Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S2-E24 | Everyday Eurasia |  Dr. Steve Wright

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S2-E24 | Everyday Eurasia |  Dr. Steve Wright · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  This week on the podcast, we're welcoming Doctor Steve Wright.
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  In 2015 he moved from Australia and joins the faculty at Nasrin
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  Theological College in Manchester to teach theology.
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  Originally from the Wesleyan Methodist Church tradition, he
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  teaches and supervises across a wide range of subjects.
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  He will take us on a journey through time, exploring the rich
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  themes and deeper reflections of the Christian literatical
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  calendar. Romans 822 to 27 We know that
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  the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until
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  now. And not only the creation, but
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  we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan
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  inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
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  bodies. For in hope we were saved.
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  Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is
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  seen? But if we hope for what we do
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  not see, we wait for it with patience.
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  Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know
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  how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with
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  size too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart,
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  knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
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  intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God.
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  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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  Today I'd like to talk about the season of Pentecost.
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  Well, specifically the day of Pentecost.
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  This is the day recorded in Acts 2, when the Spirit is poured out
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  upon the gathered disciples and they are empowered to proclaim
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  the gospel. And through the miraculous work
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  of the Spirit, those who are hearing this proclamation hear
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  it in their own language. Communication is enabled.
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  The gospel is both enabled to be spoken and heard.
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  This day is usually regarded as the birth of the church, this
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  uniting of the community through the power of the Spirit.
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  The sending of the Spirit is not the sending of a Spirit that was
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  not there before, though the Spirit was already there.
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  Pentecost commemorates a particular work of the Spirit
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  within the community of the faithful, and precisely the work
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  of the Spirit that enables the proclamation of the gospel.
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  So one of the reasons for commemorating Pentecost is to
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  remember the identity of the church, and we see a clue to
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  this identity in Romans 8. There's a temptation sometimes I
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  think, to be a bit triumphalistic about the church,
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  to think of the church as being capable of fixing all of the
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  world's problems and to think of the Spirit as a kind of resource
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  that the church possesses in order to fulfil this mission.
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  But that doesn't seem to be the way that Scripture speaks of the
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  Spirit and the church. Paul in Romans 8 speaks of us as
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  weak and incomplete, speaks as speaks of us as not even really
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  knowing how to pray. This is where the Spirit
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  alights. In Paul's reading, the Spirit
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  enters into the gaps in our lives, locates precisely the
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  places where we come up short, where we don't know what to say,
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  where we don't know what to do, and that's where the Spirit
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  works. So the Spirit's not a resource
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  that's given to a competent church, but the Spirit is the
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  one who acts despite the limitations of the church.
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  What's the church's task here? Well, in Romans 8, the church is
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  that community that groans with creation.
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  So the church is identified with the world, not against the
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  world. The the church isn't here
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  redeeming the world. The church groans with creation
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  awaiting the revelation of their adoption as the children of God.
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  So whatever the Spirit is doing here, the Spirit is not simply a
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  power that the church possesses. This is an important reminder
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  for the church. That's one of the reasons why
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  the celebration of Pentecost is so important, to rescue us from
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  these temptations of triumphalistic narratives and of
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  stories of power and self preservation.
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  The church is that community of identification with the world in
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  its limitation as we look for the arrival of the Spirit.
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  The other reason why the celebration of Pentecost is
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  important is because it tells us what Christian preaching is to
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  be. Sometimes when Christians
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  proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, it can sound a little
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  bit like bad news. The gospel is supposed to be the
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  proclamation of the resurrection of Christ, and this is precisely
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  what we see in Acts 2 when the disciples stand before the
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  gathered crowds and say, Jesus, whom you crucified, God has
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  raised from the dead. There's no threats of hell or
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  judgement or damnation here. There's no bad news.
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  There are no conditions built into this.
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  No one says God is really angry with you.
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  But if you make this one right decision, then you might be able
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  to get out of it. Instead, the proclamation is
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  entirely positive. It is simply focused on Christ,
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  not on us. So this is an important lesson
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  for the church. It helps us again understand our
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  task and our identity. Worship is the church oriented
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  towards God. Preaching is the proclamation of
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  Jesus Christ. Paul, as we know, claimed to
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  know nothing but Christ in his crucifixion.
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  The orientation of worship is away from the self and towards
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  God. So Pentecost is the day where we
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  as the church remember that we as a community are not unlimited
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  but limited. We're not the ones who know how
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  to pray rightly. We're the ones that the Spirit
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  steps in to pray on behalf of. We're not the ones who stand
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  apart from creation, fixing it up, but we're the ones who can
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  stand in solidarity with creation, waiting for the
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  revelation of the children of God.
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  Let's pray, Holy God, we don't always know what to say and we
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  don't always know what to do. We thank you that you meet us as
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  we are, not requiring us to become different, not requiring
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  us to learn another language in order to hear the gospel.
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  But the transformation that you bring to us comes as we awaken
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  to the message of the resurrection of Christ, this
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  good news, this promising word spoken into our lives and our
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  situation. We pray that we would be a
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  people who can own our limitations and look to you for
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  a completeness that we cannot bring for ourselves.
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  Amen. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia podcast Inspiring Fate for everyday.
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  information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
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