This Week

This week at praxis...Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost had come, 
they were all together in one place.  
And suddenly from heaven there came 
a sound like the rush of a violent wind, 
and it filled the entire house where 
they were sitting.  Divided tongues, 
as of fire, appeared among them, 
and a tongue rested on each of them.  
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit 
and began to speak in other languages, 
as the Spirit gave them ability. 
Now there were devout Jews from 
every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  
And at this sound the crowd 
gathered and was bewildered, 
because each one heard them 
speaking in the native language of each.  
Amazed and astonished, they asked, 
"Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  
And how is it that we hear, each of us, 
in our own native language?  Parthians, 
Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, 
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the 
parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, 
and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  
Cretans and Arabs-in our own languages 
we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."  
All were amazed and perplexed, 
saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
 		- Acts 2:1-12
 
We know that the whole creation has been 
groaning in labor pains until now;  
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, 
who have the first fruits of the Spirit, 
groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, 
the redemption of our bodies.  
For in hope we were saved. 
Now hope that is seen is not hope. 
For who hopes for what is seen?   
But if we hope for what we do not see, 
we wait for it with patience.  
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; 
for we do not know how to pray as we ought, 
but that very Spirit intercedes  
with sighs too deep for words.  
And God, who searches the heart, 
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, 
because the Spirit intercedes for 
the saints according to the will of God.
 	-Romans 8:22-27

Perhaps nowhere in the New Testament 
does the human need to explain, 
and therefore to establish a sense of control, 
falter more convincingly than when 
it encounters references to the Spirit.  
As the notes in the NRSV indicate, 
we sometimes do not even know whether 
the word refers to the wind, to God's Spirit, 
or to a human or some other spirit 
(thus the confusion over whether the English 
word should appear in uppercase or lowercase)
...What we repeatedly fail to acknowledge 
is that the desire to explain is antithetical 
to the Spirit itself, precisely because 
the Spirit does blow where the Spirit wills 
and not where exegetes and preachers might like.  
The celebration of Pentecost ought to 
remind us of that important fact.
-Texts for Preaching edited by Cousar, 
Gaventa, McCann, Newsome 
 A Rushing Mighty Wind:  The Greek literally says 
"a violent wind being borne along" 
(pheremenes pnoes biaias).  
It was a reverberating roar that made the 
120 fully alert for what was to follow...

The Spirit: The Greek word for spirit is pneuma.  
It comes from the verb pneo, which means 
"blow" or "breathe."  Hence the noun signifies 
first of all a blowing or breathing, 
and so "wind" or "breath."

...But our main interest in pneuma is in 
its use for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, 
the Spirit of Christ.  That is the most 
common usage in the Epistles of Paul.  
He employs the word in that sense 
literally scores of times.  
That is its significance in the eighth chapter of Romans.
	-Word Meanings in the New Testament, Ralph Earle

I was reading about rationalism,
the kind of think we do up north
in early winter, where the sun
leaves work for the day at 4:15.

Maybe the world is  intelligible
to the rational mind:
and maybe we light the lamps at dusk
for nothing...

Then I heard wings overheard.

The cats and I chased the bat
in circles-living room, kitchen,
pantry, kitchen, living room...
At every turn it evaded us

like the identity of the third person 
in the Trinity:  the one
who spoke through the prophets,
the one who astounded Mary
by suddenly coming near.
	-"The Bat", Jane Kenyon 

Questions:


	What words/names do you know for the "Holy Spirit"?  
	Which ones do you like?
	How do you differentiate the Holy Spirit from God, or Jesus?
	What does it mean to be "filled with the Spirit?"
	How do you experience the Holy Spirit?  
	What images help you make sense of the Holy Spirit?
	Is it important for you to explain or understand the story of Pentecost?
	How does "Spirit" evade understanding?  Why?