Looking back at the event called Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21) I have been affirmed and uplifted by David Lose' Working Preacher blog. One of my deepest connections to Celtic Spirituality is that it refuses any attempts to 'tame' the Holy Spirit by imaging her as a dove. For the Celtic Christians, the Spirit is and always will be the 'Wild Goose,' untamed, unpredictable, and (once we open our ears to her) demandingly raucous!
David captures that truth about Holy Spirit is listing two paradoxes of how we have come to (comfortably!) 'settle in' to Pentecost celebrations.
The first: Holy Spirit comes NOT to solve our problems, but to CREATE them
The second: Holy Spirit does NOT PREVENT failure, but INVITES it
Seventeen months ago the congregation I serve was brought up short (as was I) to have our financial situation put in very stark black and (red?) white, with the only solution forseeable to reduce the terms of call for the pastor to 60% time.
I would not be able to stay on at that rate.
Less anxious minds were gathered and a plan to move forward over three years was proposed and accepted (but only by a margin of about 2 to 1) at a special congregational meeting that February. Yet through the extended additional stewardship campaign that preceded that meeting and the work of Holy Spirit throughout the remaining spring, we stepped out into a risky venture we absolutely KNEW we could not sustain on our own: to open an emergency food ministry run by private donations, available to anyone in need, AND to be a Food Pantry for the county Food Bank, with monthly distributions of government food.
We helped our first 4 families one year ago next Saturday. And a month later I left on vacation, feeling very unsettled about my future ministry in that place.
When I am at the beach I am renewed in many ways. One of my personal paradoxes is that only at the beach does my internal clock waken me to go watch (and shoot) the sunrise. That Tuesday morning I had a profound experience which I will share this morning with the congregation.
What an odd cloud strata
(moment of awareness)
A window into heaven?
Or a window to us?
Oh! God's eye shining a profoundly felt message:
Do not worry
I am watching over you
I am watching out for you
I do not slumber
Nor do I sleep
I am with you always
Forever
ALWAYS!!!
My Pentecost prayer is that we all continue to face the Spirit's problems, accept her invitation to risk failure or setbacks, and be daily renewed and strengthened to let God be God. Only then can we be the Pentecost people we are called to be.
PS: We are now serving about 40 families regularly, giving additional food at distributions from our food ministry called 'Feeding the Flock'. We have distributed boxes and bags of gently used clothing, a bicycle (complete with helmet) and other children's toys. We have outgrown our freezer and are buying another. And we have friends and neighbors coming to volunteer and help out, even some strong young men who unload bigger and bigger pallets each month. And we have yet to use a single dollar from our church budget.
To God be the glory!!!
