Pentecost: Images of God’s presence
May 19, 2013 | Anita Retzlaff

Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Today is Pentecost: the visitation of the Holy Spirit to the believers who remain after Jesus’ ministry is done. That’s the story. 50 days – “pente” means 50 – 50 days after Easter, seven Sundays after the resurrection, the Spirit pays a visit. Through a rush of violent wind and in tongues of fire the Spirit makes itself known to the earliest of believers…. and the promise is, that same Spirit resides with us today.

As Mennonites we are not always so clear about who or what this Holy Spirit is. Pentecostals have much more to say about the Spirit. This is evident even in the name of their denomination – Pentecostal - and I am not making fun of that. The lively nature of their worship and ecstatic expression of faith is attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit. And so I have to confess my discomfort with a lack of understanding and rather more somber bearing when it comes to knowing who the Spirit is and how the Holy Spirit makes a difference in my life, in our lives. In a more general way we understand the concept of spirit or spiritual to be that part of our experience that is not physical. Spiritual things are things of the heart and soul, even the supernatural, if you will. The spirit of something is its essence; its nature. You can’t pin down the Holy Spirit and get a confession from him/her or an explanation or even a picture.

Here is the thing! We believe that the Deity, the Holy that we worship is three in one: God, Jesus and the Spirit. And as much as we might struggle to make sense of how these three divine realities work together in our faith understanding we have a much easier time grasping the reality of God and the reality of Jesus than we do the reality of the Spirit. The life of Jesus is an historical fact even among those who do not regard him as the Savior of the world or the Son of God. Jesus lived and died and ancient historians will tell you so. The existence of God is not a stretch for those of us who believe that there is a supreme being that brought our world and the universe into being. Many, many people around the world believe in a creator, first mover or ground of being. God and Jesus are concepts, realities, that we can grasp and so more easily become objects of our worship and devotion.

But the Spirit - that’s another story. Described as breath or wind, fire or dove, the connection that we have with the Holy Spirit is somewhat elusive. I think that it depends on us to strike up a relationship with the Spirit because the Spirit is always there waiting for encounter. But how often do we recognize its power, its potential in our lives? It is the Spirit that stands in the breach after Jesus is gone. It is the Spirit that keeps us company in God’s name. The Spirit guides, helps, instructs and encourages us - and you can see why we can so easily run into trouble when it comes to describing our relationship to the Spirit. It seems like we can make up anything and call it the Holy Spirit or take this relationship for granted. How do we really know for sure what goes on between us and the Holy Spirit?

An image of the Spirit that came to my mind rather quickly – and I mean no disrespect to the Divine – the image that came unbidden was that of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh fame. Tigger is the enthusiastic one, the chum, the companion, the happy guy who cannot control his energy. He springs up and down on the spot barely able to contain his glee while his friend Eeyore is rather depressed and blue and sees the world through a rather depressing and negative lens. Mennonites are much more like Eeyore while the Pentecostals take on the persona of Tigger with ease. To be Spirit-filled is to have a zest for life and gratitude to God for the constant and never-ending presence of the Divine in our lives. We should be ecstatic – literally. Now the Eeyore/Tigger image isn’t fair to either Mennonites or Pentecostals but it makes me think more carefully about God’s power in my life; the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus. If I truly am accompanied by the Holy Spirit, does it show? Has it changed me? Does my relationship with the Spirit keep me connected to God?

What happens in our world when a founder leaves? In a business or a community or even a church movement it becomes critical to pass on the spirit of the person who brought a new initiative into being. If the vision of the founder is lost that business or agency will likely change course in fairly short order. Often this is not a bad thing but do you see the implications for the continuing message of Jesus Christ, Son of God? It is through the Spirit that we have memory and direction from God the founder of our faith and Jesus the incarnation (the one come to earth, the embodiment of God in human form and in history.) The Spirit reminds us! The Spirit is very much alive! Through the Spirit we are always connected to God, to Jesus and to each other. It is a gift that comes to us at Pentecost. The Spirit is pure grace and companionship. “I will not leave your orphaned,” says Jesus in the John passage, “I will send you the Spirit of Truth…. the Advocate….do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”

I have two extended images of the Spirit that I would like to share with you this morning in the hope that it gives us some imaginative tools to cement our relationship with the Holy Spirit: to recognize that there is really something going on between us. The first one is from the novel, The Shack. The Shack is a story about a man named Mack whose young daughter is abducted and murdered. The book is the story of Mack’s search to make sense of God’s justice in light of his horrendous loss. How could God let this happen to him? Mack receives a note from Papa (Jesus) to meet him at the shack where his daughter was killed. Here Mack encounters the Trinity – God who takes the form of an African American woman named Elousia, Jesus, a man of middle-eastern descent named Papa and the Holy Spirit taking the form of an Asian woman named Sarayu. Sarayu, the Spirit person is a gardener and she and Mack have this conversation as they are weeding in the garden, actually the garden of the soul.

“I can see now,” confessed Mack, “that I spend most of my time and energy trying to acquire what I have determined to be good, whether it’s financial security or health or retirement or whatever. And I spend a huge amount of energy and worry fearing what I’ve determined to be evil!” Mack sighed deeply.
“Such truth in that,” said Sarayu gently. “Remember this. It allows you to play God in your independence. That’s why a part of you prefers not to see me. And you don’t need me at all to create your list of good and evil. But you do need me if you have any desire to stop such an insane lust for independence.”

“So there is a way to fix it?” asked Mack.

“You must give up your right to decide what is good and evil on your own terms. That is a hard pill to swallow; choosing to only live in me. To do that you must know me enough to trust me and learn to rest in my inherent goodness.”

Sarayu turned toward Mack; at least that was his impression. “Mackenzie, evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life.” (The Shack, pp.135-136) End of conversation in the garden of the soul. Sarayu the Spirit reminds Mack that the work of the Spirit is based on trust and surrender. Living in the Spirit and allowing the Spirit to live in us keeps us oriented in love and connected to God.

Whether or not you enjoyed The Shack, it seems to me that this metaphor for the Spirit of God is a good one. Love, light, goodness is something that comes from within. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, lives inside us when we allow it, so that love and goodness are a natural response to the light of Christ. Awareness is a necessary part of this relationship. That is why Jesus says that the world out there does not know the Spirit: a certain awareness is lacking on their part. This may nudge us to look a little more closely at what constitutes good and loving people and how God’s Spirit might be a part of their lives. God knows what resides deep within.

This takes me to the second image that I would like to share with you. It comes from the pen of Helmut Theilicke, a German theologian who spent a good deal of his time slipping under the Nazi radar as he taught and preached and travelled throughout Germany in those tumultuous years. Here is a simple illustration that he offers.

“We have all, at some time, visited a cathedral with stained glass windows. Often they portray biblical stories; Adam and Eve, the prophets, Mary at the Cross, the women at Jesus’ tomb. As long as we just walk around the outside of the building, we see nothing of all this. The windows appear black and monotonous. But as soon as we enter the interior they light up in the fullness of their colors. They ‘preach’ the old stories. Although the panes are the same, they look completely different, depending on whether you are inside or outside.

We note that the same thing is true elsewhere in life. If we look at a mother’s love simply from the outside, as a coldly biological observer, so to speak, it likewise appears somewhat dull—just a sort of hormone-controlled monkey love. But if we think about our own mother, about the safety of her protection, the warmth of her heart, and her loving thoughtfulness, then the picture of “mother” immediately blossoms into warm full color. We are then seeing mother love from the “inside” as a child that belongs, or once belonged, to its mother.

It’s the same way with the Holy Spirit. He leads us into the interior of events where the windows light up. At that point we cease being mere onlookers, intruders, and “outsiders.” It therefore becomes clear to us that the Father addresses us and that we are his children. We realize that it wasn’t just anybody who was nailed to the cross, but that he died for me. I am drawn into the events in the windows; now I must join the game. I am present at the cross and the open tomb. Now I know that here my guilt is forgiven and a new life is opened to me.

That is what the disciples meant when they said that it was like scales falling from their eyes. Suddenly it became clear to each of them: I am the one who is involved here. God has noticed me and my life. I can no longer avoid this gaze. I am asked whether I agree to that or whether I turn my back and go back to my old ways.

Pentecost shows me that the Bible is no archaic document that lies far back in the past, but that it is addressed to me. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of making things real. He accomplishes the miracle of making seers out of the blind.” This illustruation comes from the book by Helmut Thielicke, Being a Christian when the chips are down, (pp.124-125) – and no doubt he experienced that during the Third Reich.

Where does that leave us today? How do you and I relate to the Holy Spirit? Is the Spirit real in us? I am encouraged when I visualize that the good that is in me, that love and light are the presence of the Spirit. Out of the deepest love that I have known and received I can then love Jesus through the actions that I do. Instead of building mausoleums to a dead Jesus, when we have the Spirit in us we will go out and continue his work in the world. By keeping God’s commandments and living the love of Jesus, the Spirit within each of us gives us the courage to live well. We love Jesus in an active way because God’s spirit is with us all the time. There is no greater encouragement and hope and comfort than this. Imagine the ways in which the Spirit of the living God dwells within you?

Prayer – O Lord our God, how manifold are your works in all the world. Teach us and remind us of that which you desire of your faithful ones. Fill us with your peace, calm our fear of isolation. Make us vibrant and creative witnesses to your goodness. Spirit of Joy, continue to guide us in the ways of Jesus Christ so that we live all our days in the assurance of your good news for all the world. AMEN