Power in the Spirit, 2020
Monday, July 6
Welcome!
While we cannot gather in person at Roanoke College, we will gather in spirit this week as we explore the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Here's what you can expect today through Friday:

  • This Morning Devotional, including writings, a recorded message, and an origami craft.
  • An Evening Workshop at 5:30 PM, led by a presenter from within the Virginia Synod. To see the complete schedule of workshops, click here.
  • An Online Vespers Service, beginning at 6:45 PM and led by congregations throughout our synod.

We're in for a good week together, so let's get started!

Pastor David Drebes
College Lutheran Church, Salem
Coordinator, Power in the Spirit
Considering Depictions of the Spirit: The Dove
Considering the Works of the Spirit: Peace
Each day, we'll consider the Holy Spirit from a different angle. We will look at how the Spirit is depicted in scripture. We will examine the different ways the Spirit works in our world. We will look for ways the Spirit meets us in daily life. Through poetry, readings, visual arts, and crafts, we will spend time with these images and themes as we prepare for each evening's gathering on Zoom. Today, we're considering how the Holy Spirit arrives as a dove who brings peace.
A Reading from Scripture: Mark 1:9-11
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
"Dove," Stained Glass by Gene Gomez
A Comment from Origen
Christ was baptized for our sake, in order to sanctify the waters. The Spirit descended in the form of a dove, since wherever there is reconciliation with God, there is a dove, as in the case of Noah’s ark … announcing God’s mercy to the world and at the same time making clear that what is spiritual should be meek and without wickedness, simple and without guile.

-Fragment 56 (in ACCS Commentary on Matthew, v. 1, p. 53)
A Poem by Edith Blake
Dove
© Edith Blake
 
D evoted to God’s word
O pen to hear His calling
V ision for the future
E nriched by His love
A Reflection by Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Sayers imagines a missionary explaining the Christian teaching of the Trinity to someone who has never heard of the Christian faith before. In response the local says to the missionary:

“Honourable Father, very good; Honourable Son, very good; but Honourable Bird I do not understand at all.”

Sayers goes on to reflect:

“Honourable Bird”, however, has certain advantages as a pictorial symbol, since, besides reminding us of those realities which it does symbolise, it also reminds us that the whole picture is a symbol and no more. There have been people so literal-minded as to suppose that God the Father really is an old man with a beard, but remarkably few adult persons can ever have believed that the Holy Ghost really was a dove. In what we may call the “standard” pictorial symbol of the Holy Trinity, the emphasis is rather upon the diversity than upon the identity; it depicts the Unity-in-Trinity. The Father, usually conceived as an aged priest, robed and crowned, holds upon His knees the figure of Christ crucified; between them hovers the Dove. The pictures of the First and the Third Persons are pure intellectual symbol—they represent nothing in time-space-matter; but the picture of the Second Person is living symbol: it represents an event in history.

- The Mind of the Maker (1941), pp. 98-99.
A Word from Bishop Bob Humphrey
Each morning we'll hear from a pastor in our Virginia Synod, who will speak about today's theme. Today, we give thanks for this message from the Rev. Bob Humphrey, Bishop of the Virginia Synod, ELCA. Click the video to hear from Bishop Humphrey.
Do you need closed captions? YouTube will generate them for you! Once you're on the video page, just look for the "cc" symbol and click it.
The Rev. Dr. Paul R. Hinlicky, Tise Professor of Lutheran Studies, Roanoke College & Docent, Evanjelicka Bohoslovecka Fakulta, Univerzita Komenskeho, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Tonight's Live Workshop on Zoom, 5:30 PM
Join us on Zoom at 5:30 PM tonight! Click this link or manually enter:

  • Meeting ID: 878 4206 3307
  • Password: 581963

Stay for worship at 6:45 PM!

Tonight's topic is “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.”

What did the ancient church mean when it affirmed the Holy Spirit as the one who proceeds from the Father and rests upon the Son, the Lord and giver of life? Why was this teaching so important to Martin Luther? Has the Holy Spirit disappeared in Lutheranism? What can this venerable doctrine mean for us today?
Arts & Crafts!
Each day we'll include a coloring page and an origami guide. In these times of limited travel and social interactions, you may find that the simple acts of coloring and folding paper will still your mind and bring you peace.
Click here for today's origami instructions, provided by OrigamiWay.com. Consider setting aside a space in your home for each day's creation. The gathering of icons will grow as our week proceeds.

For more information about the history of origami, click here to visit PBS.org.
Coloring is for all ages! And if you ever struggle with focusing during a prayer, you may find that busying your hands with crayons or colored pencils will help calm your thoughts. Click here for today's coloring page.
Power in the Spirit
A Ministry of the Virginia Synod, ELCA