Pentecost: Many Gifts, One Spirit

We celebrate the day of Pentecost as the day the "church" came alive.  Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, but did anyone really know what that meant?   Have you ever felt the movements of the Spirit within yourself?  What did it feel like?  If you haven't, how do you feel about that?  Perhaps you are one that is skeptical of "feeling" God.  Perhaps your expectations of what that will feel like is keeping you from being aware of how God IS moving in your life.  

Many years ago I sat in a small church in Jovellanos, Cuba.  It was my third trip to visit La Iglesia de Park Temple with a small group from my church.  The Bishop was preaching at a 100 year celebration and the church was packed.  Bishop Ricardo Pereira is a charismatic man and a healer.  I know very little Spanish, just enough to manage but when I listen to Bishop Pereira I understand in the depths of my being the language of the Spirit that he speaks.  That evening I sat with a friend who is a translator but I asked him not to speak so that I could simply bask in the Spirit.  I feel like I was as open to the Spirit as I ever had been ... suddenly I was surrounded by many and various manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  I was especially entranced with a woman whose arm was in a large cast and she was dancing, twirling around and around, slowly.  I wondered, "why am I not dancing?"  My friend, also seemingly unaffected by the Spirit overtaking the room, looked at me and reading my mind, whispered "some of us do not receive this gift."  Although there was a momentary spark of envy, deep down I truly felt content and gently warmed in my heart.  I did not get the experience I wanted, but I did get the experience I got.  And so it is with our spiritual life and the gifts that we receive.  Yes, there are many gifts but only One Spirit.

When you are ready to pray with our scripture this week, I invite you to spend a few moments to prepare your heart to worship God as you engage with the text via Lectio Divina.   Breathe deeply and envision God’s Spirit filling you with love with each breath you take!  Settle into a place of confidence within yourself with a simple breath prayer.  Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables)

Breathe in (who do you worship?) ... Spirit of God
Breathe out (what do you need?)     ... Move in Me

and when you are ready to move deeper into the text, pray ... Come Spirit Come! Illuminate my mind, enflame my heart, and enliven my body.  As I pray with your holy Word, may I hear your voice emerging through the text and my prayers.  Encourage me to serve others with love, justice, and compassion.  In Christ, Amen.

Step 1: Lectio … reading

Read  1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (NET) to yourself twice in a slow and reverent manner.
Listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.
Silently focus on that word or phrase.
Repeat it several times and allow it to sift through your heart and mind.

No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.  For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.

Step 2: Meditatio … receiving
Continue to focus on your word or phrase.
Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings it evokes.
What images emerge in your imagination?
What memories come to your mind?
Ask God to continue to speak to you through this word
Listen for God’s reply as you move through your day

Step 3: Oratio … responding
Consider any desires that have been awakened by your prayer
Perhaps you have found an area of your life that needs attention
Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers and desires

Step 4: Contempatio … resting
Allow yourself to rest in the silence.
Allow your mind to settle into the silence.
When you feel the time to move on ...

If images are a pathway to God for you, you may want to pray while "gazing" upon this amazing icon of the Pentecost event ... and let IT search you! 

Descent of the Holy Spirit (Novodevichy Convent) by anonimus image in Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

If music is a pathway to God for you, you may want to take this link to youtube, close your eyes and listen to "Spirit of the Living God" by Bryan & Katie Torwalt.  It is a little different than the traditional song ... and quite beautiful. 

You may want to finish your time of praying with scripture with this Prayer to the Holy Spirit written by St Augustine. Also quite beautiful .... and appropriate for the day!

Breathe into me, Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.

Move in me, Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.

Attract my heart, Holy Spirit,
that I may love only what is holy.

Strengthen me, Holy Spirit,
that I may defend all that is holy.

Protect me, Holy Spirit,
that I may always be holy.  Amen. Amen. Amen.