Pentecost: Breath, Fire, Dove
Pentecost Sunday celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church. Diana Eck, one of my favorite scholars of comparative religion (and a Methodist!), makes two important points about the Spirit in the quote below. First, she insists that the Spirit is a gift. What a wonderful thought of grace! Second, she suggests that the Spirit compels us from the comforts of our faith to the boundaries.
"It is clear in the New Testament that the Spirit is a gift, not a reward. The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus during his baptism in the Jordan, often depicted as a dove with wings outspread sailing downward toward him, comes before his initiatory period of testing in the wilderness, not after. In most initiation sequences, one would expect the order to be reversed; after testing and trial, one is confirmed with a new cloak of blessing. But the empowerment of the Spirit is not earned, it is freely given. And so with the early church at Pentecost. It was not their courage or clarity that evoked the blessing of the Spirit, for they were vulnerable and confused. The Spirit is a gift, not a possession. The spirit inspires and gives the breath of life to the church, but the church does not encompass, contain, or own the Holy Spirit. The path of the Spirit certainly does not lead us only from church to church. For those of us who are Christians, we understand it to be the Holy Spirit that drives us beyond the comforts and certainties of what we know to the very boundaries where Christians and Hindus and Muslims meet." Diana Eck, Encountering God, 134.
To what boundaries of discomfort might the Spirit be calling you?
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
One of the most prevalent images we use for the Holy Spirit in the Christian tradition is breath.
Pentecostal Fire is Falling! Burn us!
Spirit, we need your fire during these difficult days! Burn us!
Burn away our prejudice. Burn away our hate. Burn away our apathy.
Come, Holy Spirit, come and work in us!
Burn away systems of oppression. Burn away racial inequalities. Burn away violent practices.
Come, Holy Spirit, come and work through us!
Spirit of God, kindle in us a thirst for justice. Burn us!
“Outwardly, tongues of fire appeared; inwardly, their hearts were set ablaze; for when the disciples received God under the appearance of fire, they began to burn with a sweet love.” Gregory the Great
Descending Dove
"Although that Spiritdove may seem tame enough, caught in midair in the icon or in the stained glass of a church, the Holy Spirit is not tame. She can hover protectively, and she also can soar." Diana Eck, Encountering God, 133.
A Benediction (Or Miscellaneous Thoughts)
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