Come Holy Spirit!
Hello there! It’s been a while. Good to be back. This past weekend we celebrated Pentecost, which marks the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, Jesus’ mother Mary, and various disciples. Waiting with anticipation (and no uncertain amount of fear) after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the Apostles received this special grace to give them the courage, fortitude, and wisdom to carry on Jesus’ message. This was the birth of the church. In a beautiful parallel with the Old Testament, the 50 days separating Easter and Pentecost mirror the 50 days between the first Jewish Passover in Egypt until the giving of the Ten Commandments and Torah on Mount Sinai.
Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the third person of the Trinity as an advocate, guide, consoler, teacher, comforter, and encourager to help his followers, including us today. The story is well known of how the arrival of the Holy Spirit turned fearful doubting disciples into courageous articulate proclaimers of the Way. And so we find ourselves today, often fearful and anxious, discouraged and confused, grieving and suffering, still in need of the Holy Spirit to guide and console us. But do we remember to ask for his help?
In many ways, the Holy Spirit is the least invoked and most easily forgotten person of the Trinity. It feels natural to pray to God the Father, who created and sustains the universe. And Jesus the Son became one of us so we could better understand the personal love of the God for each one of us. But the Holy Spirit…what does that look like? A rushing wind? A tongue of fire? A descending dove? Harder to picture and often even harder to pray to.
Forgive the slightly irreverent music analogy, but the Holy Spirit in some ways feels like the bass guitar player of a rock trio. Everyone sees and adores the charismatic frontman, Jesus the star vocalist, the Word, hanging on every lyric of his wisdom. And one can imagine God the Father as the steady drummer, never missing a beat, hands and feet creating a unifying rhythm among many diverse strains to give foundation to the whole song of life. But the Holy Spirit, the quiet bass player, isn’t really noticed unless you pay attention. He doesn’t seek to stand out or assert himself to outshine his bandmates. Sure, he takes an occasional solo which wows us all to think “Where has this guy been?” But at the core, he calmly confidently plays his role in the song, offering an intricacy, stability, and depth that are only recognized with careful listening. You might even notice him most by his absence, perhaps during that interlude where his part takes a pause. Something critical is missing, the song sounding empty…until he surges back in for the finale and the song feels complete again.
All this to say that the Holy Spirit has an integral part to play in our lives that we too often overlook. He works throughout our lives, weaving in and out of our daily joys and struggles. When we open our hearts and souls to his presence, his movement in our lives become so much clearer, and the song of our days becomes richer. Over the next few posts, we’ll explore recognizing and invoking the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives and especially our journey through health and illness.
