My Prayer

Heavenly Father, my refuge,
Please hold onto me and help me find the sacred within me. Help me reach beyond my hurt and my disappointment to the life giving breath of your Holy Spirit. As it breathes life into me, please have it take away my pain so I can be grateful for the life I have been blessed with. Help me exercise my faith to refresh my strength and spirit. Guide me to still waters to calm all I wrestle with. I can't do this alone, Lord. I am scared. I ask as I look deep into myself, that you will bless me with a vision of hope as I accept that this time too, is a holy journey.
Amen.

Pentecost

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability."
Acts 2: 1-4 NSRV

Pentecost, the celebration of the Spirit, the birthday of the church,is my
favorite Sunday of the church year. One reason I look so forward to Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit operates on this day as something of a wild card,descending upon us in unexpected ways. It is Holy Spirit after all...a Holy Chaos that embraces and stirs a contagious energy.

I am so drawn to Pentecost by the way the Holy Spirit fills me with such joy and hope over and over again.

We celebrate the birthday of the church,yet the festivities are not aimed at celebrating us, our efforts or our accomplishments. We celebrate God who chose to birth the church out of the chaos and despair of those early days after Jesus’death. Each Pentecost I feel that is what we do. We let go off the stuff that weighs us down, to really do God's work. We trust in the movement of the Spirit. It is kind of like the Holy Spirit's coming out party.

So, Pentecost is a birthday party, and the present God always brings is new life. For us today at service, how wonderful it was to share in the baptism of a new baby, new life, the newest member of our community, on the very same day that God breathes new life into all of us.

We are anointed with the gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are freely given to us, we are blessed with them so we can go out in the world, be disciples and bless others.

This anointing, this fire from above, is for us to move forward to proclaim the Word and live the gospel,in our lives, in our homes, in our work, in our community and in the world; with a renewed passion and "spirit" that we have been blessed with through the resurrection and suffering of Jesus.

God wants to release Pentecost on us, giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us and keep us on the path.

"Wherever you go, I am going with you. I'm giving you all authority. Go into the world and I will confirm My Word with signs, wonders, and miracles."

That's what it is about, don't you think? Stepping out in faith with trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us, revealing the mystery that can and will bring transformation.

Barbara Brown Taylor has a wonderful way of describing that event. She writes: " He commissioned them by breathing on them, opening his mouth and pouring what was inside of him into them so that their bangs flew and their eyelashes fluttered and they could smell where he had come from -- not just Golgotha and Galilee, but way before that -- back when the world itself was being born. Anyone standing there that evening with any memory at all could smell Eden on his breath: salt brine, river mud, calla lilies. They could feel their own lungs fill as they brought back to life. It was Genesis reborn, as they were created all over again by the power of the Spirit that was coming out of his mouth."

Taylor and others tell us there are two distinctly different models of church that emerge from these stories. One is the Pentecostal model, the church that receives the Spirit in dramatic fashion and shares that gift just as dramatically. The other is the Johannine model, which receives the Spirit more as a gentle gift. Obviously, whether one is a gentle breath type or a mighty wind type, the church has but one purpose. Taylor says, "the church has received the Holy Spirit, the world has not, and it is the church's job to bring the Spirit into the world."

Are you up to the job? The Holy Spirit challenge.

Who are you in the world today at this moment?

Are you living and dreaming God's dream for your life?

How is the Spirit moving in your life?

Will you let the movement of the spirit ignite your own renewed Pentecost?

God continues to send the Holy Spirit to soothe us, His anxious disciples, who are
made by God but unmade by our own fears, doubts and brokenness. The Spirit ignites us over and over again, firing us up until we stop thinking so much about what we are or are not doing; and worrying so much about what might or might not happen. We come to just trust and have faith to be led by the Spirit and just do what feels right,what we know is right and let happen whatever God intends, living the life God dreams for us.

So you see, whenever God plays the wild card of the Holy Spirit,whether it is with Holy Chaos or a gentle nudge, the future of Christ’s body gets lifted right out of the hands of disciples and transplanted right firmly in the heart of God,in the church and in each and everyone of us in the world.

I often feel the presence of the Holy Spirit through others in my life and as I continue my adventure in spiritual growth and in my spiritual journey. When the Spirit came to the disciples huddled in their locked room, he changed their world. The Holy Spirit speaks to me and is constantly changing my world, challenging me and filling me with joy.

How are you going to share the story beyond your locked room?

Holy Spirit, in and beyond me,
keep and extend me among strangers and friends.
Let me see clearly and reach deep.
Open me to feel and live your gospel,proclaiming your word
with my voice as I never have before
with my actions
with my love
with your guidance
Let me hear the music of your glory before me.
Let love move me.
Awaken me again,again and again.


Namaste'
Maureen

For Kathy

On my nightstand I keep a pile of books and a few journals. There is a journal for one for each of my children and my own gratitude journal. As I was writing in it last night, I recalled that each week over these past nine months, I would write about this class.

Personally, my gratitude is more than is more than I can put into words and I know some of you find that hard to believe! There are some things that there are no words for.

Kathy, I have only known you 9 short months. Our conversations began last spring over the phone, after my application sat in a folder on my desk for two years. During those conversations and your patience of my many, many questions

Sometimes in life we are lucky enough to meet someone who touches us in a way that is life changing. You have been that for me, in many ways. Through classroom work, verbatim discussions, reflection comments, email exchange, and reaching out to me when I needed it most....I am forever grateful.

We talked in class last week about us all being brought together in this class, in this time, for a reason. The reason some of us may know now and some of us may not know for a long time. I think it is safe to say that I, along with my comrades in pastoral care will continue to trust in the movement of the spirit, in the sacred space, of how deeply our lives have intertwined.

This is a gift you have given us all...to trust in ...to be open to...to believe in the sacred exchange that takes place in caring ministry.

Kathy, you have such a beautiful way of always meeting people where they are and sometimes gently nudging us to where we need to be and if we didn’t get it with the gentle nudge, you push a little harder, always with a with compassion and a listening heart that leads to growth and transformation.

We have learned that in understanding our own grief, sadness and wounds that have shaped our own lives we can be living reminders of God's love and care and be a blessing to others.

I read something from the mystic, Julian of Norwich that I feel summarizes this sacred work in pastoral care that we are all called to do.


"I saw God in an instant of time,
in my understanding,
and by this vision
I saw that God is present in all things...
And God said to me:
I thank you
for your service and your labor,


Thank you Kathy , for your service and labor.


"Blessed are you
woman of passion rooted deep
standing tall
touching all you reach


Blessed are you woman of the earth
sculpted from is clay
and fired by the very breath of God
forming and firing new life and
reflecting the light of
the One
who calls you by name

Blessed are you tender woman
freely sharing laughter and tears
wounds and healing
weaving compassion and peace

Blessed are you
woman of wisdom
enfolding and unfolding
mystery and myth


Blessed are you in all that you are".....

an island in the sea
a hill on the shore
a star in the night
a staff for the weak

Amen.

Namaste'
Maureen