Holy Spirit: the original wireless Connection

We celebrated Pentecost by discussing the roles of the Holy Spirit; Shelly and I talked about how the Holy Spirit is the Source of Life, the Counselor, giver of spiritual gifts, and the Advocate for justice.  The Spirit is illustrated in scripture many other ways, we could have discussed how the Spirit is represented in the dove of peace, wind, and in fire throughout the Bible.  We could have preached on how Jesus breathed the Spirit onto the disciples giving them the gifts of healing.  Or we could have examined why it is we don’t learn about the actions of the Spirit near as much as we do of God the Father and the Son. (one possible reason is that grammatically the origin of the word is feminine!) Another aspect of the Spirit that underlines all of the above features is that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate connector. 

God breathes the Holy Spirit of Life into each of us, and Jesus says several times the Spirit and the Kingdom of God is ‘among you.’ Not only is the Spirit in each of us, God’s Spirit/breath/wind was upon the waters of Creation, was literally the life-essence God used to create the heaven and the earth! We are constantly surrounded, immersed, engrained and grounded in/by/through the Holy Spirit! The stars in the Milky Way and the dirt in your backyard, and the fur of your dog, and the gnat buzzing around its’ tail, and the energy of the air under it’s tiny wings, and the pollen of the flower blooming, and the nutrients in a crust of bread…all creations have the Spirit at the core of their being. “God in whom we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28.

So from a Christian perspective we are fundamentally linked to each and every element in the universe, and yes even all of our fellow humans- whether we agree with them or not! I pray that we each be mindful of our common uniting force when faced with disagreements.  Could we by the power of the Spirit experience another Pentecost wherein we all understand each other? That seems like a daunting unattainable goal, perhaps the first step is for followers of Christ to actively proclaim their faith that each and every person is created by God in God’s Holy image.

If you are interested in these thoughts, chat with me about further reading from:                                      St. Bonaventure, Pierre Teilhard dr Chardin, Paul Tillich, Fr Richard Rohr, Dr. Ilia Delio.