May 20, 2025

Not as the World Gives

Benjamin J. Dueholm | Read Acts of the Apostles 16:9-15

(Image by: Pixabay)

Lectionary Week

May 19–25, 2025

Scripture Overview

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is preparing his friends for his departure by promising them the Holy Spirit, who will guide them through the inevitability of loss and confusion. In Acts, we hear a story of this Spirit at work in the concrete choices faced by the early missionaries. The Spirit also grants John, the author of Revelation, a vision of a city that has been restored and redeemed by God’s grace. In these passages, the Spirit is both a source of hope beyond our own perception and an aid to our own necessary decisions. Like the psalm’s appeal for God’s countenance to shine on us, the Spirit leads us into seeking and yearning for more.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read John 14:23-29. What more do we need to hope for? What gifts do we need that the world cannot give?
• Read Acts 16:9-15. What choices do you invite the Spirit to help you make? When has the Spirit shown up uninvited to your decision-making?
• Read Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5. Where do you see God at work redeeming or transforming your own community? Where are gates open, and where are they closed?
• Read Psalm 67. What do we hope for and work for on behalf of those we don’t know or love? What should we hope and work for?

Respond by posting a prayer.

Perhaps you’ve had this experience: In a dilemma, the right choice presents itself because the other options have become impossible. Before Paul’s night vision of the Macedonian pleading for help, the disciples have been barred by the Spirit from proclaiming in the south and traveling to the north, so they...

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Gracious Holy Spirit, lead me and guide me where the path is uncertain and the future unclear. Help me to trust in your calling and rejoice in the people I meet through it. Amen.

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