Spirit to spirit

 

If you lived in the first-century Greco-Roman world and you had an important question to answer — should I marry this person? will we have children? should I undertake this venture, or opportunity? will my business be successful? should I go to war with my neighbour? — you would first go to the Oracle at Delphi. There the Pythia would enter an inner chamber, sit on a throne, and, possessed by the Spirit of Python, speak the words of the god of prophecy, Apollo.

Luke presents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as the true fulfilment of the longings expressed at Delphi. The Spirit of the living God falls upon the disciples, enthroned in an inner chamber, empowering them to speak. Peter further describes this as the Spirit of God dwelling with our own human spirit.

To be human is to wrestle with existential questions, with the aid of our own oracle of choice.

The first question we ask, long before we have words to articulate it, is ‘Am I safe?’ We ask this, first and foremost, of our parents, and if we are fortunate the answer is yes, we are safe with them, safe from them. Not every child is so blessed. But the Spirit of God whispers to our spirit, ‘Whatever you face, I will never abandon you.’

While we are toddlers, the question becomes, ‘Am I good?’ How our parents respond when we are toilet training and have frequent accidents has a massive impact on how we answer this question, on how we meet shame. But the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘I created you, and everything I created is good; indeed, you are human, and the human is not just good but exceedingly good.’

As pre-schoolers taking our first steps out into the wide world, the question becomes, ‘Am I enough?’ Do I have the necessary courage? And the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘Be brave and very courageous, for I am with you, wherever you go. I will rescue you and bring you home.’

At primary school the question becomes, ‘Am I capable?’ Not omnicompetent, but, can I master something? Here, school can open our horizons or crush us with reductive testing. But the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘See the gifts that I have planted within you — to be musical, or good with numbers or with words, or athletic, or...’

As adolescents the question becomes, ‘Am I whole?’ Can I be fully myself at home, or in front of my friends, or is there some part of me that I must keep hidden? Do I even know myself in full? And the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘You are held: while you figure out who you are becoming, I hold you; where you are vulnerable, I will protect you; and where you have been broken by the words or actions of others, or by yourself, I will hold those pieces together.’

In our twenties and thirties, the question becomes, ‘Am I loveable?’ Not just, will I find a life partner, or, can I make a romantic relationship work, but, wider and deeper, am I able to love myself? If we cannot answer this question well, we will look for love in unhealthy or even abusive relationships. But the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘You are loved from before the worlds began, and nothing — nothing at all — can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And my life in you empowers you to love, to receive love and to give love.’

In our forties and fifties and sixties, the question becomes, ‘Am I significant?’ Can I achieve something that will last beyond my own time? Can I leave the world a better place than I found it? We might seek to answer that in the realm of family or work, in different ways. But the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘You are my gift to the world, unique and unrepeatable, made to be fruitful, through whom blessing might flow.’

As we move on from the world of work into mature adulthood, the question becomes, ‘Am I content?’ Looking back on my life, have I made something beautiful? And can I come to accept the inevitable losses of life, including the truth that some things that were very important to me have not outlasted me? And the Spirit of God says to our spirit, ‘I will comfort you. See, I am making all things new: and you have been part of that as yet incomplete story. But I will restore all that has been lost. I forgive all that has been left undone. Even the dead shall rise again.’

Such questions are human questions. Pentecost is an ongoing story — a story I baptised young Arla Rose into this morning — a lifelong friendship, conversation, between our spirit and the Spirit of God.

Happy Pentecost!