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
Showing posts with label Pentecost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentecost. Show all posts
Friday, June 01, 2012
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Pentecost...
I know it's late in the day to be mentioning this, but today was Pentecost, the day the church commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It's been a particularly profound thing for me this year, and I spent a large chunk of the day writing and reflecting on many things.
Processing events of the last week, and the last month and a half, and the last year and a half.
Some longer reflections on Pentecost may show up here later in the week, but for now, I just wanted to wish you moments filled with the breath and the warmth of the Spirit of God. Filled with the healing and restoration that are miraculous, and can only be brought by him.
Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
It's been a particularly profound thing for me this year, and I spent a large chunk of the day writing and reflecting on many things.
Processing events of the last week, and the last month and a half, and the last year and a half.
Some longer reflections on Pentecost may show up here later in the week, but for now, I just wanted to wish you moments filled with the breath and the warmth of the Spirit of God. Filled with the healing and restoration that are miraculous, and can only be brought by him.
Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Pentecost: Expect the Unexpected
Today was Pentecost Sunday... a thought that probably mostly got lost in the shuffle of Mother's Day and the general busyness of early spring.
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you." (John 14:16-17 NLT)
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth..." (John 16:13a NLT)
"Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 2:3-4a NLT)
I was reflecting as I was driving home from dropping a friend off tonight that in some ways my new "motto" in life has become "Expect the Unexpected." It's a reflection of the way my life has gone lately. The expected just isn't on the table anymore, and when I get up in the morning I never quite know what a day will bring. (For that matter, when I go to bed at night, I never quite know what my sleep and dreams will bring either.)
And then, as I reflected upon this, I was reminded that it was Pentecost Sunday, and that this last year has been one of increasingly deeper encounters with the Spirit of God, and with a growing understanding of that part of my relationship with the Lord.
Expect the unexpected - a lesson that would apply equally well to my spiritual life as to the happenings of day to day life. (Not that they're particularly separate either.)
I'm caught by the idea of the Spirit being at the center of speaking truth. I'm caught by it because of some ongoing things in my life. I'm caught by it because I feel deeply the need to speak truth, and the lack of it in the lives of many, and the harm that it's lack brings.
It's Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit speaks truth, and I am reminded that it doesn't always look like what I expect.
Expect the unexpected!
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you." (John 14:16-17 NLT)
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth..." (John 16:13a NLT)
"Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 2:3-4a NLT)
I was reflecting as I was driving home from dropping a friend off tonight that in some ways my new "motto" in life has become "Expect the Unexpected." It's a reflection of the way my life has gone lately. The expected just isn't on the table anymore, and when I get up in the morning I never quite know what a day will bring. (For that matter, when I go to bed at night, I never quite know what my sleep and dreams will bring either.)
And then, as I reflected upon this, I was reminded that it was Pentecost Sunday, and that this last year has been one of increasingly deeper encounters with the Spirit of God, and with a growing understanding of that part of my relationship with the Lord.
Expect the unexpected - a lesson that would apply equally well to my spiritual life as to the happenings of day to day life. (Not that they're particularly separate either.)
I'm caught by the idea of the Spirit being at the center of speaking truth. I'm caught by it because of some ongoing things in my life. I'm caught by it because I feel deeply the need to speak truth, and the lack of it in the lives of many, and the harm that it's lack brings.
It's Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit speaks truth, and I am reminded that it doesn't always look like what I expect.
Expect the unexpected!
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