I'm Praying for Pentecost!

I am praying for Pentecost! It is not so much about people speaking “in a strange tongue” as it is about believers getting power to be faithful. The church does not need power to identify with the rich and privileged. One gets a subsidiary power from such an identification that makes the church at least a valuable adjunct of the values of the principalities and powers. One does not really need power (dunamis) unless one is standing in tension with the world as it is. If the church were to put the poor first, would we once again receive Pentecostal power?

Maybe we do not desire such power or the consequences of Jesus’ liberation mandate. Yet, I cannot help hoping that such power would come and we would experience the power of the inbreaking, radical reign of God. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

—Keith Russell, “Pentecost: The Power of Liberation.” The LIVING PULPIT, April-June 2004, page 13.

Quotable Archive

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• Others Have Value In God's Eyes •
• The Trinity •
• PRAYING FOR PENTECOST •
• The Season of Pentecost •
• A PRAYER TO THE CREATOR •
• A PRAYER FOR OUR EARTH •
• ON TURNING •
• Prayer for Peace •
• Pentecost •
• Second Synod of Orange •
• 7 Social Sins •
• The Homily •
• Resurrection •
• Sin Is Something that Changes... •
• AND THEN... •
• The Winter Journey of Advent •
• A Prayer For the World •
• Come Home •
• A New Psalm •
• A blessing for Preachers •
• Christmas In A Prison Cell •
• Compare Reading the Scriptures With Eating the Eucharist... •
• DOMINICAN PREACHER •
• Eastering •
• For Me To Preach... •
• Formulas •
• I Am Disciple •
• Indeed Any Sermon... •
• Christ needs apostles •
• Jesus, Light of the World, Come •
• Lament For A Son •
• Lenten Penance •
• Litany of Non-Violence •
• Lovelight •
• Making the House Ready for the Lord •
• Money Order Angels •
• Ongoing Listening •
• On Jordan's Bank •
• Peace Prayer •
• Preacher •
• Preaching At Weddings •
• Preaching Is Dangerous •
• Preaching Has As Its Primary Purpose... •
• Seeds of Contemplation •
• The Homily Is Not... •
• The Difference Between Dead and Living Sermons •
• The Dominican Family •
• The Natural World •
• I'm Praying for Pentecost! •