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Pentecost 1999 Newsletter |
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C is for
Conversation
Pentecost took old language (Parthian, Medean, Elamite and so on) and made it say new things ("the mighty works of God.") A similar wonder takes place in the pages which follow. -
R is for Relapse
SCK: What struck me in your conversation with our Australian Crossers is how much their struggle to be Christian nowadays resembles our struggle in this country. And the more you unpacked the Hebrews text, the more our struggle today -- Australians' and Americans' -- resembles that of the New Testament "Hebrews," also in sheer seriousness. -
O is for
Obedience
MCH: Some obedience! That word too, like the word "discipline," sounds harsh nowadays. But then along comes Christ with a whole new kind of obedience. Whatever illegitimacy we may have, the promise we get to enjoy comes in the form of a suffering servant, Jesus the Christ, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." -
SS is for
Somebody, Somehow
Remember how Robert Frost defined home: "that place where, when you get there they have to take you in." But if that's true, the kind of homecoming we find in The Christian Story looks like just the opposite, like homelessness. -
I-N-G-S is for
"It's New God-Speak."
"It's new God-speak." With this simple, four-word explanation Peter could have replied to the Pentecost crowd who "were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean'?"
