Pentecost

You send forth your Spirit

Psalm 104:31

As a Caribbean pentecostalist whose theological and denomination groundings are in the Assemblies of God Church, the celebration of this Sunday as the day of Pentecost holds special meaning. As a child, long before I became aware of Church doctrines and practices, I was conscious of the Divine in my life as a felt spiritual presence. Perhaps being raised in the Church of England, imbued that sense of the Divine, but my youthfulness precluded an understanding and a conscious acceptance of its traditions. As an adult I was able to make choices as to my religious affiliation and to explore the nature of my beliefs. An abiding principle behind all of my explorations has been the conviction that the Holy Spirit would guide and ensure my safety as I entered new areas of spiritual understanding and belief. I have always found the exhortation to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling deeply reassuring.

…work out, cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling, self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ. Phil. 2:12 Amplified.

Perhaps the experience of God in my childhood and the sense of Christ as a brother growing up with me, has contributed to my reliance on the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. Scripture tells us that Christ, aware of his impending death, prayed that God would send us another Comforter – a Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby, who would not be limited by an earthly life and therefore not confined to a specific time in history. On Sunday we celebrate a scriptural fulfilment of his request. Over the years I have witnessed genuine manifestations of the Gifts of the Spirit (including speaking in tongues) in various faith traditions; some outside evangelical Pentecostalism. With growing spiritual maturity comes discernment and I have learnt never to place my trust solely in the physical signs of the Spirit that can be easily counterfeited. 1 John 4:1 tells us.

Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove - test - the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.

The Holy Spirit interacts with us in many ways - some contrary to our expectations. We can grow in our abilities to expect the unexpected and not to be unbalanced. We can go with the ebb and flow of God’s spiritual direction, open to new insights and open to seeing others more clearly, with increasing Light. We can take comfort in the knowledge that the Spirit in Hebrew is feminine providing that necessary attribute to balance the Divine. Truly Heavenly Father Mother God. Even in the neutered Greek form, pneuma as neither male nor female, the Holy Spirit, carries an overwhelmingly inclusive persona, open to all the myriad of genders and identities within our creative humanity. A wondrous symbol of what it means to be made in the image of God. We can take delight in our similarities and differences, assured of our inclusion in God’s grace. More over, we are guaranteed an active participation in the continuing Divine revelation through the Holy Spirit. We need not be afraid of discovering a deeper understanding of the mysteries of God that enlighten and excite us. The celebration of the Day of Pentecost is a constant reminder that the Holy Spirit is not a conveyor of yesterday’s news, but a source of deeper learning and peacefulness.

Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ - the Messiah, advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works, dead formalism and of the faith by which you turned to God. With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgement and punishment. These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long ago. If indeed God permits, we will now proceed to advanced teaching. Heb. 6:1-3 Ampl.

May the Holy Spirit of God continue to bless you with amazing insights into God’s limitless love.

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