Sunday is the Day of Pentecost. On this day, Christians remember how the Holy Spirit came upon a diverse group of folks gathered together (Acts 2:1-21). Images of Pentecost are dominated by fire and wind. Acts 2 tells us that these are apt images and symbols: "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them..." These elements, wind and fire, are appropriate images for the Day of Pentecost...
...But in our gospel reading this week, John 7: 37-39, Jesus offers us another element: water. "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive..."
...And still, we are offered another element to consider for this Day of Pentecost: earth. Psalm 104: 24-35 speaks of how God's presence and God's glory fills the earth and "When you send forth your spirit, they (the things of the earth) are created; and you renew the face of the ground."
God's Spirit is everywhere: it fills all of the earth, even into our own hearts. It blows like the wind, flows like water, and dances with power like the wind. It is no mistake that these various passages in the Bible describe the Holy Spirit in these different ways. Earth, water, wind, fire are the four basic elements here on earth...they make up everything we can experience through our senses, just like the Holy Spirit can be understood as the way in which we can experience God in our lives.
It's great to have the traditional images of wind and fire representing the Day of Pentecost, but let's be honest: too much fire and you'll get burned, too much wind and your get blown away or parched. Including earth and water as metaphors for the Holy Spirit helps me to have a more holistic understanding of the Holy Spirit. It reminds me that God is not only present in the fiery passion in my heart or in the wind that moves me, but in the water that nourishes me and flows out of me and in the ground I stand on.
*Prayer:
Holy Spirit, Truth divine,
dawn upon this soul of mine;
Word of God and inward light,
wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, Love divine,
glow within this heart of mine;
kindle every high desire;
perish self in thy pure fire.
Holy Spirit, Power divine,
fill and nerve this will of mine;
grant that I may strongly live,
bravely bear, and nobly strive.
Holy Spirit, Right divine,
King within my conscience reign;
be my Lord, and I shall be
firmly bound, forever free
*Holy Spirit, Truth Divine, The United Methodist Hymnal, #465
In Christ,
Jack
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