C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATIONS
Fri, April 23 @ 5pm
C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATIONS
- Zoom link and password required.
RESOURCES to LEARN MORE:
- Via zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83028442916
- Video about the Holy Spirit from Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/holy-spirit/
- Podcast conversations about the Holy Spirit by Jon & Tim as they prepare to write the video about the Holy Spirit: https://bibleproject.com/podcast/series/holy-spirit-series/
FOCAL TEXTS:
John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.21 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
Hebrews 1: 1-3
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
SOME BACKGROUND TEXTS about BREATH of GOD
BREATH of GOD
Genesis 1: 1-2
1 When God began to create the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Genesis 2: 4, 7
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground[c] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Ezekiel 37:1-10 The Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath[a] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath[b] in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath:[c] Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath,[d] and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Job 12:9-11
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
Job 32:7-97
I said, ‘Let days speak
and many years teach wisdom.’
8 But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
the breath of the Almighty[a] that makes for understanding.
Ecclesiastes 11:5
Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.
Psalm 33: 6-9
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
he put the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him,
9 for he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Isaiah 40:28
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Isaiah 42:5
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:
Tue, Nov 10 Gratitude Reflection
Look at your hands. Open your palm. Examine your fingers and thumb. Consider what they accomplish for you.
If your hands have been harmed or slowed down by changes in wellbeing, appreciate what they once did, and give thanks for their current functionality. Appreciate how we switch gears, continue our passions, or choose new ones as our bodies alter functionality. Sometimes other hands do what our own cannot do.
Hands offer touch and connection. Translate the world for us. Write and communicate. Gesture and speak. Manipulate and mediate the outer world and the human experience.
Sometimes they tear down or build up. Release or hold. Crush or caress. Wreck or write.
Hands make. Shape. Create. Express.
Today, give thanks for hands. — Rev Gail
His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands.
—Genesis 39:3
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. — Job 12:10
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. — John 10:27-30
I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that, I still possess. — Corrie ten Boom
Lenten word of the day: Breath.
ABCs of Lenten word and reflection: breath. Scripture reference: Job 33:4 – The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Hiphop song by Fabolous called Breathe (I’ll post other genres, but this one is real and relevant).
More songs for Lent day two’s word Breath. More sacred text on this subject: Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. Faith Hill’s take on this theme.
And another post on Lenten day two’s theme of Breath: Job 32:8. But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding. And a song to go with it (paired only by theme, not by content particularly). British singer James Newman’s My Last Breath.