Changing Scripts
Scripture Reading — Acts 2:36-41
“The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Everyone lives by a script—even people who try to avoid one. Some scripts are announced and obvious: “I’m going to get married and have 2.3 kids and live in the suburbs.” Or “I’m going to make as much money as I possibly can by the time I’m 40.” Some scripts are inherited: a woman’s parents are medical doctors, so are her grandparents and siblings. Guess what profession she chooses? Other scripts seem determined by birth or circumstances. A child is born in Mumbai, India, to a family that must sort through trash to find food, without any real hope of change. Or a child is born with fetal alcohol syndrome and can’t concentrate enough to do math problems or write a paragraph, let alone fill out a job application.
Some of us spend a lifetime determined to make choice after choice, clawing and dragging our way to a new script. Others spend too much time repeating familiar words: “I will not be like my parents; I will not be like my parents!” And in so doing they live a script influenced mainly by their parents!
In today’s verses a large group of Jewish people were following their prescribed liturgical script, celebrating Pentecost. But then the Holy Spirit came. And as Peter preached, thousands asked, “What shall we do?” In effect, he said, “Change your script, and pass it along to your children too.”
Father, so much of life seems scripted for us. We often feel trapped. Thank you for inviting us to a new kind of living—life with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
About the author — Kevin Adams
Dr. Kevin Adams has served as a church planter/pastor in the Sacramento, California, area since 1991. He and his wife, Gerry, began Granite Springs Church in Lincoln, and this congregation has helped to nourish several other church plants. Kevin also serves as a director of the Sierra Leadership Network, a training program for new church leaders.
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