spark needed to finish the act.
- If you stand on six inches of rubber 5,000 volts will refuse to go through you. Spirit is like that will not work unless it can move through you. Same with Spirit
HUMOR
-(true but funny) Celtic Christians chose the wild goose as a symbol representing the Holy Spirit. A wild goose is one noisy, bothersome bird. I like
this image of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose because it jars us out of our complacency.
- Doctrines are nothing but the skin of truth set up and stuffed." H.Ward Beecher
- I’m a born-again atheist. Gore Vidal
CHILDREN
- Have children blow on a pinwheel and make it move. (invisible force). The pinwheel takes the power of the wind and turns it into electricity. Talk
about Pentecost and how the power of God's spirit is blowing through the church today. (choir, sermon, kitchen helpers, youth advisors,
teachers, etc.) Remind them that God's spirit is always "moving" and that any of us can be surprised by its power any day. Idea from Homiletics
- Have birthday cake for birthday of the church. Church will not be extinguished! (Use inextinguishable candles) that will not blow out.
- Read "Happy Birthday, Church!" by Ann Weems
- Holy Spirit Holes: Holes were punched in the ceiling /roofs of churches in the Middle Ages symbolizing openness to God. On Pentecost doves were released through the holes and bundles of rose petals were dropped from them onto the people gathered inside. Choirboys moved through the congregation making whooshing sounds to remind everyone of the rush of the Spirit.
- Use the color red in any ways you can imagine. Balloons, crepe paper, clothes, etc.
PRAYER PHRASES
- Blow upon us Holy Spirit. Help us to hear, amid all the conflicting voices that speak to us, the risen Christ. Help us to speak, amid all the difficulty of finding the right words, to the God who has so graciously in Christ spoken to us. Speak to us, that we might speak to you. Wilimon
-Come, Holy Spirit, come and make all things new. Receive these offerings of our lives and labor, and use them to spread the Good News of the abundant life in Jesus Christ throughout the earth, to the glory of your name. Amen.
- Breathe into our souls your life giving and life sustaining spirit. Fan the embers of our feeble faith into full flame that we might witness to your
love and grace....
-May God take our lips and speak through them; take our minds and think
through them; take our hearts and set them on fire.