Welcoming the Spirit

I wanted to call this post “unencumbering the Spirit” but my spell check didn’t like it, and the length of the word was the opposite of what I was going for. But I do really like the word unencumbered.

To say that this has been a difficult week is an under-statement. Not only were we still reeling from the Manchester attack which targeted young girls, but then London was terrorized. Victims of violence in other parts of the world barely got mention on newsfeeds. In my own community, a woman pleaded guilty to murdering 8 seniors, most of them at a care facility in my hometown where she was a nurse. I happen to live across from the court house and couldn’t miss the numerous television trucks last Thursday which beamed the news across the country all day long.

Leading worship on Pentecost, a day that is supposed to remind us of the Spirit’s presence blowing the Church into being and sustaining it, was a bit challenging for me in the midst of all of this darkness. To add to this, our denominational national meeting began on Sunday where some very divisive issues are being discussed and voted on, with the potential for enormous fractures of the church. Happy Pentecost, everyone.

But then last night, I went out for a weekly walk with a friend. Storm clouds were threatening, but we decided to go anyway. I put on my raincoat and sneakers in anticipation of a good chat, and remembered how much I love the fact that I leave my wallet and purse at home when we walk. Often I only bring my keys. That’s where I was reminded of how wonderful it is to be unencumbered. That walk was literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air - journeying together, listening and sharing the events of the week, the breeze blowing gently around us and restoring us.

Sometimes we feel a bit down on ourselves, particularly in times of deep darkness. Why aren’t we experiencing the Spirit’s power as we think we should be? Our whole journey isn’t going to be fireworks and spectacular mountaintops. Even Jesus experienced wilderness times. But if we’re feeling spiritually dry and brittle, perhaps something is encumbering us as individuals and the church, weighing us down and not allowing God’s wind to blow through us. Is it possible that our past, our anxieties and fears, our honouring of tradition rather than looking at what fresh breezes are blowing – that these and other things are blocking the life-giving Spirit?

How amazing would it be to spend the next few months as a congregation and as individuals working to unencumber and lighten ourselves? sifting through the stuff that has piled up in our learning and worship spaces that blocks the movement of God’s Spirit of gentleness? sorting what has piled up in our homes and even in our hearts and thinking that is an obstacle to whatever new visions and dreams the Spirit has for us?

I love in Acts 2:17-18 where Peter quotes the prophet Joel. I love the image of the Spirit being poured out filling young and old, men and women, slaves and free, with ideas and prophecy, visions and dreams. It makes me wonder: What is our receptivity and willingness to embrace what the Spirit is pouring out on us? Are we open or closed? A cup able to collect what is sent, or a sieve letting it all fall through to the ground? Are we finely tuned to discern what is of the Spirit?

I challenge you to plan and find time this summer, with others and on your own, to listen and consider what the Spirit is asking of you in 2017. Where do you best hear God’s voice? Is it on retreat? in Bible Study? in the woods? at camp? in prayer? in worship? in new experiences and travel? in dreams? Make the time and do it. This is as much a challenge for me as for you, because it’s something I say I’ll do and have the best of intentions, but rarely find I’ve done it by the time routines wind up again in the fall. And yet it is one of the most important things we can do as followers and leaders in the church.

Happy unencumbering! May you receive what God has poured out for you!