And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:16-17 | NRSV
In his new collection of sermons and essays, Just Tell The Truth, Richard Lischer offers the following example of how The Holy Spirit is working among us right now – in present day.
“Several years ago, the Diocese of North Carolina assigned a priest to initiate a ministry to the Latino community in the eastern part of the state where many were working in agriculture or the chicken-processing plants. How to begin? A feasibility study? An advertising blitz? Here’s what he does: he takes a card table, a hand-woven blanket, and some bread and a cruet of wine to the local laundromat, and there he sets up shop. Within weeks, Pentecost happens and a congregation materializes. Soon the patrons are crossing themselves and waiting for a break in the Mass to switch their clothing from washers to dryers. The “Laundromat Priest,” as he is known, intones the Great Thanksgiving during the spin cycle. A newspaper reports, “They stand respectfully toward the rear of the washerette, as if occupying holy ground.” About this church you could say, it doesn’t have much promise. On the other hand, all it has is the promise (and it has proved to be more than enough): “I will not leave you desolate.”
May 23 the Church around the world will celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is so much more than a day, or a season. It is a gift of remembering and giving thanks for all the ways God continues to proclaim his rule and reign in the world. Someone has noted that Christmas is the festival of God with us. Pentecost is the celebration of God in us. God in the present tense. This is the same God who chooses to show up in a laundromat here in eastern North Carolina and birth a church. The same Spirit witnessed at work in Jesus two-thousand years ago is somehow at work in and through us as well; available and visible everywhere.
Let me encourage you to declare to others all the ways you see the Spirit’s fingerprints in your own life, the life of your church family, and in the communities where you live and work and play. The Spirit is sometimes named, “The Witness-Bearer,” or “Advocate,” which is another way of noting how the Spirit can infuse us with a confidence, and empower our actions in ways that declare to those around us the great gift of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. By the working of the Spirit we catch glimpses of God’s kingdom in the here-and-now: (God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.)
So, where do you see the Spirit at work in your community? To whom does the Spirit seem to be bringing hope? How is the Spirit not only only helping you to see with new eyes, but granting you a willingness to serve those around you? Now – who with the Spirit’s help will you tell?
Still In ONE Peace,
Jon (the Methodist)
If you would like to view past editions of How Sweet the Sound, follow this link: https://sounddistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/