spirit-filled
Again, tomorrow the church observes Pentecost, fifty days, fiftieth day, in Judaism after Passover, in our tradition after Easter and one of the seven principal celebrations of the church year. Those of a mind to do so may wear something red to church - - red is my favorite color, but I don't think I have anything red to wear, so I'll just be regular.
Maybe I could go back in the vesting room and take my fiery orange red stole with the flaming dove on it and wear that: at this age I can do pretty much anything I DWP and get away with it, but someTimes I pause to rethink before going off totally bizarre. No, the stole is a liturgical vestment, I won't wear a priest's stole over my regular street clothes.
Anyway, Pentecost, in Christian vernacular "the coming of the Holy Spirit" upon Jesus' disciples, and, therein theologically, the Spirit's coming into and enlivening the newly aborning Christian church - - perhaps very much like the Spirit puffing/puffed into adamah the earthling in our most ancient creation story.
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Or even, perhaps, to get even more earthy with the metaphor, not unlike my pouring the spirit of life into a glass of ice cold Heineken 0.0 beer.
NA beer is easily the most unworthy product that has ever left a brewery. NA: as my alcoholic drink tolerance has decreased over my years of aging, I've tried all the NA beers, including the German ones, which are singularly nasty in their tryingness: they are universally unfit to drink.
Until recently, that is, when I read in a credible source that Heineken has finally solved the problem with an NA beer that is indistinguishable from their regular offering. They christened it Heineken 0.0. I don't drink a lot of beer, maybe one in a week, three in a month, with a savory snack or meal. But guess what! You guessed it: Heineken 0.0 also fails the taste test. It's closer than any other NA beer out there, but still no cigar. For Pentecost, though, the coming of the spirit, I've basically solved that: an overflowing jigger of vodka in a glass of cold Heineken 0.0 pretty much solves it. I wonder why Heineken didn't think of that, or at least suggest it on the carton. Finally, a true and truly decent NA beer: Heineken 0.0 and a jigger of vodka. A Zer0.Zer0 boilermaker drop shot. Try it, Sam I Am, you may like it, Sam I Am.
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Here's one of the scripture offerings for tomorrow that I'm guessing won't show up on many parish worship bulletins. Scripturally, the spirit of ELOHIM first shows up in Genesis 1, the post-exile creation story, then later here and there throughout the Old Testament, so the sense and concept of the spirit of God is not new, it's a feature of Hebrew scripture.
The, or at least "a" distinction, though, is that the Hebrew/Jewish manifestation of the spirit is not trinitarian in any way. Rather, it's divine inspiration, the experience of the presence of YHWH ELOHIM in a person in a way or ways that make the person different at least while the spirit is present.
Just so, in the case of the elders in the below Numbers 11 passage (one of the lectionary options for tomorrow, Pentecost), and also in Eldad and Medad: while filled with the spirit, they prophesied. It was temporary, though.
The reading brings to my mind our Easter morning sunrise service that the local ministers' group used to offer our years in Apalachicola. We had it in one of the city parks or out on the end of a city pier, and folks from all the churches came. Several of us officiated, led prayers, read scripture, led the singing, and one of the ministers, usually one of the spirit-filled Pentecostal preachers, offered and was designated to preach the sermon. We started the service just as the sun's ball first peeped over the horizon.
At this one service decades ago, the preacher began his sermon, preached along for a few minutes, then suddenly fell silent (I've told this story here before). After a few seconds of pause, he aonnounced, or confessed, "Y'all gonna hafta help me, cause the Spirit has left me." In his church tradition, preachers did not prepare in advance, they stood up in front of the congregation and claimed the promise that the Holy Spirit would give them the words to preach. So, this public experience doubtless embarrassed him; but others came to his aid and it worked out fine.
Point: that we rely on divine inspiration, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit, for much of what we do as ministers of the Gospel.
The bible reading below is a familiar one, Moses sharing God's indwelling spirit with the elders, enabling them to prophesy. It's a good story for our Day of Pentecost celebration.
Numbers 11:24-30
Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!" But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.