Pentecost is risky, isn’t it? The Spirit’s arrival breaks us out of our comfortable boxes (like the ones where we speak languages we know to people we know, or where wind stays outside, or fire in its regular place—and not on people’s heads like they’re candles with wicks lit). The things that happen when Pentecost comes feel not only mysterious and inexplicable, but also completely out of our control. No one in that room made the wind rush in. No one went around lighting the flames that suddenly burned overhead. No one thought that morning that they would speak a language they had never heard to a person they had never met. Pentecost is a joyful gift, one we could never make happen…and yet, it’s a bit scary, isn’t it—the whole not-being-in-control-of-exactly-what-happens piece? Of course, we tend to imagine we have more control over things in our lives than we actually do, but here it becomes obvious. Possibilities we had never imagined suddenly become reality, and we are invited to join God in it all. To keep speaking, even when we aren’t sure what these syllables we’re forming even are. And—from the other side—to perk up our ears when the Story of life is being told in ways our hearts can hear deeply. But it’s not without risk! Responding to the Spirit’s invitations is vulnerable. We open ourselves not only to discomfort, but to rejection, pain, conflict (and more!) when we say that holy “yes”. Our tendency might be to say “no”, more often than not, but what might God being inviting you into, this first week after Pentecost? What ways are you being invited to speak (or listen!)? Where is there a fire burning in you, that you’re being invited to pay attention to (rather than immediately dousing or completely ignoring)? What wind is blowing, within and without you, inviting you to move along with its dance? And what vulnerability, what risk is involved, for you? What might come of your "yes" (and if you're not there, what grace is being offered to you, too?)?

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-05-30 14:17:57 UTC