Friday, June 01, 2012

Friday Reflections, June 1, 2012

Today's reflection comes from Richard Rohr, and arrived in my inbox this past Sunday, Pentecost.  I so appreciated the reminder that Pentecost is for every day, not just a semi-ignored festival of once a year, and wanted to share this reflection with you today.


THE SPIRIT
Sunday, May 27, 2012 
Pentecost Sunday


On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And He said to them again, “Peace be with you!”
~ John 20:19-21


We still wait behind closed doors; fifty days (“Pente-cost”), fifty years, five hundred years, we are always waiting and hoping, but not really expecting. It is the day we are always waiting for but never prepared for, the day of the great outpouring of fire-laden love, the day that ties all other days together. Pentecost is actually every day, if we expect it; but, not surprisingly, this is the greatest forgotten major festival of the entire church year.  Most come to church expecting no new outpouring, or maybe not even remembering an old one.


Yet it is Pentecost, the day of the great gathering in and the great sending out. The Holy Spirit must get tired of waiting for us, always hiding behind our closed doors.


Prayer:
Break through my closed door, O God.


Adapted from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, day 205, p. 192