Home is the vast, green vista out the window of a plane. Home is men in cargo shorts, Asics running shoes and University of Minnesota hats waiting for their North Face luggage by the carousel. Home is sitting in rush hour traffic and watching Dave Dahl for weather updates. Home is a glass of wine in the backyard while the coals heat up on the grill. Home is Minneapolis.
I spent a few days home with family and friends last week. On Sunday I worshipped in my home congregation’s sanctuary, which held streaks and dashes of red fabric and flowers. Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is unleashed and suddenly at new work in this world, carving and calling in subversive and mysterious ways. The Church is formed. We are called together to love and serve and respond daily to the grace that overwhelms humanity in Jesus Christ.
I thought about this call to love and serve and respond while watching Gabe graduate in sunny Northfield later that afternoon. In the distance St. Olaf’s giant windmill churned and captured Earth’s breath for energy - a response. I sat among parents and grandparents celebrating more than the accomplishments and grade point averages of their offspring. They were there to pay tribute who these young people want to be. After all, the best things we do are designed and executed by living authentically in our skin and following the call to be ourselves.
I watched Gabe in his long black gown. He was saying goodbye to a time of certainty – consistent course loads, disposable income and campus life. Shedding the gown would mean moving on into adulthood and putting the learnings of the classroom into motion.
He didn’t seem scared though. Maybe because Dad had already agreed to pick up the tab for dinner that evening. Gabe walked away from campus with a diploma certifying academic achievement, friendships signifying support and growth and countless lessons that come from staying out too late, taking the wrong class or kissing girls. Gabe and his classmates enter life’s next stage armed with the Holy Spirit, who swoops into the places we least expect him and need him most desperately. The graduates leave with some uncertainty, but trust that the tools they’ve been given will suffice. Perhaps they say goodbye to college with the same tentative wonderings that the disciples felt when Jesus left.
He’s gone, but we’re gonna be okay. He said so. And besides - we’re not alone. We have each other, we have the things we’ve been taught and we have the Holy Spirit.
I spent a few days home with family and friends last week. On Sunday I worshipped in my home congregation’s sanctuary, which held streaks and dashes of red fabric and flowers. Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is unleashed and suddenly at new work in this world, carving and calling in subversive and mysterious ways. The Church is formed. We are called together to love and serve and respond daily to the grace that overwhelms humanity in Jesus Christ.
I thought about this call to love and serve and respond while watching Gabe graduate in sunny Northfield later that afternoon. In the distance St. Olaf’s giant windmill churned and captured Earth’s breath for energy - a response. I sat among parents and grandparents celebrating more than the accomplishments and grade point averages of their offspring. They were there to pay tribute who these young people want to be. After all, the best things we do are designed and executed by living authentically in our skin and following the call to be ourselves.
I watched Gabe in his long black gown. He was saying goodbye to a time of certainty – consistent course loads, disposable income and campus life. Shedding the gown would mean moving on into adulthood and putting the learnings of the classroom into motion.
He didn’t seem scared though. Maybe because Dad had already agreed to pick up the tab for dinner that evening. Gabe walked away from campus with a diploma certifying academic achievement, friendships signifying support and growth and countless lessons that come from staying out too late, taking the wrong class or kissing girls. Gabe and his classmates enter life’s next stage armed with the Holy Spirit, who swoops into the places we least expect him and need him most desperately. The graduates leave with some uncertainty, but trust that the tools they’ve been given will suffice. Perhaps they say goodbye to college with the same tentative wonderings that the disciples felt when Jesus left.
He’s gone, but we’re gonna be okay. He said so. And besides - we’re not alone. We have each other, we have the things we’ve been taught and we have the Holy Spirit.
Welcome to Pentecost. It is here we know what home feels like. It is here we realize the ways we have been prepared to love, serve and respond. It is here we are called into the churning of this world’s windmill and sent to bring news of God’s breath – the Holy Spirit - wherever we go.
posted by Meta @ 7:06 PM
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