By the Way: A Prayer for Pentecost

By REV. DR. NANCY COCKS on May 22, 2021.

Sunday is the celebration of Pentecost for most Christians, marking the 50th day after Easter when the Holy Spirit blessed the followers of Jesus with gifts to serve him in the world.

In the Book of Acts, the story uses images of wind and fire to describe God’s power at work. When friends in Prince Albert began soaking their home this week to protect it from flames fanned by the wind, I thought these weren’t the best images of God’s power for a dry prairie spring. However, as the story goes, the wind of the Spirit created understanding among Jesus’ followers who had gathered from all over the known world. Touched by “flames” of the Spirit, they discovered they could understand each other, even though they all spoke different languages. We could use the gift of understanding this spring, for even the followers of Jesus are quite divided in this moment of pandemic restrictions.

Perhaps a more fitting symbol of the Holy Spirit this year would be the dove, a symbol of peace and blessing. This thought called to mind a list of the Spirit’s gifts which Saint Paul calls “fruit,” characteristics Christians could offer communities struggling impatiently with restrictions. Paul suggests the Spirit calls us to live with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, generosity and self-control.” (Gal. 5.22-23). This is not a menu from which we get to choose the one fruit we like most. It’s meant to describe life in the Spirit for all Jesus’ followers. Could we not exemplify better the Spirit’s life-giving power if Christians used all this fruit in the ways we take on the life-preserving discipline of pandemic restrictions? My prayer this Pentecost will ask the Spirit to help Christians bear this fruit peaceably, in order to bless our vulnerable neighbours whom Jesus who calls us to love in his name.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks, retired professor of theology

5
-4