By The Rev. Dr. Nina Ranadive Pooley
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Yarmouth, ME

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Attentive Pentecost

Today is a crazy, whirlwind day – the beginning of everything, the beginning of what we think of as ‘the Church’- Pentecost. Though at the time it must have felt more out of control than anything else. Wind and fire, and the chaos of thousands of people gathered, everyone hearing this testimony in their own language. After the Valley of the Dry Bones and then this Spirit of wind and fire, when we get to the text of John’s Gospel we might feel a little let down by the lack of drama. But if we take a closer look at the text, if we pay attention, I promise, it’s still in keeping with our strange, wild, in the Spirit day.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus talks about the Spirit using the term Paraclete, which is a word that’s difficult to translate into English. In Greek Paraclete is related to a verb that means “I call alongside.” You could say that Jesus is calling the Spirit of Truth to come alongside his followers, as helper, advocate and guide.¹

In this moment between Jesus and his disciples, Jesus explains that he is returning to God, his Father (and theirs), but when he does, this Paraclete will come and will be their constant companion. They will have the living presence of the divine with them, always. With this Spirit, they will abide in Jesus’ love, even when he’s gone.²

This Spirit comforts and will help them live in the Way of Jesus in the days and years to come. It will empower them to testify to the truth of Christ, teaching them to bear witness not only with their lips but with their lives.³

Pentecost is about paying attention to the Spirit, in our lives, in our midst; and sharing that Spirit with the world. But with all that is happening in our 21st Century lives, would we notice if the Spirit descended with wind and flame? What would ‘hearing the message in our own language’ be, exactly? A text, a tweet, an email? What does the Spirit do to get our attention? When it does, how open are we to receive what the Spirit offers us?

You see, when it comes to what the Spirit has to offer us, it’s often specific to us, offered to US in particular – for us, to us, and through us – to the world. But perceiving what the Spirit is offering us requires a posture of openness and taking the time to pay attention.

Georgia O’Keeffe, in explaining her success, (painting sensuous images of flowers) remarked that perception takes time, saying, “In a way, nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small, we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”⁴

Barbara Brown Taylor, another great artist (though she paints with words), describes a kind of paying attention that’s a form of healing reverence. In her book, An Altar in the World, she writes:

I know for a fact that it is possible to survive great grief by hauling a mattress outside on a clear night and lying flat on your back under the belly of the sky. Holding a baby also works…⁵

And then Taylor tells this story:

I knew a woman once who was not sure she wanted to go on living. She was old. She lived alone. She was afraid to go to sleep at night for fear that she would not wake up in the morning, so she lay in her bed waiting for the sun to come up before she dared to shut her eyes. Then someone who loved her suggested that as long as she was awake, she might as well start listening for the first bird that sang each morning. Before long, the sound of that bird became the bell that woke her heart to life again. She named the bird. She discovered what such birds like to eat and put feeders full of seed in her yard. Other birds came, and she learned their names as well. She began to collect birdhouses, which she hung from the rafters of her porch until she became the mayor of an entire bird village. She still does not sleep well, but she is no longer afraid of her life.⁶

Pentecost is about paying attention – to the birds, to the woman who was living in fear. Caring enough to spend time with her, to engage her, to suggest she listen to the birds. To know that there is joy to be found, if we will pay attention.

Pentecost is about paying attention to the Spirit, wherever it moves, in small ways – little upticks of joy. Perhaps you are one of the few (!) who watched the Royal Wedding yesterday – and had a Spirit moment when Bishop Curry preached. Or maybe when The Kingdom Choir sang their Gospel songs. Or perhaps when the Chaplain to The Queen, The Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, said the prayer for the couple, in her beautiful, resonant voice, or when Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos, led the Lord’s Prayer. Or maybe when 19 year-old Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, played with the orchestra during the Signing of the Register. Or maybe for you it was seeing the couple themselves, radiant, smiling, or witnessing the grace of the bride’s mother, or that moment early on, when everyone was gasping as the bride and her gown were revealed in the doorway of the chapel, and the camera caught the grin of her 7-year-old veil bearer, with his front tooth missing. Perfectly joyful.

Pentecost is about paying attention to the Spirit, wherever we notice those things we thought impossible; hopes answered even in small ways. For me it was a road tent sign, that I noticed on Wednesday, fittingly printed white on red the week before Pentecost, noting the Voluntary Gun Turn In Day in Yarmouth. My heart leapt, glad there is an opportunity for people to turn in guns. Getting them out of homes where they might endanger those in the populations most vulnerable to gun violence: women and children; and out of hands of teens and young men, who are statistically most likely to endanger others; and away from veterans, who may be likely to endanger themselves. Women, children, teens, young men and veterans: populations we all care about deeply. An opportunity for voluntary gun drop off seems to me to be an important step in the right direction. On this weekend when we mourn another school shooting – it’s certainly a bittersweet Spirit moment; adding orange to our red Pentecost this Sunday. The
Spirit, ‘The alongside one’ is always with us, comforting as well as empowering. I will wear the orange stole mourning those lost to gun violence, when we move into the prayers of the people, and we pray for those who have died at Santa Fe High School, and those who grieve.

Pentecost is about paying attention to the Spirit, particularly when we feel there’s nothing to be done, nothing we can do. At our Clergy Retreat this past winter, we did Lectio Divina together, a careful, paying attention kind of reading of scripture. And woven throughout the Lectio, Bishop Lane told us stories that tied things together, stories about himself. As we are preparing our hearts to say goodbye to him as our bishop, we are hungry for that kind of knowing. That kind of relationship, coming alongside a bit. And like Jesus tells the disciples, he is assuring us of God’s “alongside us presence” that is always with us, and will remain with us steadfast, in the days to come.

Bishop Lane described a conversation with Brother Curtis Almquist from the Society of St. John the Evangelist. The conversation happened as Bishop Lane was preparing to leave for Haiti, having been asked to mediate a conflict there between the then Suffragan Bishop and the Diocesan Bishop of Haiti.

As Bishop Lane put it:

I was sent to Haiti with a small team to interview the parties, and, on the basis of those interviews, to suggest a way forward. I was not optimistic about the prospects for this mission.

In the week leading up to my trip, I went on retreat at Emory House of SSJE in West Newburyport, MA. On the last day, at lunch, Brother Curtis spoke with me. The conversation went something like this.

I hear you’re going to Haiti, he said.

Yes, that’s right. Next week.

I gather things are difficult.

Yes. Quite. It’s highly conflicted.

What do you think will happen?

I’m not sure. I don’t think our chances are very good.

Brother Curtis smiled,
“It’s been my experience that when there’s nothing we can do,
then there’s room for the Holy Spirit.”⁷

Bishop Lane laughed his great laugh as he finished the story. Personally, I’m pretty convinced that with faith, and that laugh, he and the Spirit can do almost anything. And I am so grateful for his ministry, his joyful hope. I will miss his presence in our midst, even as I have such faith that the Spirit will continue to abide with us, inspire and surprise us. As we open ourselves to all that we are called to become.

In closing, a poem, from Amy Julia Becker, about the Spirit⁸:

In nudges and whispers.
Like a seed growing, imperceptible at first.
Like wind, invisible, refreshing, transformative.
Like water, cleansing, renewing, powerful.
Unpredictably. Uncontrollably.
Praying: for us, with us, in us, through us.
Convicting, like a judge in a courtroom.
Comforting, like a mother with a frightened child in the middle of the night.
We know her work by experiencing it.
She will not be pinned down, can only be described with analogies.
But wherever there is forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, grace,
she leaves her fingerprints.
Always the one connecting, making us into the Body of Christ,
God’s hands in the world.

My Friends, may we pay attention, to the subtle and not so subtle ways the Spirit is teaching us to bear witness to the love of God through Jesus. May we seek to be people filled with God’s Spirit: discerning, loving and transforming our world. Amen.

---

1 Inspired by Commentary on John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, Judith Jones Professor of Religion, Wartburg College, May, 20, 2018, WorkingPreacher.org.
2 Inspired by Commentary on John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, Judith Jones Professor of Religion, Wartburg College, May, 20, 2018, WorkingPreacher.org.
3 Inspired by Commentary on John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, Judith Jones Professor of Religion, Wartburg College, May, 20, 2018, WorkingPreacher.org.
4 As referenced by Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World, Harper Collins Publishing, 24.
5 Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World, Harper Collins Publishing, 32.
6 Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World, Harper Collins Publishing, 32.
7 Bishop Stephen T. Lane, Notes Shared from Clergy Day, Monday Evening Talk, 2018.
8 Amy Julia Becker, as written for Patheos, “How is the Holy Spirit at work in the world today? . . . in 100 words or less,” Patheos.com