The Good side of this week.

Pentecost is a very special occasion, but this time I preached the worst sermon ever. It wasn't a sermon. It was a Systematic Theology 3 lecture.

As I was preparing a sermon earlier during the week, I wondered how people would respond to some good and solid teaching on Sunday. We don't have the opportunity to raise the questions that everyone asks, but which they are too scared(?) to utter.

So, this morning we took a journey from the Old Testament concept of Ruach to the New Testament's Pneuma, from a temporary filling of the Spirit in the Old Testament to the outpouring of the Spirit on all people. From Prevenient Grace to Augustine's "bond of love between the Father and the Son", Glossolalia, Xenoglossia. We had a ball. The response... phenomenal!!!!!
(All in 30 mins.)

At the end of the "sermon" we had some time for guided meditation on "being introduced to the one who has always been there". Not one person left the sanctuary without commenting on a new dimension of the Spirit which they had never recognized before. Praise the Lord!

Today was one of those days where I actually felt that the work that had gone into preparing for Sunday was not time wasted.

This week, two other positive events materialized. I have been invited to present a paper at a Barth-Conference held in Pretoria during August. This is a joint conference between Kampen and UNISA. And then, I was offered a junior research assistant post at the Institute for Theology and Religion at UNISA. A lot of prayer will have to go into this one. Please pray with us and for us.