"I remember so well the time when Alpha started in the Catholic Church. Bishop Ambrose of Newcastle and Hexham heard what was happening with Alpha in some of the Anglican churches. He became interested and wanted to find out more. However, he did not want to let us know he was interested. So, he sent two Roman Catholic priests to a London Alpha Conference in disguise! They went back to their parishes and started running the course, to great success.
As a result of that, Cardinal Hume invited us to hold a conference for Catholics at Westminster Cathedral. The place was packed out with 450 Catholic priests and laity. A few people were very critical of us doing a conference for Catholics. One or two churches even threatened to stop running Alpha if we went ahead with the conference. With hindsight it seems quite extraordinary that anybody could object, but at the time it was of some concern.
On the first night of the conference there was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and singing in tongues like we had never heard before. I went home that night and read the passage for today, ‘If God gave them the same gift as he gave us ... who was I to think that I could oppose God?’ (Acts 11:17). It was the same Holy Spirit who was poured out on them as on us. I realised that if we did not continue to work together I would be opposing God.
The most foolish thing that any human being can do is oppose God. Jesus was opposed. ‘They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen’ (Acts 10:39–40). Contrastingly, the most wonderful privilege any human being can have is to be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth whom ‘God anointed … with the Holy Spirit and power’ (Acts 10:38).
In our passages for today we find further insights into who the Holy Spirit is, what the Spirit’s ‘power’ and ‘anointing’ is like, and why it is foolish to oppose God.
Psalm 74:10-17
The power of God
When you are facing opposition it is good to remember the power of God. The psalmist is faced by enemies who are reviling God’s name (v.10). He recalls the power of God, first in his own life (v.12), and then over all of creation (vv.13–17).
These verses draw on the rich mythology of the ancient Near East. Creation was seen as a victory of the gods over the forces of chaos and destruction, often represented by the raging sea, and ‘the monster’ also called ‘Leviathan’ (as in vv,13–14). The sun and moon were worshipped as gods. Yet, in this psalm the writer sweeps aside those myths and declares that it was God who created and established the world, bringing order out of nothing and ‘establishing the sun and moon’ (v.16).
There is always a temptation to make ‘other things’ more important than our relationship with God. Devotion to ‘other gods’ was one of the key temptations and weaknesses of God’s people in the Old Testament. The words of the psalmist were meant to remind people who God was and why it would be foolish to oppose God by going after other gods.
Lord, thank you that you are the one true God who brings salvation upon the earth. Help me to resist the temptation to make anything else more important than you in my life."
1. Thank You for salvation!
2. Thank You for having the time to review for an exam.
3. Thank You for safe arrival of a friend.
