Serve in the Spirit's power

We have come through all the whirlwind of Holy Week, with Maundy Thursday’s foot washing, Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist, and stripping of the altar; the agony of Good Friday’s cross, and now finding ourselves in the throes of what is called the Great Fifty Days: the fifty days of the season of Easter, between Easter Sunday and the Day of Pentecost (meaning “fiftieth day”), which is on May 28^th this year.  You may recall that, based on the story from the Book of Acts that we hear that day (when “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”), some of our scripture is read in different languages.

The Holy Spirit is probably the least understood aspect of our Trinitarian understanding of the nature of God and, depending on your background, often either something to be feared or something that is a travesty that we do not embrace more fully.  To over-simplify it, the Holy Spirit is simply God’s continuing presence among us that makes us who we are as people of faith and empowers the faith community to serve in God’s name.

Wouldn’t it be great during this time of increasing division in our communities if, serving in the Holy Spirit’s power, we lived more deeply into our Baptismal Covenant promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons or, as we hear in Revelation (7:9), to serve those “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” who were counted as worthy to stand before God’s throne?  In these remaining Great Fifty Days, as we anticipate the day (and season) of Pentecost’s Holy Spirit, pray to embrace more fully God’s active presence among us as we seek to serve all people in the Spirit’s power.

-Marc