Breaking Out

What was the last great story you told? Was it about the latest clever thing your grandchild accomplished? Was it a classic fairytale? Was it a slightly embellished ‘big fish’ story? Or a completely real story? Was it a Bible story, or an embarrassing story of what happened to you at work?

Read Psalm 104:24-34, 35b and Acts 2:1-21.

Often people think of the Bible as a collection of stories. But if we look for the work of the Holy Spirit, we will start to see all the stories as connected – part of one larger story. The story from Acts is no different, as it follows the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. The disciples huddle together, worrying about the future. Will they be arrested? Who will believe what has happened to them? Where will money and food come from? How on earth can anything they do compare to the divine ministry of Jesus?

They sit together, consumed and paralyzed by their problems, until the Holy Spirit enters their very midst and breaks them out of that upper room. The Pentecost story echoes the Genesis story, where the wind/breath/spirit swept over the water at creation. Just as the spirit moved then, so too does the Spirit sweep over the disciples and the crowd at Pentecost, making them a new creation.

In the darkness of their fear, the Holy Spirit pushes the disciples out of the upper room and forces them to tell the story. Like the first creation, the Holy Spirit moves them from darkness to light once more, from death to life, breaking them out from their comfort zones and prisons of anxiety.

As the Holy Spirit shows up, She doesn’t bring any quick fixes or instant solutions to the problems of the disciples. But the Holy Spirit does push the disciples out into the world, reminding them of Jesus’ command to be disciples to the ends of the earth – and conveniently, She pushes them into a crowd filled with people from the ends of the earth!

From where do you need breaking out? What prisons have you created for yourself – prisons of fear, anxiety, guilt, resentment, envy? What is holding our church back from leaving the building and sharing the Good News with everyone we meet, from telling them that “MY CHURCH IS” inviting, witnessing, welcoming, serving, teaching, uniting, and loving?

Look around – how can you break out from the old creation and into the new? How can the Holy Spirit rush over you and give you the courage and ability to speak of God’s deeds of power? This is our story, the story that we can’t help but tell. Our story is tied into the Story that starts with the beginning of time. Our story is that we are empowered to continue the story, to continue the new creation. May it be so.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Holy Spirit Holes

Where are the holes in your life? Is it where a loved person has left? Is it where a child never was? Is it the loss of physical ability or memory? Where are the holes in your life? Are the holes physical, emotional, mental, spiritual?

Read Romans 8:22-27 & Acts 2:1-21 to hear about Holy Spirit holes.

For the disciples, following the Ascension of Jesus, there was a big hole in their life without the bodily presence of Jesus. Sure, he had promised to send the Holy Spirit, but what did that really mean? Where was their friend they ate with, they laughed with, they cried with, they prayed with? Where was their teacher who confused them with stories, who challenged their perceptions? Moreover, what were they supposed to do now? Their lives were so filled with holes they must have looked like Swiss cheese.

We too are in a time of disorientation, in a time where our lives both individually and collectively are filled with holes. What does church mean to people in 2013? What does it mean that Sunday mornings don't work for young families? What does it mean that our sisters and brothers go to Christ in death? Trinity is filled with holes of people who have been here and are gone - filled with holes of groups and activities that used to flourish.

In some medieval churches, there were trap doors in the ceiling known as Holy Spirit holes. On Pentecost Sunday, a few brave people would scale the roof of the church. Then, with the reading of the Scripture, a wooden dove would be lowered through that hole. And red rose petals would rain down like tongues of fire. Normally, we would say having holes in the ceiling is a bad thing. But in these churches, these were holes where the Holy Spirit would slip in, dramatically, surprisingly, with sighs too deep for words.

Like the disciples being surprised by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - when things seemed the worst - maybe we too can be surprised by the rushing in of the Holy Spirit. The holes in our lives might just be the places where the Holy Spirit can slip in, can do something new, can radically change our plans and our lives. The problems, the challenges, the cracks in our lives are the places where the Holy Spirit can bring grace to shine through. The holes in our lives are places where God can re-create something new.

So bring your holes on Sunday. Bring your doubts, your worries, your fears, your anxieties. For we don’t have to be afraid of being broken, of holes in our lives – for those are the places where the Holy Spirit can enter to give us what we need for the next step in our life together.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate 

The Holy Spirit of Pentecost

"God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh..." (Acts 2:1)  Jesus has arisen and Pentecost is his promise to all Christ followers that they/we will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost (50 days following our Easter Resurrection) is the birth of the church as the primary place (although not the only place) where Jesus will be present to us through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  Read Acts 2: 1-21 for an account of the fiery tongues of flames, roaring winds, and the languages across the nations as God pours out the Spirit for ALL peoples.  This is the power of God given to the church empowering it to be the Body of Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit, represented by wind and flames, can be perceived as a life-threatening force when we think of wildfires wiping out wilderness or tornadoes tearing through the towns of Joplin or Harveyville.  But the real power of the Spirit is a spirit of love and goodness.  At the same time it's a power of transformation - both mundane and miraculous.  Because real transformation can be difficult to perceive within a short timeline or because of the often personal nature of transformation, we have trouble recognizing the Holy Spirit blowing through our lives and our church.  The Holy Spirit is always on the move and any Body of Christ that becomes stagnant or self satisfied cuts themselves off from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is about the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5: 22): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  Or as Paul writes in Galatians 4:18:  "It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good."
The challenge for the church is to continue looking and asking, "Where is the Holy Spirit moving, breathing, working, pushing, pulling, nudging, whispering to me and throughout my church?"  When we can discern answers to this question, we will have the direction and challenge to which we must respond.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

God's Wild, Wonderful Word is WOW for Pentecost

Acts 2: 1-21 is our Pentecost story. Open your Bible & read it. It's a story of wild rushing gale force wind; tongues of flames on the disciples' shoulders; worldwide languages spoken by Galilean peasants with no schooling in languages, but understood by all those visitors present in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks (50 days after Passover). And Peter interprets all these signs with a blockbuster sermon in which 3,000 come to believe. God will pour out God's Spirit on all people.

Sitting out on my back deck these last few weeks watching the strong winds whirl my tall mature trees reminds me of the strongest winds we've been experiencing: tornadoes & their especially destructive force in Reading, KS & Joplin, MO. Usually when we think of the Holy Spirit coming, we yearn for the peace, comfort, & healing presence that Jesus promises. I have a disconnect if I equate the Holy Spirit with tornadic winds or the devastation of forest fires, such as those currently in AZ.

Where do I see God in all this? I'm reminded that while God can certainly speak in the quiet of silence, perhaps it's appropriate to tremble when we say, "Come Holy Spirit, Come!" How might God challenge or push or pull us when the Spirit is strong enough to un-moor us from our comfortable & usual ways of doing things?

I look forward to hearing your stories of how you are called to prophesy or see visions or dream dreams.