A Meditation for Pentecost

By Nancy Vernon Kelly

​

“The Holy Spirit is an active partner who blows, stirs, calls, frees, moves, coaxes, creates, awakens, sweeps, stings, goads, speaks, sings, cries, whispers and breaks all forms of bondage.”

~ Paul Westermeyer, listing the verbs in the Pentecost Hymn

“Spirit of Gentleness.”

As some of you know, my family once lived close to where the Eaton Fire in California destroyed most of Altadena, a once-vibrant, diverse community minutes from here we lived. We were unnerved by news of the fire and appreciated Mount Zion’s Sunday prayers for people far away who are suffering.

Years ago on Good Friday, we visited Christ the Shepherd Lutheran Church in Altadena. It was a Tenebrae service when the sanctuary gradually became darker as one by one the flames on the candles were snuffed out. I hadn’t thought about that little church for years until a friend who belongs there told us that many of its members lost their homes when the neighbourhood around the church was destroyed. Read more