Pastor Hugh's Summer Meditation
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COME HOLY SPIRIT
I’ll never forget the time, during my 20s, when I spent a summer hiking in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Our party was camped out on a large glacier at the foot of Gannett Peak. It had been cold and drizzling for some time and all of us were doing our best to stay warm in our tents and, by now rather soggy, sleeping bags. Then came the wind. It started as a slight breeze which grew stronger and stronger until we, in our tents, were holding on to the tent poles and anything else we could grab, hoping that our tents wouldn’t shred or the poles snap. The sudden squall lasted only a few short but terrifying minutes and then it was over. There were some broken poles, but fortunately nothing that couldn’t be repaired. What was changed was our appreciation for how powerful, and potentially damaging the wind can be, and how vulnerable one can become in the face of its power.
Click on image to see a larger view of St. Paul’s “Holy Spirit” Window, in a separate window.
I tell this story in order to introduce another source of overwhelming power—the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word which is translated as “spirit” is ruach. In the New Testament it is pneuma. Interesting to note is that both ruach and pneuma can also be translated either as “breath” or as “wind.”
In the first creation story, Genesis 1:1-2 we read, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (NRSV) Some say it was a mighty wind. Other translators say that the “Spirit of God was moving over the water.” (CEV) Why this word study? Because if you look around St. Paul’s sanctuary and nave, you’ll see reminders of the Spirit all around you. They are in the new large Pentecost banners that adorn the chancel wall on either side of the cross, and in the “Holy Spirit” window pictured here and found in the nave, in one of the Gospel side windows, nearest the narthex.
For Christians, the symbol of the Holy Spirit is the descending dove. Mark records, at Jesus’ baptism, that, “just as [Jesus] was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” (Mark 1:10) This same Spirit, that was poured out upon Jesus at his baptism was poured out upon the disciples on Pentecost when “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where [Jesus’ disciples] were sitting.” (Acts 2:2) In John’s Gospel the disciples received the Spirit when Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (20:22) (Are you seeing a connection between wind, breath and spirit?)
What is Good News for us, as we seek to navigate the complexities and bear the weight of our callings is that this same breathing, windy, and mighty Spirit is poured into our lives at our baptism. There we hear this plea, “Pour your Holy Spirit upon [this child of yours]: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence.” (Lutheran Book of Worship, “Holy Baptism”) What promised resources for hope and life: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord, and joy in God’s presence. It is no wonder that we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit. Come!”
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
Summer 2008
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