Have you ever had the wind hold you? Have you ever leaned into a wind so strong that it could take you entire weight?
I once found a place on a ferry where the walls formed in just the right way, and I found the exact spot to stand so that the wind swirled, and I leaned in. It was a powerful sensation, the wind was wild, and strong and it was strange not to feel in complete control, the wind could move me, and hold me. Pentecost is like that.
Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit comes to the Church. And the Holy Spirit, for all that we try to make her less or domestic her is not a ‘tame lion’. She blows where she wills, we don’t control her, we can’t make her do the things we want her to, and look the way we wish, instead… we can choose to lean in or not and see where she takes us.
And that is completely terrifying. But… the best decisions in my life, the ones that shifted and transformed who I am all happened when I leaned in. When I took a chance, when I listened to where she was calling me to be, and gave over that feeling of being in total control of my life.
Faithful Adventure is calling.
The Holy Spirit is that wild bit of God that continues to pull and push us- to transform us and the world, and we get to say yes, and lean in- find the spot, and feel the surprise of being held in God’s wild and strong arms. It the piece of God creating anew a world that needs it. A piece of God that is not tame.
But just as the children learned about Aslan (the Jesus figure) in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan may not be tame, but he’s good. The
Holy Spirit isn’t tame- but she’s good.
How are we leaning in? Where is the Holy Spirit holding us up? Where is blowing us toward?
Mother Liz