Pentecost 2014 Num. 11

June 8 Pentecost-Numbers 11 Acts 2

The Spirit empowers, but that very virtue can be a vice when seen from the point of view from     the way things are. Moses is so secure in his relationship with God and his leadership that he does not deter the spirit on Medad(affectionate, water of love, measuring) and Eldad (one whom God loves). His is a democratic spirit.Moses can share the spirit that has his very face shone.After all the Spirit rest on all of the disciples when they are in one place together.

Moses is not bound by the way things have been. tension always exist\s in the church between settled order and pushing the envelope. Indeed sometimes our rules, rituals, and SOP can become idolatrous.At the same time, i am firmly convinced that the Spirit is also a spirit of order and procedures and can live comfortably within a frame.The Spirit is also capable of blowing the doors off procedure and expectations.Unpredictable, pattern breaking expectation confounding fits the Spirit too.Yes, the Spirit comes in a rush of wind, but it also works with infinite patience on us day by day, so it can be immediate or gradual in its effects.

Jurgen Moltmann gives us such a valuable corrective when he speaks of the church itself as a charismatic community that receives the gifts of the spirit for its corporate mission. The church is the place for faith to find connection.We do well to live in the tension between fire and form, of flexibility and strictures. While I am pleased that some folks receive certain pentecostal elements in their life, we cannot permit those to become the goals or certain signs of the spirit. First. we look to the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit that we always mention in baptism. Second.,, our tradition emphasizes that the spirit is not to be locked into any particular form of action, but i is the Spirits not our evaluation of the individual emotive content. After all, the Pentecost story does introduce speaking in tongues but its force is more toward the understanding of speech without translation in the sermon that follows, not the tongues themselves..

Pentecost shows us that God wishes to share the Spirit to enact and embody the life and message of jesus in our time and place.With our great kitchen, we are able to host a dedicated group who feeds people on tuesdays. Susie’s organizational skills and attention to detail and food allows us to host and sponsor feeding on Saturday. the spirit’s gifts lie in cooking, cleaning, organizing, and fundraising too.Some say they find the spirit only in the spirit of beneficence they find within themselves when they help others out. I need the Spirit’s power to look past the risk of the few who take advantage of programs. I pray for the spirit of healing and deliverance to touch the hearts and minds and spirits of so many whom we serve who are mentally ill.

Instead, it is seen spiritually in the form of spiritual light, and comes with all calm and joy."Guide to Byzantine Iconography, Vol. 1, by Constantine Cavarnos  Gregory-This illumination is radiance of souls, transformation of life, engagement of the conscience toward God. Illumination is help for our weakness, illumination is ... communion in the Word, setting right... participation in light, dissolution of darkness. Illumination is a vehicle leading toward God, departure with Christ, support of faith, perfection of mind, key to the kingdom of heaven, change of life,...release from bonds, transformation of our composite nature. Illumination—what more need I add?—is the most beautiful and most magnificent of the gifts of God. (40.3)