The feast of Pentecost, for us as Christians, it is revisiting the time when the third person of the Holy Trinity descended upon the disciples as tongues of fire above each head, they were each filled with a zeal for mission, with a love for unity and a passion for God.
For centuries before this though and till today for the Jewish people, Pentecost was celebrated as a giving of the law to Moses on Sinai, an event that tied them intimately with Yahweh, the one God. It was also closely connected with the timing of the first fruits of the harvest, so fifty days after their liberation from Egypt, the Passover, God meets his people and makes a covenant with them, a first covenant with the tribe not just an individual.
For us, our Passover was Jesus, the sacrificial lamb who purchased our liberation and fifty days on from Easter we too were invited into a new covenant, one that even more intimately connects us with God as individuals and as a tribe, although now a church. The disciples may well have been the first fruits from that one day but that encounter with God, the Holy Spirit is still making all things new, bringing new fruit in us ever since.
God, as the groom, took Israel as His bride, and the new covenant invites all of us into that union.
As a response to that invitation, we are required to be faithful, though He knows we may not. Receptive, though He knows we will struggle with this, and open for an intimacy to continually deepen our connection, though He knows we will require even the desire for this to come from Him first.
This is a love story.
So, what if you are struggling in the reality of living this covenantal ‘Pentecost’ marriage?Perhaps your lived experience is one that really doesn’t come close to intimate and unified? What are we to do to become this faithful bride?
I think often we are drawn into the wrong battles to remedy this, it can feel like something we have yet to do and our energies and focus settle into a long war with ourselves, to be more kind, more generous, more understanding, more patient all the while becoming painfully aware that we fail badly and rarely sustain the good we wish to do.
While we are fighting to be more, I wonder if the real battle is to become less.
So am I advising that you put your spiritual feet up?
No, no I’m not but maybe a redirection of that time and energy. This task of becoming super filled with the spirit of being deeply changed is way beyond us, we need a higher power… and yes, we do have one. It’s only through the Holy Spirit, literally ‘God in us’ can our limitations to love be stretched and widened.
Our real battle is to allow God to act in us with the least resistance…and yes, He comes with gifts to help that too. It’s that Holy Spirit fire that burns down the defences in us forming us into His image.
I have often I listened to this kind of advice, but found no one ever really tells you how, So a quick look on what helps and hinders.. you may have other things, firstly remember this is not a ‘to do’ list, but a way to best place ourselves for His transforming work in us.
Praise
This isn’t a God who needs his ego stroked by His minions, Praise changes us. When our hearts and minds are fixed on Him we start to reflect His Character, That nature that we lift up as awe inspiring moves our hearts to want to emulate. Worship is a gift in itself, from God, Gaze on me he says, grow closer. And the closer we get, the clearer the view of who He is gets revealed, the easier He is to worship and the more we want to reflect that. This is a gentle leading into the fullness all of we were created to be, and mostly we don’t even see it happening.
Thanksgiving
The most natural cure for a low mood and used as a first step by therapists everywhere for depression. When we start to focus on what we have, and the generosity of the one giving it, we shift into gratitude and our focus moves from what we feel we lack to the blessings we have.
Obedience
Scripture, church teaching, your Bishop. All have authority, even if you disagree The Lord has put these people in those positions. If there is any aspect you struggle with, pray for clarity, read up, ask your priest. My experience is there is always a rational answer and in the case of your bishop, we must trust that the Lord is still working even through some very human errors for our good and His glory.
Be faithful in the small things.
‘To everyone who has more, more will be given’
The things you CAN do like be faithful to times of prayer, to Mass on Sunday, to grace before meals, simple things. When you have learnt to notice the movements of the Holy Spirit in you, then respond, be brave, if you are faithful in responding to the small things then bigger things will follow. This isn’t a test or next level situation this is about the Lord training you in hearing Him. Fostering your confidence in your ability to hear, teaching you to trust in His word to you and your ability to respond. Its beautiful.
Asking for the inspirations
Might sound obvious but if you ask, He will respond, Our God doesn’t stomp on in uninvited you are too respected for that. So, ask for them, those encounters, situations, or conversations where you know you can speak or act from in Him.
Accepting invitations
This is a follow on from the above really, a school of discernment. You won’t be asked to do anything that contradicts church teaching, it would be unusual to be asked to abandon your vocation. There will be a persistence in the asking and it should move you towards love and Him. It’s rarely a loud shout but something you need to carve out space and silence to hear. It’s an inner voice, then you just must be brave enough to say yes to the promptings. I
Abandonment
Not fatalism or passivity but an acceptance that even when it all looks like a hot mess, He will be in it bringing beauty from those ashes. Hold everything loosely, that Job, that plan, that ideal, that perfectionist tendency, that reputation. Your hands need to be free for the real gifts.
Faithfulness to prayer
If you have this in place already fantastic, but if not, today is a great day to start, as everything hangs on it. Schedule it in, start with just 10 mins, and soon it won’t be enough, then stretch it to 15. There will be times when those 15 minutes might just feel like 15 hours stay with it, keep faithful to what you have committed to. Nothing else can happen without this smallest act of faithfulness.
Things that hinder
Largely this is the opposite list to what we’ve just covered. The hindrances will be largely negated by the ‘helps’. The Holy Spirit knows where the problems lie to you becoming fully you, so watch as each issue gets brought to the fore for your attention and His healing. But here is a list of where you can help yourself.
- Sin – I mean here unconfessed sin, use different examinations if it helps, this is a great way to inform your conscience, but the essential thing is to make a regular confession. The Holy Spirit will often prompt you for the things you should be taking, but only if you take the time to listen.
- Noise – Remember Elijah! God wasn’t in the earthquake or the thunder. Certainly, at the beginning of our journey the voice is buried deep and can be almost imperceptible until we learn to locate it in ourselves. I can’t tell you where to find it in yourselves but I can tell you you’ll need silence.
- Attachments – we’ve discussed holding things too tightly, but sometimes its deeper things like our view of God, our beliefs in who we are and who God is that might have been coloured by wounds and the world.. We can’t do this deep work by ourselves but we can permit the Lord to heal it, be brave enough to let Him take you there.
- Trust issues – These would have come from the world, relationships with other imperfect people, even parents and coloured your view of God. Lack of trust means we won’t take the steps in front of us to that freedom, go back to that gratitude list, sit before a crucifix, this is how your God loves you, but ask and watch for those small opportunities to grow in this.
- Compromise – any where in scripture where people opted for a half way mark it ended badly… look at Lot and how that story goes, this is lukewarm faith, God tells us he spits that out ! If you are lacking courage to go all in, well the Holy Spirit has a gift for that.
- Doubt and fear – they hold us back from accepting the fullness of all He wishes to give us. The answer is to bring that to prayer, be honest, name it, ask for help!
- Pride – Not just the “I’m so wonderful” kind of pride but self-reliance pushes God out while we deal with it all ourselves, let God do His thing he’s way better at it I promise.
- Idols – I’m hoping you don’t have shelves full of golden Idols at home, but often money, our reputation, Our titles or our Jobs can take precedence in our lives and we push the real king off the throne, He is then not the one in charge, well, we know that’s not the start of any great story.
Perhaps the one thing to remember is, if we just give each day, right down to each moment to God as an offering, then He will get us to where we are meant to be, if we are resisting, fighting and compromising all the way, then we are limiting the good and healing work He wishes to do.
All sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Truth is the more we do it, the easier it becomes as we build that trust and friendship with the Spirit already present, waiting to work in us…
Spend a few minutes now in silence, journal or take notes if that’s your way to reflect, there are some questions to start you off.
- What chain of events or circumstances led you to be here reflecting on this today?
- How open do you think you are, and what if anything holds you back?
- What promptings of the Holy Spirit have you responded to Intentionally or unintentionally?
- Whats the hardest thing you have ever felt called to do?
- Where did you find the strength?
- How confident were you that it was Gods’ will?
- How and why did you discern this?
