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One in the Spirit
Bright flames arise, flicker and flutter, emerging transformed as God's white dove of peace.
 This Pentecost banner, designed by Robert Atterbury, belongs to Windham Hill United Church of Christ, Windham, Maine, where I was pastor for seven years. Eight years after leaving Windham, the banner still intrigues me.
The artist links two ancient symbols of the Holy Spirit - flame and dove - in suggestive ways. The two symbols of the Spirit hardly seem compatible. Flames often symbolize violence: we speak of "flare-ups" of fighting; "fire-fights", sudden "conflagrations" of violence. Intense flames can singe the wings of peaceful doves.
Yet the tongues of fire that appeared on Pentecost (Acts 2) were actually signs of reconciliation. Barriers of language were overcome; each one heard the apostles preaching in his or her own language. In fact, every time the Holy Spirit intervenes in the narrative of Acts, its effect is to bridge divisions, to bring people together (Judeans and Samaritans, Jews and Gentiles, followers of John the Baptist and followers of Jesus, Asians and Europeans.) When the Spirit intervenes, "us" and "them" become simply "us" - each of us a child of God.
We live in a world where conflicts are often fueled by religious differences. In the United States, our "culture wars" often divide along religious fault lines. I think again of the Pentecost banner, and pray that the intense flames of our convictions rise up to become doves of peace. As the song says, "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love."
Bright flames arise, flicker and flutter, emerging transformed as God's white dove of peace. Amen; may it be so.
-- Bill
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Wind and Wildfire by Jan
"Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind.... Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks...." *
The strong sound of blowing wind swirled around us as in a vortex. No one could tell where it came from. The wind caught us up in the wildfire. Everything was red. Red carpet. People were wearing red. They brought red flowers to fill the sacred space. The fire of the Holy Spirit descended upon us.
It was a memorable celebration of Pentecost, one in which Spirit became felt Presence. The purity of the symbol - wind - opened the words of Holy Scripture to invite all of us into that upper room in the Jerusalem of the first century.
It was my deliberate plan to visit there on Pentecost, at St. Pius X Church in Tucson, where I had preached a parish mission several years earlier. Their able music minister, Abraham Marcor, with his partner in the control room, produced digital sound of wind synchronized round and round the church, first softly as in a whispered breath, then wild, catching us up in the tornadic velocity of blowing wind. Voices of different languages spoke from various areas of the church, as the Spirit prompted them.
When the disciples gathered in the Upper Room on the first Pentecost, they spoke of the mighty acts of God. Whether we hear the gentle whisper - breath - of God or if we are caught up in the strong wind, the Spirit of God just might lift us up into his Presence without warning, like a wildfire.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful; and enkindle in us the fire of your love.
*Source: Eugene H. Peterson, The Message |
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