HERE
COMES THE SPIRIT
According to the liturgical calendar, this is the season of Pentecost where we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. When you read the Biblical account, it’s amazing how the Holy Spirit took over and propelled timid disciples into intrepid apostles.
The Holy Spirit is the hardest part of the Trinity for most of us to comprehend, and since the presence and work of the Spirit in our own lives is hard for us to see without help, let’s try to see where and how to look for the tracks of the Spirit in our midst.
There is a bumper sticker that says, "The difference you see in me is Christ." We may not always agree with the theology of those who sport this slogan, but there is a fundamental truth here. When we let the Spirit have its way with us, people will notice a marked difference between the old us and the revived us. We will still have the same personality, appearance, and behavioral quirks, but there will be something newborn within that can’t be accounted for. Others will notice that we are disturbed by what is accepted as normal: a world in which so few have so much when so many have so little.
Fear often causes us to play it safe, it avoids confrontation, to fail to speak a word of truth or do a deed that gives others hope. But when we allow the Spirit to infuse us, fear flees. We speak and act for one simple reason – so many people need our love.
We’ll never know if we can rely on the Spirit unless we venture into arenas of risk. If we never prophesy against the Powers That Be, we’ll never have to worry. But if we go when called, we shall learn we can trust. The Spirit will dispel our fear, and our witness will send aftershocks through the structures of evil and injustice.
May you learn to trust the Holy Spirit in this season of Pentecost!
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Lynnewood United Methodist Church
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