Thoughts for the Day

* Image of the Holy Spirit as a dove.

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Sometimes we use the expression that we were "Cut to the quick!" We usually mean it of something that has affected us emotionally, and it's often said as a joke. In our passage of scripture today, the people hear Peter telling them that the Messiah, Jesus, has been crucified, and we hear that they are emotionally 'cut to the heart'. We might say that they are distraught at the loss of the one who came to save them.

But Peter was to offer them hope. If they repent of their sins, and are baptised in the name of Jesus Christ then their sins will be forgiven, and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Many of us were baptised as a child, and possibly confirmed as a teenager, but this offer of hope comes to us afresh each day, when we repent our sin. In Johann Sebastian Bach's 'The Passion of St John', the tenor sings: "After the clouds of our sins have loosed their torrents of rain a beautiful rainbow appears. It is a sign of God's grace." God's grace, his love, comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit each time we commit to Him afresh.

Father-God,
we thank You for Your generous love.
When we turn from You
and disobey Your wishes,
You call us back again and again,
offering us repentance for sins
truly acknowledged,
through the power of Your Spirit.
May we never fail to thank You
for this act of love.
Amen.