Readings for Pentecost, May 23, 2021
Acts 2.1-11 | Psalm 104 | 1 Corinthians 12.3-7, 12-13 or Galatians 5.16-25 | John 20.19-23 or John 15.26-27; 16.12-15
“The Holy Spirit is not a bird,” a friend once told me, rejecting any notion of the materiality of the Spirit. But the Spirit is a bird, metaphorically at least. The Spirit hovered over the waters of creation in Genesis, signifying the close connection between the divine and the material.
Birds are divine messengers because they come down from heaven to touch the earth before returning to their holy perch above. We often associate white doves with the Spirit, a sign of calmness and peace. But the Spirit is also an eagle, a bird which flies with those who have renewed their strength through the Lord (Isaiah 40.31), the bird who bore God’s people on its wings to liberation from the Egyptians (Exodus 19.4).
The eagle can be a terror, grasping unwary creatures from the earth and devouring them in its aerie in some high place. Biblical eagles soar to the highest heights, conveying their imagined human passengers to places away from harm and where the vistas are remarkable. Modern passenger jets have blunted the power of that image, but they can also give us a sense of what that image meant to those who lived prior to modern technology.
The Scripture readings for the feast of Pentecost provide a two-sided perspective on the Spirit. The Pentecost story itself, presented in Acts, describes the arrival of the Holy Spirit as the rush of a violent wind with tongues of fire descending on Christ’s followers, enabling them to speak in foreign languages. Those present are bewildered, amazed and astonished. This image is one of chaos, disruption of the established order and the beginning of something new and little understood.
This image contrasts with the Second Reading from 1 Corinthians which speaks of order and unity. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” An alternative Second Reading from Galatians speaks of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, etc.
This second image is that of the Spirit working through the Church, a Church which embodies order, harmony and gentleness. This may not be the Church we know, but it is the Church in its ideal form. The first image is that of the wild, chaotic and charismatic Spirit who rushes unexpectedly into our lives, disconnects the cables and overturns the tables. Too often, the second image has been the only image that we have been taught, excluding the anarchic understanding of the wind blowing where it chooses. We do not know where it comes from or where it goes, Jesus told Nicodemus.
Which image of the Spirit is correct? We don’t have to choose. Or, if we do choose, we should choose both. The Spirit is the rough and ready liberator; she is also the author of the reign of peace and union among God, humans and creation. We yearn for the latter, but to get there, we must undergo the crucible of change.
When we think of change, we may think of those individuals and situations we believe need to change. But we ourselves must be the first to change before we get to the Promised Land. The Spirit leads us into all the truth, truth about God but also truth about ourselves. Truth is uncomfortable which is why we often opt for relativism – I have my truth, and you have yours. That is so easy. No one, least of all myself, must change. When no one changes, all the oppression and violence and manipulation remain unchallenged.
We need the bird. We need the eagle to drag us off to high places with new vistas. We need the bird who hovers over the waters to help us move into the new creation. If we are to change, it will not happen without the fire which consumes the past and brings us to truth.