Feast of Pentecost - Year C
Anyone who has had the experience of being in a typhoon or hurricane knows the fright and awe it can inspire, as well as the strength it can wield. The phenomenon of fire is the same way. Each year, uncontrolled blazes sweep across acres of many countries, leaving behind scars of ash and ruin as reminders of their devastating power. These natural phenomena can strike dread into the human heart-so it may seem surprising and even a little strange that these two forces, wind and fire, are the symbols of the Spirit, the symbols of the feast of Pentecost.
As the praying assembly will hear in today’s first reading from Acts (2:1-11) those first believers in Jesus had gathered in one place (probably the Upper Room) to wait and pray. While the “wind” came gently to the disciples through the breath of Jesus at Easter, it came forcefully upon the community at Pentecost (Acts). Could it be the same wind that swept across the dark waters on the very first of all mornings (Genesis 1)? Then, as now, the wind was blowing with life; a new creation was coming forth. Then. It was the creation of an ordered universe and the creation of humankind by God’s own breath (Genesis 2:7). Now at Easter and at Pentecost (Acts) it is the creation of a community ready to go public with the good news of salvation and God’s gift of forgiveness for a waiting, needy world.
Tongues of fire were also sent to ignite the church’s mission of proclamation. All present, regardless of their varying backgrounds and different languages – every one understood. Wind and fire signalled that the role of the church was to gather together all things in heaven and on earth into a unity of mutual respect and understanding in Christ. This unity, explains David Knight, is not a uniformity that negates or destroys the richness of diversity. It is a unity of Spirit that brought into being a diverse and pluralistic first-century church.
According to the measure that the wind and fire of the Spirit remain active in the 21st century church, we will continue to promote unity, understanding and peace between different races and genders, between different ethnic groups, between people divided by different beliefs and ideologies. The wind and fire of Pentecost, suggested Henri Nouwen in his book “Jesus, A Gospel”, lift the whole mystery of salvation out of its particularities and form it into something inclusive of all peoples, all countries, all seasons, all eras.
