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Illustration
Object:
Acts 2:1-21
In one of the great scenes in George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan, Joan of Arc, the peasant maid of Orleans, is telling the obtuse King Charles about the Heavenly Voices she has heard. All she gets for her efforts is a scoff from the monarch, who refuses to believe in her mystic source of understanding. "Oh, your voices, your voices! Why don't the voices come to me? I am king, not you," rants Charles.
"They do come to you," replies Joan, "but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field listening for them. When the angelus rings, you cross yourself and have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart and listened to the thrilling bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I."
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1).
Richard H.
Acts 2:1-21
It is almost impossible to get an accurate count of how many Christians there are in the world today, but several estimates put the number at around 2.2 billion, making it the largest religion in the world. We now have people who are dedicated followers of Jesus from all parts of the globe -- from China to Kenya to Peru to New Zealand to Iceland. To think: it all started in one room with a dozen disciples and an amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit. We even get a glimpse into how widespread this movement would be when we see the list of all the areas represented in the crowd (vv. 9-10).
Craig K.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
William Prusoff applied to Yale. The university thought so little of Prusoff's qualifications that the institution returned his application, and in a gesture of sympathy his application fee as well. Prusoff then applied and was accepted at Columbia. Shortly after graduation, Prusoff was hired as a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine. In that position he developed the first treatment for AIDS. It presently brings into the university more money than all other developed prescription medicine combined. It is also the least expensive drug for AIDS, so it is most readily available to Third World countries. Prusoff always kept framed in his office the original rejection letter from Yale.
Paul wrote, "Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." Let us be sure that we always recognize and acknowledge the gifts, abilities, and talents of others.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Scientists use a tool called a key, sometimes a "dichotomous key," to categorize and identify different varieties of things. There are keys for identifying trees, keys for identifying insects, keys for identifying birds. Whether online or in book form, the keys are essentially a system of "Twenty Questions." For example, if we wanted to identify a tree from one of these keys, perhaps the first question would be "Is the tree deciduous or coniferous (broad leaves or needles)?" If the tree fit the first category, the key might instruct us to turn to a specific page to answer more questions. The next question we might answer could say, "Are there many leaves on a stem, or only one?" Our answer to this question would lead us to another specific question. In this way, the key narrows down the possibilities based on the characteristics of the tree we are looking at. After we have identified enough key points of the tree, the key will tell us what the tree is. It's amazing how many different kinds of trees there are! All of them are important to our ecosystem and all of them make our world green and beautiful, but each species of tree has something special and different that sets it off from the others and makes it individually important.
Leah T.
John 20:19-23
Fingerprints have long been used as a means of identification. One of the first recorded uses of fingerprints in this manner was in the 1850s, when Sir William James Herschel, a British magistrate in India, had a local businessman place an inked handprint on a document as a means of verifying his signature. Since then fingerprinting has become increasingly common, and the technology used for fingerprinting has also advanced with the times, with the old ink and paper style giving way to computer fingerprint scanning. I even have a computer rendering of my fingerprint on my Permanent Resident Card. Despite these changes, the underlying principle of matching an individual to their fingerprint has not changed.
When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection, he had a new "fingerprint" of his own, one that would identify him throughout history: "He showed them his hands and his side" (v. 20).
Craig K.
John 20:19-23
When the risen Christ appeared to his disciples in the evening of the first day of the week, he said, "... as the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21).
Each one was sent on an exciting adventure, often ending in martyrdom. James, the brother of John (both sons of Zebedee), was the first of the twelve to be put to death by Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great (Acts 2:12).
Peter, the avowed leader of the disciples, was sent far away from Jerusalem to the imperial city of Rome where he was killed by the Roman authorities for his bold witness. Tradition says Thomas, often called "doubting Thomas," did mission work in Parthia, Persia, and eventually in distant India where he was martyred.
These are just three examples of Jesus' disciples who heard his challenge: "... so I send you."
Richard H.
In one of the great scenes in George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan, Joan of Arc, the peasant maid of Orleans, is telling the obtuse King Charles about the Heavenly Voices she has heard. All she gets for her efforts is a scoff from the monarch, who refuses to believe in her mystic source of understanding. "Oh, your voices, your voices! Why don't the voices come to me? I am king, not you," rants Charles.
"They do come to you," replies Joan, "but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field listening for them. When the angelus rings, you cross yourself and have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart and listened to the thrilling bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I."
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1).
Richard H.
Acts 2:1-21
It is almost impossible to get an accurate count of how many Christians there are in the world today, but several estimates put the number at around 2.2 billion, making it the largest religion in the world. We now have people who are dedicated followers of Jesus from all parts of the globe -- from China to Kenya to Peru to New Zealand to Iceland. To think: it all started in one room with a dozen disciples and an amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit. We even get a glimpse into how widespread this movement would be when we see the list of all the areas represented in the crowd (vv. 9-10).
Craig K.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
William Prusoff applied to Yale. The university thought so little of Prusoff's qualifications that the institution returned his application, and in a gesture of sympathy his application fee as well. Prusoff then applied and was accepted at Columbia. Shortly after graduation, Prusoff was hired as a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine. In that position he developed the first treatment for AIDS. It presently brings into the university more money than all other developed prescription medicine combined. It is also the least expensive drug for AIDS, so it is most readily available to Third World countries. Prusoff always kept framed in his office the original rejection letter from Yale.
Paul wrote, "Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." Let us be sure that we always recognize and acknowledge the gifts, abilities, and talents of others.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Scientists use a tool called a key, sometimes a "dichotomous key," to categorize and identify different varieties of things. There are keys for identifying trees, keys for identifying insects, keys for identifying birds. Whether online or in book form, the keys are essentially a system of "Twenty Questions." For example, if we wanted to identify a tree from one of these keys, perhaps the first question would be "Is the tree deciduous or coniferous (broad leaves or needles)?" If the tree fit the first category, the key might instruct us to turn to a specific page to answer more questions. The next question we might answer could say, "Are there many leaves on a stem, or only one?" Our answer to this question would lead us to another specific question. In this way, the key narrows down the possibilities based on the characteristics of the tree we are looking at. After we have identified enough key points of the tree, the key will tell us what the tree is. It's amazing how many different kinds of trees there are! All of them are important to our ecosystem and all of them make our world green and beautiful, but each species of tree has something special and different that sets it off from the others and makes it individually important.
Leah T.
John 20:19-23
Fingerprints have long been used as a means of identification. One of the first recorded uses of fingerprints in this manner was in the 1850s, when Sir William James Herschel, a British magistrate in India, had a local businessman place an inked handprint on a document as a means of verifying his signature. Since then fingerprinting has become increasingly common, and the technology used for fingerprinting has also advanced with the times, with the old ink and paper style giving way to computer fingerprint scanning. I even have a computer rendering of my fingerprint on my Permanent Resident Card. Despite these changes, the underlying principle of matching an individual to their fingerprint has not changed.
When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection, he had a new "fingerprint" of his own, one that would identify him throughout history: "He showed them his hands and his side" (v. 20).
Craig K.
John 20:19-23
When the risen Christ appeared to his disciples in the evening of the first day of the week, he said, "... as the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21).
Each one was sent on an exciting adventure, often ending in martyrdom. James, the brother of John (both sons of Zebedee), was the first of the twelve to be put to death by Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great (Acts 2:12).
Peter, the avowed leader of the disciples, was sent far away from Jerusalem to the imperial city of Rome where he was killed by the Roman authorities for his bold witness. Tradition says Thomas, often called "doubting Thomas," did mission work in Parthia, Persia, and eventually in distant India where he was martyred.
These are just three examples of Jesus' disciples who heard his challenge: "... so I send you."
Richard H.
