The Presbyterian Church of Livingston!

Let the Holy Spirit Fill Us UP

On Sunday, May 23, we celebrated a joyous Day of Pentecost. This Sunday was marked by our Acts reading done in various languages, balloons for our children which illustrated God’s Spirit filling us up, and publicly receiving our confirmands as well as adults into membership. Truly, we experienced a glimpse of what it must have been like on that first Pentecost Sunday where the disciples, 120 of them, gathered together to wait. In our modern world the church is still called to wait in community for the Spirit’s guiding of our lives. Yes, the outpouring of the Spirit was on individuals as well as the community. God with us is the reality of the Spirit. God is still with us to bring peace, comfort, boldness, and newness to our lives and the world that we live.

As a church we need to hear again the newness that living beyond the Pentecost experience brings. God is still guiding and leading the church toward a bright new day dawning. For us at PCL, this is good news. We are in a new day with many possibilities that God will put into reality. As it is becoming increasing common, the church of today can’t be the church of yesterday. Many churches are facing the same issues that we face: decreased membership, financial concerns, and secularism. We grieve what was. However, the Lord has always kept the church going by challenging us to reach out in ways that are new and different. I remember the story in Luke where Jesus tells his disciples to put their fishing nets on the other side of the boat to catch the fish. Maybe we are hearing the same message today. Maybe God’s Spirit is leading our church into new ways of doing ministry? We have had to make some tough decisions lately, but, through it all God has been with us. The Spirit is continually leading us forward and not backward. May we boldly walk the talk which the third verse of the hymn, “Lead On, O King Eternal” says, “Lead On, O King Eternal; we follow, not with fears, for gladness breaks like morning where'er thy face appears. Thy cross is lifted o'er us, we journey in its light; the crown awaits the conquest; lead on, O God of might.” Amen for our church today.

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