Bishop Eric Menees
Happy Birthday to you all! I pray that your Pentecost
Celebrations were truly blessed. I was blessed to be able to preside at two
confirmation services – in Tehachapi and in Henderson. At Good Shepherd,
Henderson, I was delighted to confirm Fr. Howard and Dcn. Erin Giles’ eldest
daughter and Fr. Ian & Mary Burgess’ three eldest boys… it was a truly
family affair!
I was struck in the difference between the lessons from Acts
chapter two and John chapter twenty. So often, receiving the Holy Spirit is
thought to always be a dramatic event. After all, the book of Acts describes
the coming of the Holy Spirit this way: “When the day of Pentecost arrived,
they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a
sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they
were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested[a on
each one of them.” (Acts 2:1-3) But the Holy Spirit is more often received in
subtle ways – as soft as a breath.
We need to cast off the idea that everything about God the
Holy Spirit is grand and dramatic, though he certainly may come that way. Just
as often, scripture describes the Holy Spirit “descending like a dove” (Luke
3:22); like “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12); and “hovering over the face
of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)
The question isn’t if the Holy Spirit comes to us in a grand
or quiet way; the question is whether we receive Him when He comes. It is
imperative that we open our hearts and souls to the grace, power, and mercy of
the Holy Spirit so that we, in turn, can be instruments of God’s grace, power,
and mercy for others!
Thirty-nine Articles of Religion
XXXI. Of the Marriage of Priests.
Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not commanded by God's
Law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage:
therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at
their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to
godliness.
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