Come Holy Spirit

Around Pentecost I am always mindful of a cartoon from many years ago which was of Pontius Puddle asking God what he should do - God replied in a heavenly speech bubble telling him to feed the poor and tend the sick and various other tasks. Pontius looks us and says "Just testing" - God replies - me too.

"Come Holy Spirit" we sang and prayed today. But then, listening to the retelling of the mighty coming of the Spirit in Acts I wonder just how ready we truly are to receive the Spirit should God answer with full force.

I have preached the sermon before about the Celtic symbol for the Holy Spirit - the goose. Geese give us a different perspective on Gods interaction with us than doves (although I believe that doves are not really quite as cute as we often depict them to be). Geese are communal creatures, they are graceful in flight and quite amazing to watch. But they are also loud, raucous creatures with bad tempers, and fierce defenders of their nests and young. Think about a goose honking loudly - not the sweet coo of the dove - but actually much more akin to the fire and rushing force of the Holy Spirit which our earlier brothers and sisters seem to describe in Acts.

Sometimes our images of things allow us to sanitize them into uselessness - if we think of the Holy Spirit as something quiet and sweet - something just to make us feel better, something to admire even then we have lost the whole point. Looking at other images, finding God at work in the nooks and crannies of our world , those are the places where the reality of that prayer for the Spirit might come to life.

God often does work quietly, a gentle presence but God also rushes and demands at time, God loves fiercely. When we pray for the Spirit we are not only praying for a quiet life but also for a fierce and uncompromising love to fill us - a love which does not take oppression and injustice as good enough, a love which seeks God in all places and all people all the time, a love which spills and splashes and floods into the streets of our lives.

So do come, Holy Spirit, but give us strength and faith to really live into You, to really be transformed by You, to allow You to be both as gentle and as rushing as You really are.