A JOURNEY TO PENTECOST  

I was wide awake at at 3 o ¢â‚¬â„¢clock this morning. A mogadon sleeping tablet could not entice any more sleep…

Yesterday afternoon I ¢â‚¬â„¢d brought Jan home from a 10-day sojourn in the special care unit of the local hospital. Some bright imaging on a PET scan told us she had uterine cancer.  

How serious? Hopefully we ¢â‚¬â„¢ll know in the next few days as her two doctors and two specialists examine her and confer…  

In the darkness I asked my confused brain why the love of my life  ¢â‚¬“ for 55 years! – my closest and dearest companion, had to be the first in our immediate families  ¢â‚¬“ parents, siblings, their/our children, grandchildren  ¢â‚¬“ to suffer from any form of this dreaded disease?  

I ¢â‚¬â„¢d read the books  ¢â‚¬“ A Grief Observed, Where is God When it Hurts?, Good Grief, The Road Less Traveled, Disappointment with God    ¢â‚¬“ but I know there ¢â‚¬â„¢s no universal script for this dark drama…  

At 4 am I got up, made coffee, and went to my oratory to pray and read the Scriptures. Next Sunday, Pentecost, I ¢â‚¬â„¢m supposed to preach about the Holy Spirit and life and hope and miracles.

I read again, slowly, the amazing story in Acts 2.  

~~

There are 30-40 sermons in my files on this broad theme, so it should easy, right? Wrong. Google says that of the 170 articles on our website  ¢â‚¬ËœThe Holy Spirit ¢â‚¬â„¢s Gift of Energy ¢â‚¬â„¢ is the most popular Pentecost sermon.  

Not appropriate.  

Not at all, for someone who ¢â‚¬â„¢s battling such confused thoughts and very sad feelings…  

~~  

The Holy Spirit is the vaguest of God ¢â‚¬â„¢s  ¢â‚¬Ëœpersons ¢â‚¬â„¢. The notion of  ¢â‚¬Ëœspirit ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ and especially  ¢â‚¬ËœHoly Ghost ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ doesn ¢â‚¬â„¢t seem to relate to the hard realities of our lives. But when we really  ¢â‚¬Ëœget it ¢â‚¬â„¢ the Holy Spirit is to us what Jesus was to his Palestinian followers  ¢â‚¬“ friend/ companion, comforter/advocate, teacher, empowerer, insight-giver, Saviour, healer… there are dozens of metaphors in the New Testament.

Seven dot-points got listed on myscratch-pad.

(Watch this space for more this week…)

Update: Full text of sermon here