Midweek Devotion for 15 May 2024

Reading

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Devotion

JESUS MAFA. Pentecost, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48388 [retrieved May 13, 2024]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).

Created in Cameroon, this vibrant rendition of Pentecost dates from about 1973.  The MAFA project invited communities of the Mafahay peoples to gather together to interpret a Biblical passage.  They would then be photographed, and the resulting portrait was then crafted as a painting.  I love the way this method invites us to behold God communicating the inner meaning of the Gospel to people at their point of need in their own language and culture.

The figures portray joy, wonder, apprehension, nobility, and perhaps more.  I'm struck particularly by Mary, seated, in blue, with her hands spread out in a posture of prayerful reception.   As you ponder the movement of God's Spirit, which character catches your eye?  What about that person draws you in?  What is the Spirit's message to you this day?

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p 832).