Confirmation of the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:14-17
That the lectionary selection stops at verse seventeen kills me. Verses eighteen to twenty-four talk about the role of money and wealth in gaining the the powers of the Holy Spirit, specifically the assumption of the rich that they can buy such blessing without any true conversion. But perhaps my blood boils too easily, too quickly, at such verses, and the limits of this week's lectionary can focus me and minister to my resistant heart.
Two things jump out at me. First, that the Samaritans were converted before Peter and John got there - indicating that some first-contact missionary was sent or had arrived among them, and that Peter and John arrived to confirm the conversion and status of the new adherents to their Jewish Jesus-movement. Second, that this must be the origin of the Christian rite of Confirmation. First comes Baptism, and then comes Confirmation of the Holy Spirit.
That these early Christians (although they weren't called that yet at the point when this story takes place) still needed education and to be brought further along in their faith, even after baptism, is a good sign to us who would claim the fullness of the gospel descending all at once. Humans are stubborn creatures, and our wills and understandings and beliefs may change quickly sometimes, but even then there are hold-outs, carry-overs, the residue of our former minds and hearts. It is easy to change the clothes we wear, but more difficult to change what those clothes are put over. Peter and John arrive to help in that process.
Also, the prayer the apostles give involves laying on of hands. Growing the Holy Spirit in someone requires physical contact. We are intellectual beings, and emotional beings, but we are also embodied beings. The prayer Peter and John give reflects all these realities. And it reminds us that we must reach out physically, as well as metaphorically, to those whom we would help gain the Spirit.
That the lectionary selection stops at verse seventeen kills me. Verses eighteen to twenty-four talk about the role of money and wealth in gaining the the powers of the Holy Spirit, specifically the assumption of the rich that they can buy such blessing without any true conversion. But perhaps my blood boils too easily, too quickly, at such verses, and the limits of this week's lectionary can focus me and minister to my resistant heart.
Two things jump out at me. First, that the Samaritans were converted before Peter and John got there - indicating that some first-contact missionary was sent or had arrived among them, and that Peter and John arrived to confirm the conversion and status of the new adherents to their Jewish Jesus-movement. Second, that this must be the origin of the Christian rite of Confirmation. First comes Baptism, and then comes Confirmation of the Holy Spirit.
That these early Christians (although they weren't called that yet at the point when this story takes place) still needed education and to be brought further along in their faith, even after baptism, is a good sign to us who would claim the fullness of the gospel descending all at once. Humans are stubborn creatures, and our wills and understandings and beliefs may change quickly sometimes, but even then there are hold-outs, carry-overs, the residue of our former minds and hearts. It is easy to change the clothes we wear, but more difficult to change what those clothes are put over. Peter and John arrive to help in that process.
Also, the prayer the apostles give involves laying on of hands. Growing the Holy Spirit in someone requires physical contact. We are intellectual beings, and emotional beings, but we are also embodied beings. The prayer Peter and John give reflects all these realities. And it reminds us that we must reach out physically, as well as metaphorically, to those whom we would help gain the Spirit.
Labels: Acts
posted by Christian at 8:57 AM
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