In a moment of total transparency, I scheduled all afternoon to write my blog post. I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop open to a blank document ready for divine intervention to take place, eagerly waiting for the Holy Spirit to intercede with something profound or a meaningful heart-tugging story to share. After about three hours I had a  whopping five sentences on my paper. My writing lacked direction and I am not even sure that the five sentences I had written were coherent. While driving in my car that evening, I continued to contemplate what to write, and then it hit me.

I thought about Elijah and the story told in 1 Kings as Elijah was waiting to hear God. “Go out and stand before me on the mountain, ” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave…” (1 Kings 19:11-13). Perhaps, like Elijah, I was waiting for God to speak to me in clear and obvious ways (and on my own time I might add). But sometimes God speaks in a gentle voice or a quiet car ride home.

We just celebrated Pentecost this last Sunday. We celebrate Pentecost at a unique time in our own history. The pandemic has caused corporations, schools, governments, and NGOs to think differently about the ways in which they conduct business. This offers an opportunity for the church to do the same. A time to rethink and reimagine how we engage in ministry. We recognize Pentecost as a time of new creation. The early apostles had no blueprint of how the church was to be structured or operate, yet being spirit-filled the church was born. Filled with the spirit the disciples were changed. As followers of Christ, being gifted with the Holy Spirit, Pentecost is something we get to experience every day of the year. I continue to be amazed by the extraordinary love of our savior, that Christ would grant us the Holy Spirit to be present with us always. I pray that we become so consumed by the Spirit that we have no choice but to share such love and joy with a broken world.