ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 1, 2022
On the Day of Pentecost, the scriptures speak of a sound like the rush of a violent wind. In my life, I have been in a couple of tornadoes. In both cases, I was outside and watched the tornadoes move across fields. Even from a fair distance, there was a distinct sound. Some describe it as a loud train, and though I don’t know if that is exactly what I would say, the sound, even from a distance, was discomforting. I’m sure the sight of the tornadoes created some of the intense emotions of the moment, but I remember the sound distinctly. Those who told the story of Pentecost were drawing upon experiences they hoped others would understand. Yet when you are trying to explain something that does not have an explanation, you reach for the best analogue. For the disciples, it might have been a sand storm or other intense weather experience that became the best way they could communicate the experience. So many moments of spiritual intensity cannot be easily explained or communicated, yet we often want to share them in our own search for understanding and meaning. You might say to someone, “It is hard to explain, but it was like…” No matter how good the example might be, it will always fall short of the experience. This is why faith cannot simply be lived vicariously through those who lived centuries ago. The hope is for all of us to have our own Pentecost experience. It was a friend who was describing such an event in his own life when he said, “It was like the time I got smacked in the gut by a line drive hit as I was pitching and did not get my glove down fast enough.” I was never hit by a baseball, but I could relate to it from a few experiences of my own. Simile, metaphor, poetry and story are all important means of communicating our spiritual experiences, yet too often we try to turn those ways of communicating into the only true ways of speaking or knowing some event or experience. Big mistake! The moment we do so is the moment we remove all mystery and awe, and I might even suggest it attempts to squeeze out God.
Help us to make space, O God, where people can attempt to use creative language or other means of pointing to the unexplainable moments that are our encounters with you. Amen.
