The hurricane season officially began on June 1. Experts predict that we can expect a “near normal” hurricane season. But we all know predictions can be dead wrong.
For example, Henry Ford was told in 1903, “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a fad.” Luckily Ford ignored that advice and guesstimates have 1.2 billion vehicles on the road today world-wide.
As for hurricanes, I decided to ponder the biblical story of Noah and the Ark to see what I could learn from that story’s storm.
And there are some good lessons.
1. Plan ahead. When Noah built the Ark, it wasn’t raining.
2. Stay fit. You may have to do something big.
3. Don’t miss the boat.
4.The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was made by professionals.
5.No matter how severe the storm, with God, a rainbow awaits us.
So there's indeed some good hurricane advice in the story of Noah and the Ark.
Today we celebrate Pentecost – the outpouring of the Spirit upon the early disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem. The lesson of Pentecost is simple yet profound: the triune God lives in us; and we in God. To paraphrase St. Paul: we are living temples of God.
Now Pentecost is not easy to celebrate visually. In Advent we see a four-candled wreath. At Christmas the creche and the tree. In Lent we focus on the cross. At Easter, a paschal candle and lilies. But except for red vestments, symbolizing fire, there's not much to see on Pentecost Sunday.
It wasn't always so. People in some medieval churches dropped burning straw from the ceiling to recreate the “fiery tongues” at Pentecost. That stopped when it set afire some churches. As for the dove symbolizing the Spirit in Luke's description of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan waters, birds were released in French cathedrals during the singing of “Come, Holy Spirit.” That was discontinued when people complained that something other than the Spirit was dripping from the rafters.
The image I like best is “breath of God” or “gush of wind.” It's something you feel, “catching” the Spirit.
It's feeling the Spirit of God moving wherever it wants to recreate whatever it touches. Remember, for example, how the “dry bones” in the Book of Ezekiel felt God's Spirit bringing them back to life.
The power and force and energy and vitality of the Spirit is within us. It inspires us, moves us, so that we can be a channel of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-discipline.
Pentecost concludes the Easter season and begins the mission of the Church, the people of God, your mission and mine, to continue the saving work of Jesus Christ until he comes again in great glory and power at the end-time. One way we can continue that work is by embodying the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom (to recognize what truly matters in life), intelligence (to discern what's true), courage (to stand up for what's right), compassion (for the needy), good judgment (to do the right thing), and wonder and awe (to worship the great God of this universe).
The word “Pentecost” is a Greek word meaning “fiftieth” – the fiftieth day after Passover. The Hebrews initially celebrated a festival after harvesting the spring wheat. Later the Hebrews associated this festival with the covenant God made with their forebears on Mt. Sinai—a covenant summed up very simply yet very powerfully in the phrase: you are my people and I am your God.
In the Christian tradition, Pentecost gradually celebrated this one aspect of the entire paschal mystery –the death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus and descent of the Spirit.
The Book of Acts describes how the Jews had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. And suddenly the Spirit -- described in images of wind and fire (images that symbolize power and energy and vitality) -- was poured out upon the disciples and emboldened them to preach the Gospel fearlessly in Jerusalem and eventually to the people throughout the Mediterranean and around the then-known world.
The word of God asks: Do we stand up for what's right? I always think of that great philosophical clarion call: “If not you, who? And if not now, when?”
The letter of Paul to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece speaks about all the gifts the Spirit bestows upon us: all for the common good.
In our own 21st century where we often overemphasize the individual at the expense of the community, Paul’s words are a powerful reminder to public officials especially to seek the common good.
The Gospel according to John describes a post resurrection appearance of Jesus where the risen Christ breathes upon the disciples (as God breathed life into us in the Book of Genesis) and in that gesture bestows the Spirit.
So you may ask: what does the Spirit of God do within us?
First, it’s an awesome truth of our faith: the God of the universe, the triune God, lives within us. Because he is there, we are new creatures, with a destiny beyond this earthly life: eternal life with God. That life has already begun in us, in the waters of baptism and nurtured in today's word and sacrament. And if you want to see what the Spirit can do, look at the early disciples: cowards hiding in a Jerusalem upper room and then transformed into heroes proclaiming from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is gloriously alive.
Let us pray on this feast that the Spirit whose gifts we already possess will empower us to live more fully the results of the Spirit’s presence in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-discipline--gifts which St. Paul describes so powerfully in his letter to the Galatians.
The same Spirit of God who spoke through the prophets of ancient Israel,
who overshadowed the Virgin Mary in Nazareth,
and who energized the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem,
and who lives within the Church—the community of disciples of Jesus-- and guides human history toward its ultimate fulfillment—a new heaven and a new earth at the end-time—
that same Spirit lives and breathes within us
and can transform us ever more fully into “living temples of God.”
So we pray today,
“Come, Holy Spirit anew into our lives, and
re-energize us so that we can see God more clearly, love God more dearly and follow God more nearly. Amen.”
