Pentecost: Fifty Great Days since Easter, a strong season to ask, “What Now? What’s God about?” Weekly readings have explored our reaction to Jesus’ Resurrection as we’ve recounted the experiences of The Apostles. It’s been a quantum leap between the culture of Then to the culture of Now–is there any similarity, any common denominator of the human condition? We try to affirm an ubiquity (look it up) of a Holy Presence, maintaining that travelers to the soul present like issues in all places and histories. So as the Church was “born” on Pentecost, the date also marks our own birth into the fire and wind of belief and disbelief.
Read again the annual story in Acts 2:1-21. The Holy Spirit thundered in with tongues of fire and the sound of a rushing wind! An antidote to human grasping of God and being divided by multiple languages (Genesis 11:1-9), now God grasped humans (!) with mutual understandings despite diverse forms of speech. (The miracle was not that some could speak, rather that all could hear!) “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?'” –an appropriate response to being confronted by God’s Spirit.
The Epistle comes from the Letter to the Romans, chapter 8: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought…” (v.26) Here again God’s Spirit is recognized as a heavenly guide for those who’re tired of stumbling about in the Cloud of Unknowing. We do the Spirit an injustice to see this Presence only as assurance of a Safe Ending: I believe that this Spirit takes us on the most adventurous and scenic route through Creation, causing us to stop and marvel at the view!
John’s Gospel re-visits Jesus’ final admonitions during the Last Supper, 15:26 to 16:15. The Lord urges them/us to watch for the Advocate who will continue to unfold glimpses of Heaven. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth….” What’s Real?? Can there be a Godly Presence who stands near and helps me to sort out the treasure from the styrene peanuts which surround and hide it? Emmanuel Y. Lartey (Candler Seminary, Emory University) has some interesting thoughts: “The Holy Spirit connects the creative genius of the Father with the redemptive love of the Son and the courageous witness of the Church. There is a bond that keeps history, current experience, and future hope together in Christian faith.” (FEASTING ON THE WORD, B, 3:24)
My best driving vacations have been “blue-liners”: leaving the Interstates and major routes (red lines) and following the side roads. Its’ there that you can experience the little museums, the cross-road diners, and hitherto unknown trivia. What’s even better is to have a friend along who knows where the overlooks are! It seems good to be amazed and often perplexed by the rich contours of the landscape… Thanks be to God. Amen.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown KIng
My Blog 
Leave a comment