Deborah Van Deusen Hunsinger | Read John 20:19-31
The disciples rejoice at having Jesus alive among them. When
he appears among them, he shows them his hands and his
feet, offers them peace, and sends them to proclaim the good
news of his resurrection. Then he breathes on them, giving them
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
With...
Gracious God, we pray for the gift of your inexpressible peace that enables us to forgive even those who have wronged us and to love all those you have given us to love. Amen.
Psalm 16 and Acts 2 fit together, since the latter quotes the former. Both celebrate God’s presence in human life and the powerful expression of that presence. In his Pentecost sermon Peter sees a messianic application of the psalm to the resurrection of Jesus. First Peter affirms that resurrection creates community, stressing the faith and love of Christians that arise without the experience of physical contact with Jesus. For later generations, belief and commitment are born out of the witness of others.
• Read Acts 2:14a, 22-32. When has a life experience made you, like Peter, feel that your faith was a sham? How did you move past that experience into renewed hope?
• Read Psalm 16. When have you perceived God as refuge? How has your faith in God steadied your life? What is your “goodly heritage”?
• Read 1 Peter 1:3-9. What act of power and grace on God’s part allows you to reconfigure or reinterpret your life story?
• Read John 20:19-31. When have you employed the power to release others from their sin? to leave them in their sin?
Respond by posting a prayer.