Pentecost 2012

From Pastor Amy:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, And suddenly from heaven there came the sound like the rush of a violent wind...                                 Acts 2:1-2a


...a sound like the rush of a violent wind. Have you ever sat and listened to the wind from a powerful storm? Those are the winds that rush in with force and fury and you know, just by hearing them, that they are changing the landscape of the outside world. Several years ago, I was home from California finishing up wedding plans. On my trip, we had an unexpected visit from Hurricane Ike. The force of the storm hit in the middle of the night, although my dad boarded up the windows on my family's home so I would not have been able to watch the storm even if it had been light outside. I stayed up through the night listening to storm and watching the news. In the early morning hours, our electricity was finally blown out. As my family slept, I listened to the cries of the wind. When the storm passed, we opened our door to see water rising almost to our porch.

wind
and
water

They often go together in nature but they are also important signs of our faith. In the wind we are reminded that the Spirit of the Living God has come and made his home in us - our lives and our communities. In the rush of the Wind, we know that we no longer act in our own power because the Wind possess the greatest strength. It is in this strength that we are made brothers and sisters and children of God. It is in this power that we are taught that the things which might divide us - languages, beliefs, and physical appearances are loved and embraced by God. In the coming of the Wind, we find that in God's Kingdom we all have a home.

The wind and the water go together. It is the actions of the Wind that claim us in the waters of baptism and when we pass through the waters we hear the Wind whisper in our ears you are loved, you belong, you are mine. 

My dear friends, let us wear red or fuchsia or orange tomorrow. Let us celebrate the coming of the Wind who is the Spirit, may we believe that we belong, and may our words, actions, and the rhythms of our lives let others know that they are loved and belong as well.  


Pentecost Prayer
Jan Richardson

It is not the sparks
caused by our difference
that haunt me
but the brimstone
of those bent
on assimilation
on annihilation

I have felt the template
on my flesh,
I have seen the wounded and the scalded,
and I am not persuaded
that if  we look alike
God will love us more.

I believe God loves the languages
of those struggling to speak
the words embedded in our flesh
of every shape and hue.

And I believe God blesses
every space where we are welcomed
to speak with tongues of fire
and hear with hearts aflame.