Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Whitsun 2011, Hidden

Pentecost
John 14: 23-31

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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.]

Pentecost (Whitsun)
Danny Hahlbohm
June 12, 2011
John 14:23-31

One of the most elemental games we play as children is hide-and-seek. Everyone hides and one child looks for them. One of the comforting rules of the game is that if, after diligent searching, maybe with help of others hidden and found, one can call out, ‘Come out come out wherever you are!’ and the one still hidden will show himself.

Today is Pentecost or Whitsun. The disciples had lost sight of Christ ten days previously at His Ascension into the realm of the clouds. He hid Himself in the biosphere. In today’s reading Christ stresses trusting and loving Him even when He seems to have gone away. He said he would not leave us as orphans; He said he would be with us till the end of the ages. Christ assures us that although He seems to be hidden, we can trust that He will appear, though not in the way we might expect. We are not to become upset or afraid; but to trust. He will send us His Spirit of Healing Love. For He has hidden Himself in plain sight.

John O’Donohue gives us some hints about seeking and finding this Spirit of Healing and Love. He says:

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

….Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.[1]

Christ’s disciples, waiting mournfully for Him to appear, experienced wind and fire, visions, speech and an upwelling of joyful enthusiasm. They had to wait for ten days. But they stuck it out. And He came to them through what they saw and heard, as understanding and inspiration.


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[1] John O’Donohue, “A Blessing for One who is Exhausted”, in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 125. 

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