A new Pentecost

Travelling during a pandemic presents its own challenges. Often we can expect things to be as they were before. We become familiar with old ways of acting and living. This can cause us confusion and frustration when presented with a new way of experiencing life. This is not just about long queues, rising costs or cancellations. Rather it is how we meet God along the way amongst different languages and different cultures.

What Pentecost teaches us is that God wants to be communicated to every nation in a language which unites. This is how we are moved by God’s Spirit to listen. We often run around with many thoughts in our heads, plans to be made and things to be achieved. When we speak it seems to come out in a jumble and we wonder whether we have been clearly understood. We worry that our words are not adequate to express what we feel deep inside.

Yet it is this quiet still voice which opens up the possibility to be known. This is what happens in prayer. It is not about finding the right formula but rather discovering who we are called to be in the presence of God. We become stilled and speak in a language which does not need words. It is from this still place that we can be present to others. To become grace filled and grace led.

May the Spirit of God fall afresh on us that we may live from that relationship which sets us on fire for the love of God who always loves us first.