Holy Spirit Gives Us an Instructed Tongue (Proper 24)

In the Season of Pentecost, we are learning about the work of the Holy Spirit as the continuing presence of Jesus in the world. Last Sunday the Readings were about having our spiritual eyes and ears opened. This Sunday we are learning about the danger of an uninstructed tongue and the power of spoken words.

1 1. Holy Spirit enables Peter to understand who Jesus is. 

Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom (Proper 20b)

 This quote from Psalm 111.10 could be a summary of the whole Old Testament. Whenever the rulers and people submitted to the will of God things went well and whenever they failed to submit to the will of God things went very badly. Fear has more than one interpretation. Some churches have sadly used fear of eternal punishment to frighten and control people. A better interpretation is fear in the sense of fearing the loss of:

• Our love relationship with God 
• Covenant of forgiveness, Holy Spirit and eternal life. 
• Holy Spirit giving us a life of wisdom 

1. Holy Spirit Gives Us a Life of Wisdom