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.
I can’t be the only one who read this in 2021 and thought, NOT NOW GOD! THINGS ARE BUSY ENOUGH AS IT IS! There have certainly been times in my life when I was open to hearing the Holy Spirit and, God forgive me, now does not feel like one of those times.
I am fairly certain the disciples felt about the same. Jesus had just died. They were still trying to figure out what their mission was, and how they were organized, heck they were still trying to figure out who was a disciple when all of a sudden WOOOSH the Holy Spirit comes in and lays it all out.
There is a good chance that the Holy Spirit is trying to speak to us right now. That God has things to say to us in our personal, professional and pastoral lives. The question is - are we ready to hear it? Or are we too tired or just plain closed off to anything new?
All of our lives have been upended for the last 15 months. As we are beginning to re-open our lives and our communal spaces, we should also consider what we have learned, and what God has shown us, that we can take with us.
For example, we have learned that worship on Zoom can be Holy and fulfilling, and also a wonderful way to bring new people into our community and a deeper relationship with Christ.
We have learned that simple things (like a loaf of bread or a conversation) mean more than complex assistance programs.
We have learned that the impacts of any crisis are disproportionately felt by those who have been systematically underserved, and that we have a Christian responsibility to right those historic wrongs.
We have learned that time with the people we care about is precious, and that we all need to work on slowing down and re-prioritizing our lives.
Individually we have also all learned new gifts and talents, hidden skills and abilities that we did not know we had.
Perhaps most importantly we have re-learned the value of prayer as the beginning and end of all of our work in the world.
So the question for you, me, all of us is — as we celebrate the birthday of the church — what new gift have you been given? What new work are you called into? What words has the spirit put in your mouth, what fire has been put in your heart? And how do we, each according to our ability, live into that calling as the Body of Christ.