Note: We welcome a new regular contributor to our First Light Devotions today. Rev. Peter Horn is associate pastor at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Bloomsburg and serves on the camp board. He also is a camp pastor in the summer and served on camp staff at Camp Nawakwa, near Gettysburg, PA, during his college years.
Prayer: Lord, you have called us to be your people, your church. Keep us watchful of the ways that you work in our world. Amen. Reading: Acts 10:44-48 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: In our baptismal service in worship, the pastor pours water on the infant, child, or adult’s head first. Then the laying on of hands occurs where there is a prayer for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon the one being baptized. But that’s not what occurs in our Acts reading. Peter is talking and the Holy Spirit comes first! How can God act without the water being present first? Simple answer: Faith comes in God’s time. This is a tough idea. Throughout all of scripture, God does amazing things. Here in Acts, God continues to do amazing things like opening up God’s family to everyone who believes. Our struggle today is that, whether in belief, tradition, or practice, we have forgotten that God can do amazing things! The God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Moses, of Elijah, the God of Peter and of Paul, and the God of the ELCA, of the Upper Susquehanna Synod, and of Camp Mount Luther can do amazing things! What is God doing in your life, in your church, in our world? What are you doing to receive God and to watch for God in others? How will you react or respond when the Holy Spirit comes to enliven you? –Peter Horn, Board Member & Camp Pastor
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