The Spirit Transforms Us

You can listen to this blog read aloud by Emma here:

Pentecost Artwork by Polish artist, Aneta Siedlecka

My friends know I’m a preacher’s kid, and because I go to a Christian college, the jokes are usually kept to a minimum. It mostly manifests itself as wanting to be my partner during Bible trivia games, or asking which holiday falls when, or needing help during a final New Testament paper.

But one night we were watching a show when a priest came on screen wearing purple, and I began arguing with the TV about the liturgical seasons and ordinary time. The show had to be paused, phones were pulled out, and we all learned that Catholic liturgical colors are slightly different than Protestant ones.

“But why do you even know that stuff?” A lot of it comes with being a preacher’s kid, watching my dad change the color of the communion table. Or asking my mom for a liturgical calendar for my wall. But most of it comes from a fascination with the seasons and the cyclical nature of the year.

This Sunday is Pentecost (ok, last Sunday was actually Pentecost, but we moved celebrating the holiday because so many of us had Covid) the only day on the liturgical calendar with its own color (red!). After the end of Lent, and Eastertide, Pentecost is marked with a vibrant color, and for good reason.

Pentecost gets its own color on the calendar not because we all like fire (though if I were in charge that’s exactly what would happen. I would also make Christmas pink, and add random blue Sundays just for fun). Pentecost is set aside because of the magnitude of the four miracles, three of which get a lot of attention: Fire, Wind, and Language.

In the rise and fall of seasons, Pentecost is a time of miracles.

I love the way the liturgical seasons work because it helps me meditate on things outside of myself. Lent guides me into lament, Advent guides me into preparing room, and Pentecost guides me into the power of the Holy Spirit.

Fire, Wind, and the ability to speak any language are pretty obvious miracles. As a linguist, I would love nothing more than to just know a language immediately, without having to spend years learning it. And fire just appearing, wind making the impossible real? All of these are hard to ignore; they’re right in your face!

But this Sunday, we’re focusing a lot on the fourth miracle of Pentecost: knowing and being known by God, aka the Holy Spirit. This miracle doesn’t get much airtime; it’s a little less obvious, but no less important. The Holy Spirit breaks down the barriers between people: language, culture, belief. And wow, are we living in a time with a lot of barriers between people.

Acts 2 tells this part of the story:

“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound [Wind] a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.”

The Jews heard the Wind, and they heard the Language, but they were drawn together by the Holy Spirit despite their differences, and I think it’s no coincidence that they both came together in confusion and, a few verses later, start arguing.

Uncommon friendship (and common discipleship) is all over Pentecost.

The miracles come together to get people who would ordinarily have nothing to do with each other to both talk and worship alongside each other. They argue, yes, but who doesn’t argue with even their common friends? And although the fourth miracle isn’t as obvious as the other three, it’s perhaps the most crucial one.

Understanding why Pentecost gets its own color is understanding the significance of the fourth miracle. The Holy Spirit allows us to have this intimate experience with a personal God that wasn’t possible before.

One can read Scripture, or hear it, but only the power of the Holy Spirit can transform those words in our hearts into something we can understand.

Pentecost is a day of celebrating the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, of coming together with uncommon friends in a common discipleship that’s set afire by the Holy Spirit. It’s a time that leads us to God’s love and reveals just how much he wants to be close to us, and how much he desires closeness for one another.

We all want the visible signs of power: fire, wind, changing language. But the fourth miracle, the Holy Spirit and drawing closer to God, is what the people in the story valued most and it’s what we’re invited to value as well.

The question we’re asking this Sunday is, “How does it make you feel to hear that the same Holy Spirit that filled the first disciples with his love also wants to fill and empower you with his love?”

The Spirit transforms us then, now, and forever.

That moment with my friends when we were watching TV could’ve been one I forgot. It could have slipped right on by, one memory out of thousands that fade away and never come back. But something made me pause, look at what happened, and say “wow, I know a lot more about the church than I think I do. Why’s that?” The reflection brought me to the realization that I’m more invested in God then I think I am, and it helped me surrender just that much more of my heart.