Pentecost
John 14: 23-31
Jesus replied, “He who truly
loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him
and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He
who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word
that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.
I have said this to you while I am still with you.
But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all
that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do
not be afraid [have no fear].
You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away,
and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am
going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I
am.
I have told you now, before it happens, so that
when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for
soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.
But the world shall see in this how I love the
Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s
purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be
on our way.]
Whitsunday
May 31,
2009
Whitsunday
John 14:23-31
At the first Pentecost event, the disciples see a mighty
fire that divides itself into separate flames. Each flame comes to rest over
the head of one of them.
In paintings by Fra Angelico, the flame also appears above
the heads of angels. It is the symbol of an expanded awareness, an awareness
that a river of love, the water of life, flows through all of creation,
pervading the entire universe. The flames are the fire of love, a love which
creates, whose flames are creating our eternal existence.
A sudden awareness of the love that creates and bears the
universe can at the same time make us aware of our own shortcomings in the
realm of love. How loveless we can sometimes be! This painful self-awareness
becomes the fire that burns, that burns away the dross of our selfish egotism.
Once overcome, however, we can then proceed to generate the fire and warmth of
a quiet but enthusiastic love for others, especially for those whose path is
different from ours. We can generate an enthusiastic love for the truth. We can
generate enthusiasm for deeds of service.
The poet[1]
helps us become aware of our fear of this transformation of the self:
On the left is a blazing fire and
On my right a cool flowing stream
One group of people walk toward the
fire, into the fire
And the other toward the cool
flowing waters
No one knows which is blessed and
which is not.
But just as someone enters the
fire,
That head bobs up from the water
And just as a head enters the water
That face appears in the fire….
The voice of the fire says:
I am not fire, I am fountainhead
Come into me, and don’t mind the
sparks.
Our true self is a fire that burns; it burns away egotism;
it burns unextinguished in the waters of life-giving love.
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