Week 3: Spirit This week we contemplate the work of the Spirit. The Spirit of God, or God as Spirit, is key to understanding Black Spirituality. God is spirit, and life, and movement, and shows up in every aspect of Black spiritual traditions. Prayer for the Week Great Spirit of God, you remain unquenched, and we dare not attempt to domesticate or limit you. Disrupt our false ideas and idolatries. Remake and renew us in your work of recreation. Amen. The mighty Spirit Week 3: Monday Reading Acts 1.6-11 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.' Reflection Spirituality, or the presence and power of the spiritual world is emphasised in Black religious traditions, and other, mainly non-Western traditions. Black culture operates on the idea that the spiritual is intertwined with the physical and is inherently powerful. This is true within the Biblical tradition. As Jesus ascends at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, he promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, not in a contained and inconspicuous way, but with power. The disciples would be empowered to be witnesses to Jesus and to become people they never imagined they would be. This is the same Spirit of God in operation at the beginning of Creation in Genesis 1, who hovers over the waters, bringing order out of chaos, bring life into being. The Spirit of God is mighty! Watch Look out for ways in which the Holy Spirit might be moving in the world today. ...and pray for a deepening sense of the Holy Spirit in your everyday life. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
Last Saturday was the first of our Team Women’s Ministry Events. We went on a walk together, setting off from Edenfield Parish Church, and then returned for hot drinks and croissants. All of our four team churches were represented and it was lovely for us all to get to know one another. It was a little damp initially but the sun came out. Watch this space for our next event in June, an afternoon tea! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/retmwomensministry?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZWwC0SSWrfZpVjO6eolyFmABcmaR3eA7S5ln53PBh_Au5odypmW40TKSXuzEOlp9_lRbsJhG7YiWxpYl_tc_oGtYD3PwR5Djx80yyhe3eIoJupABcj36a4hwtaJjvnrGhJsI8A9IbOeKG2ccXLdSmxDaRyjZQiFuXxzFJjDi0Ts35-gsEyguMx0nnNaznbqMa8&__tn__=*NK-R">#RETMwomensministry</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/fellowship?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZWwC0SSWrfZpVjO6eolyFmABcmaR3eA7S5ln53PBh_Au5odypmW40TKSXuzEOlp9_lRbsJhG7YiWxpYl_tc_oGtYD3PwR5Djx80yyhe3eIoJupABcj36a4hwtaJjvnrGhJsI8A9IbOeKG2ccXLdSmxDaRyjZQiFuXxzFJjDi0Ts35-gsEyguMx0nnNaznbqMa8&__tn__=*NK-R">#fellowship</a>
The God who moves Week 2: Weekend Reading Genesis 50.15-21 Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?’ So they approached Joseph, saying, ‘Your father gave this instruction before he died, “Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.” Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.’ Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, ‘We are here as your slaves.’ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.’ In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them. Reflection We come to the end of the Book of Genesis. We also come to the conclusion of Joseph’s story. What began in family trauma and betrayal, now ends in the most spectacular display of forgiveness and love between Joseph and his brothers. Joseph who was once a slave, then a prisoner, is now the most powerful person in Egypt apart from the Pharaoh. There is a wider consideration. His forefather Abram once moved to Egypt because of famine. He is now the preserver of his kinsfolk who are in the midst of another famine. An even wider lens reveals that all along, God had been moving through their generations to bring about peacefulness and flourishing, despite the hardships, conflicts, and trauma. God is the God who moves – ahead of, alongside and behind his people. Watch Remind yourself of moments of clarity and forgiveness in your life. ...and pray for wisdom to discern God's larger purpose for your life. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
Joseph: endurance - Week 2: Friday Reading Genesis 37.12-18 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ So he said to him, ‘Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.’ So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, ‘What are you seeking?’ ‘I am seeking my brothers,’ he said; ‘tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.’ The man said, ‘They have gone away, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’ So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’ But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’ Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Reflection The Joseph narratives of Genesis are compelling and profoundly relatable to people who have been oppressed and must wrestle with the deepest of trials and betrayals. Joseph is sold into servitude by his brothers, out of jealousy. The family drama – from his grandfather Isaac through his father Jacob – finds its way into his own life. Joseph endures being betrayed and sold into slavery by his brothers, sexually harassed, falsely accused, imprisoned, ignored, and forgotten. In the midst of violence, trauma, and misfortune, he clings to God’s gifts and presence in his life. Joseph’s faith and his coming to terms with his traumatic past ultimately brings him to a place of exaltation. The one despised becomes the hope for the very ones who betrayed him. Joseph is a powerful symbol for the faith of Black people, who have similarly endured oppression yet remained rooted in God. Watch Reflect on any episodes in your own life that have involved trauma and adversity. ...and pray for peace and healing over all these moments of your life. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
