It took me three or four months to learn Esther’s name even though she rides the bike next to mine at spin class almost every day. She was an ordinary fixture in my daily routine. This past week as I was leaving the gym it was obvious something was troubling her. Something from deep within inspired me to ask about her well-being. She shared about a work issue with a colleague and how heartbroken it was making her. We prayed with heavy hearts asking for the Spirit to intercede for us as our words were few. With teary eyes, Esther gave me a hug and it was then that I realized how extra-ordinary that moment and my relationship with Esther had become.
Pentecost began long before Jesus as a Jewish ritual marking the next ordinary holiday fifty days after Passover. In the Christian church, Pentecost marks the fiftieth day of Easter—Christ’s resurrection and the Good News we have to tell. On this day the Holy Spirit came in fire and wind filling the apostles with the power of God that heals, forgives, inspires, and unites. The Holy Spirit equipped those first followers for the mission and ministry of Christ, together as the body of Christ, as the church. The Spirit that came to the apostles on that first Pentecost comes to us each day … mostly without tongues of fire and heavenly wind. Like my encounter with Esther, the Holy Spirit is with us in the ordinary places of our lives.
In Paul’s letters to Corinth, Rome and Galatia, he records how the Spirit is continually at work, giving us courage to confess Jesus as Lord, empowering us to serve God, binding us together, helping us to pray and even interceding on our behalf. In other words, even when words fail us, the Spirit speaks! The Spirit of God empowers us to do the ministry of Jesus Christ, making each ordinary relationship, event, and experience extra-ordinary.
I know I live in the presence and power of the Spirit, but limit myself out of selfishness and low expectations. Mostly I limit myself out of fear. Fear that if I open myself up others will take advantage of me. Fear that I will mess up and say the wrong thing. Fear that others will truly get to know the real me. Pentecost offers a reminder and an opportunity to confess our failure to live by the Spirit and to ask the Lord to fill us afresh with power. After all this is the day the Holy Spirit breathed the church into existence and continues to enliven it.
The Day of Pentecost begins a long period in the church calendar often called Ordinary Time. In Christian faith we often see that the very ordinary—a baby born in Bethlehem and small pieces of bread received in communion, are in fact quite extraordinary. As you experience the ordinary activities of summer, the pool, the good books, the vacations, and family get-togethers, invite God’s Spirit in to make these relationships, events, and experiences extra-ordinary. The season after Pentecost, this ordinary time, presents us with opportunities to reflect on how God is actively involved in our lives today and enlivening us with the extra-ordinary power of the Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit Come!
Pastor Steve
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