The club struck the back of the ball cleanly, and it rose high into the blue sky, straight at the flag. As I heard “great shot” from my playing partners, I suddenly had a sinking feeling as I saw my brand new Titleist descending too quickly. The ball landed about three feet short of the green, stopped for a moment, and then started its roll into the creek that fronted the green. Surprisingly, my sympathetic companions commented, “the wind got you!” I agreed with them, even though I never felt the slightest bit of wind.
For golfers, wind is an important component of the game. We spend a lifetime trying to figure it out – we rarely succeed.
This week I’ve been reflecting on the wind, not its effect on a golf ball, but on the wind of the Holy Spirit. Sunday we will once again experience face-to-face the Holy Hurricane on the day of Pentecost. We will hear the story of the sudden rush of a violent wind from heaven that was the catalyst that exploded Christianity throughout the world. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:1-11
We all know the rest of the story. The discouraged and sad disciples were lost and confused. Jesus was gone, and they were probably having a pity party for themselves. What were they to do? Their hopes and dreams were gone. Then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit of God, present from creation, swept into their lives, and they were transformed forever. All these very different folks gathered together that day were transformed into one body as they somehow now spoke a common language and were able to understand each other.
Instead of being scared, discouraged, and lost, they were now bold, secure, and had a clear sense of direction. Luke, who is credited with writing Acts, reports that after Peter preached, about three thousand were added to the church!
I see Pentecost and all of the subsequent events recorded in Acts as important to the Christian story as everything we learn in the first four books of the New Testament. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we learn the Good News – The Gospel of God in Christ. Pentecost and the Acts story are especially important since we learn the Good News of God in the Holy Spirit.
The Acts story is our story. It is a story of the transformation of folks just like all of us – folks emboldened by the spirit to take on the world about us and change it.
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.”
Peace,
