This Sunday is Pentecost, the birth of the Church. It is characterized as a magical, mysterious event where the Spirit of God comes upon the people with wind and fire. We often consider it unique, something that happened (or maybe didn’t) long ago. We commemorate it each year as a memory that is not our own. But my experience is different; I hope yours is, too. There may not be wind and fire, but I see the Spirit of God present in the people of Church in the Cliff all the time.
I see the Spirit in the commitments of those who provide coffee and breakfast on Sunday mornings. I hear the Spirit in the voices of those who sing and play. I feel it at Wednesday dinners when we share meals and talk about our lives. I see it in the faces of the beautiful, brilliant, creative children that have grown up in Church in the Cliff. I see it in a board that dares to take on the mundane tasks of running the church. I hear it in the rich conversations that we have on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and whenever we gather. I see it in the concern we have for one another and the lives we choose to share. And I see it in the great tradition of ministers and lay leaders that came before us, that built and sustained a place that we can now call home.
Most recently, I saw the Spirit moving at our church planning retreat. We come from many different worlds and find ourselves in different places on the Way. Yet, out of our different interests and different ways of speaking, we understood one another and came to a common vision. A common voice emerged out of a humility and vulnerability in listening to one another, in finding the common ground of concern for one another’s well-being, and in a passion for moving the church a little bit farther down the Path. Like those present at the first Pentecost, I’m not sure what it all means or what precisely will happen next, but I am assured that all will be well.
The Spirit of God is always present. Our task is to open ourselves to its movement, to allow ourselves to be moved, to dream dreams and have visions and speak prophetically to a world that longs for justice. Our task is to breathe the breath of life and light the fire that enlightens the world.
Pentecost is the day that the Church is formed and reformed, birthed and rebirthed, every year. We will dream dreams together and see visions together and speak prophetically to a world that longs for justice. We will be constantly born into that life, so that, little by little, all the world will be saved to a life of peace and justice.
If that sounds like something you would like to be a part of, we would love to have you. We would love to dream with you and add your voice to our chorus. Please join us this Sunday, 11am at Kidd Springs Rec Center, as we see the future of Church in the Cliff together.
Grace & Peace,
Scott