May 15, 2005

Filled with Spirit and Vision

by Julianne Stokstad

Today is Pentecost! It's so good to see you and the church dressed in red, ready to celebrate the birthday of the church. The church began when those gathered for the Jewish festival of Shavu'ot were filled, inspired and emboldened by the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were gathered for this celebration which occurs fifty days or seven weeks after Passover, commemorating the giving of the Torah to Moses.

What happened is really a rather odd story. It begins with the disciples and many others gathered in a large hall, probably praying, when suddenly the Holy Spirit rushed in and filled the place. Then tongues of fire appeared dancing over each head. Psychedelic! The strangest part was what happened after everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit. They began speaking in new ways and most surprisingly everyone understood each other. Imagine! No wonder some thought they were drunk. They were astonished and amazed and perplexed, but interestingly not afraid. With this description, I would have been out of there in a minute.

We think diversity is our modern insight, but that's not so. This scripture lists so many diverse people and places, it has always sounded like a bus station announcement to me. Then Peter stood up and in his sermon began to interpret all these happenings as the fulfillment of a prophecy from Joel. He went on in the following scriptures to explain that God's spirit would be with everyone who believed in Jesus. We wouldn't be able to see Jesus, but rather as he promised, he would send the Holy Spirit to those who believed. This was the fulfillment of that promise and with the energy and spirit they received, the church began.

I want to consider for a minute the Holy Spirit. It is the least understood and probably least talked about part of our Christian three-parted God-head---that is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost or Spirit. Paul especially speaks of the Holy Spirit throughout his letters. Certainly the Spirit is mentioned in Hebrew scriptures, especially in the Psalms, in wisdom literature, and the prophets. They speak as Joel did of Yahweh's spirit: " I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind."

In seminary students are required to articulate what they think about these theological concepts. I wrote then, "The Holy Spirit is the term for God in action. When we describe individuals as being filled with Spirit; they are radiantly alive, peaceful within, constructive in their relationships. In the Bible, Spirit is likened to breath. All life has breath and so in that way the Spirit is in all life. I was with my father-in-law when he died; I saw him take his last breath; the Spirit left his body and he was dead. I do not know what actually happens to the Spirit which is in us after we die. I do know that in some way. I am connected still to my father-in-law through the love we had for each other." Ten years later that is still true.

Our scriptures describes the Holy Spirit using sensory language of sight and sound. The Spirit is like a mighty wind or the Spirit comes like tongues of fire, fire indicating the presence of God. But the Holy Spirit is also pictured in the gospels as a dove, as at Jesus' baptism. Our window up here has the Holy Spirit dove. In all cases, the Holy Spirit is seen as active agent of God.

As I struggle to make a theologically abstract concept real, the best material I found is in our hymnal. When we sing, we understand in another way. Here are some phrases from the many hymns about the Holy Spirit: spirit of love, life giving breath, holiest flame, life giving power, inward light, breath of the living God by who all creation first conceived, and spirit of love.

Spirit can be seen within an individual or as at Pentecost, within a whole community. One of the unexpected surprises of ministry for me is that events described in the Bible really happen, to us, here and now. My joy is recognizing and naming such experiences. Let me tell you about such an experience from my previous church. It was after I'd been there three years that the nominating committee could find no one willing to be the vice-moderator. There, unlike here, most of the jobs were for only one year, but the vice-moderator's job was a three-year commitment. Those who had led the church were tired and no one stepped forward. So on the Sunday of the Annual meeting where we elected our leaders, we prayed, in the worship service and at the Meeting, the out-going moderator prayed a powerful prayer for the Holy Spirit to come to us. In the long silence, we all felt and heard a rustling of something like a wind, a movement above our heads. Seventy people experienced this and at the end of the prayer, someone stood up and said "I will do it." Later in talking with this man, he told me he had not even planned to come to the meeting, but something had stirred inside him and he came, then something lead him to speak up. He was still deeply grieving the death of his wife and though a long time member, he'd never been involved in church leadership. His leadership from the beginning was a gift of spirit, a gift of love to the community, which empowered the community in new ways.

The Holy Spirit is the gift of God's love. A week ago, I went back to that church for the first time since I left to attend a memorial service. I take very seriously the ethical guidelines placed on UCC ministers when they leave a church to not be involved in the life of the church and I am doing everything I can to abide by them. Because the role of pastor is a very emotionally charged position, I understand that the separation is needed to allow space for the new minister to bond with the congregation. When I left that church, I felt a big hole in me, like a big part of me died, except I didn't die. I let go of the role of minister in that church, had an eight-month rest and am joyfully and gratefully your minister here. I am very happy and truly grateful to love you and find open hearts, loving support as we walk together as church. The Spirit is most present in us as persons and in church when we love one another as the God loves us

But I want to share my struggle around this because I think it is intimately tied to the Pentecost experience of Spirit and love. In my experience, it is not possible to just turn off love like turning off water from a faucet. We humans love in the particular and we don't like loss. We love for many different reasons, in many different ways, but the kind of love I'm talking about is what I call love in Christ, the love coming from God, the love that grows from sharing deep and profound experiences with people, the kind of profound love that grows from praying for people and loving as unconditionally as we can. My friend and clergy colleague who went with me to the memorial service kept whispering to me, practice non-attachment. How hard that is.

Love doesn't go away. It doesn't stop when someone dies or when someone leaves. Because we experience love in the particular we are broken-hearted when we lose the object of our attachment. If we live with anger, resentment, or hate as a response to our experience of loss, then we are separated from the love of God. Our work is to let go.

If we can only get it that love comes from God and that God's love is the very ground of our existence and that we cannot get away from love, then even though a particular expression of that love changes, we can trust we will not be abandoned and that love is there for us. It is that we love that matters. Our love exists as a gift of spirit and brings us into the presence of God. The poet Mary Oliver writes: "To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your life depends on it; and when the time comes to let it go."

In my book, the only way we can do that is to trust God and God's abundant love for us. Trusting God allows us to open our broken hearts to love again. Truth is that the more we can love, the more love we have because all love comes from God's unconditional unlimited reservoir.

At Pentecost, the disciples were praying and waiting for Jesus' promise to be fulfilled. Powerfully the Holy Spirit came to them, filling them with power and passion, but most of all with the love of Christ for each other. Together in community, in unity even though they were so diverse and love which bound them together, they formed the church. Beware, my friends, if you pray for the Holy Spirit to come to us. Beware, because you are praying for fire. I pray for the Holy Spirit to be among us and for our hearts to be open to the new life, new directions. Come, Holy Spirit, come.! Amen