It took a year to read the Bible, then almost 9 months to read the Apocrypha. Now, I'm going to try to offer reflections on the Narrative Lectionary. But, I won't be posting daily--at least, for a while.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Receiving the Holy Spirit, a reflection on Acts 8:14-17

Those Samaritans hadn't received the Holy Spirit. Then they had. Fred Craddock in Preaching through the Christian Year C points out that the conferral of the Spirit occurs in response to prayer:
Here the Holy Spirit is not something God bestows automatically or even something the believer receives as a free bonus. Instead, it come in response to earnest, fervent prayer...
I balked at this so was somewhat pleased when he went on to point out:
....To be sure, in Acts this is not a consistent pattern, for at other times the Holy Spirit descends in the act of preaching (10:44; 11:15; cf. 19:6).
I believe that the Holy Spirit occurs in response to prayer and to preaching, but can't I believe that it is not restricted to those? Can the Holy Spirit come to me and prompt me to prayer?

Lectio Divina: Acts 8:17; Psalm 29:11

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