e-vo for Pentecost

Dearest e-votees,

Today is the day of Pentecost (the 50th day after Easter).  It is the day of the church year that we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church. 

The word for "spirit" in Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) is ruach (roo-ach with a Germanic sounding ch). That word is also the word for wind or breath.  It was ruach that God breathed into the dust in the garden of Eden in the 2nd chapter of Genesis.  It was ruach that was prophesied into the newly enfleshed bones in the vision of Ezekiel in the 37th chapter.

The word for "spirit" in Koine Greek (the language of the New Testament) is pneuma (noo-mah).  Like the Hebrew the word can also mean wind or breath.  It is connected to our English words pneumatic and pneumonia.  It is the pneuma of God that Jesus breathed into the disciples who were cowering behind locked doors in the 20th chapter of John.  It is the pneuma of God that came to the early church in the 2nd chapter of Acts.

Blessings on your observance of Pentecost this year.

Peace,

Karl

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Worship planning and execution has shifted quite a bit during these times of COVID-19.  In the way we are doing things now worship has to be prepared in advance and recorded in its entirety.  This means that sometimes things change between when worship is completed and when it premieres on our Facebook page.  Generally this doesn't cause too much of a problem.  

The other challenge is that there are challenges and hiccups that occur because we are doing things in ways we haven't before.  I am on a steep technological learning curve and find all sorts of ways to louse things up--I'm nothing if not creative in that regard.  Fortunately the good saints of Messiah Lutheran are very gracious and forgiving.  Generally this also doesn't cause too much of a problem.  

This week both challenges conspired against me.  I was generating the worship service and was having problems with the musical prayer response (Dakota Road Music's "The Spirit Intercedes for Us").  I was trying to trigger that response after each prayer petition on our streamed worship.  Unforeseen complications ran interference which helped dislodge my focus on the prayers.  Not so helpful.

Secondly, the country has gone up in flames (literally and metaphorically) in response to the senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the knees of the police.  It is fitting and good to be mindful of current events when bringing forth God's word (Karl Barth's idea of preaching with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other) and the prayers of God's people.  

We have resources that are prepared long in advance.  They are vulnerable to changing times and circumstances as well.  One of the prayer petitions prepared in advance was:  

We call on your spirit of life, present in air, wind, humidity, storms and oxygen in our atmosphere, breathing energy into all things.  Heal with your breath the whole creation, especially those who struggle to breathe due to air pollution.  Lord, in your mercy... Hear our prayer. 

after some time to reflect and without the pressure of a looming deadline and annoyance of technical glitches here is how I should have revised that petition for this day:  

We call on you spirit (ruach, pneuma) of life, present in air, wind, humidity, storms and oxygen in our atmosphere, breathing energy into all things and all peoples.  Heal with your breath (ruach, pneuma) the whole creation, especially those who struggle to breathe due to:

• air pollution and other environmental degradations
• 
  
• COVID-19 and other respiratory afflictions
• 
  
• knees of abusive authority figures crushing their windpipes

 Come Holy Spirit (ruach, pneuma)...
The spirit intercedes for us with sighs to deep for words to express.  Oh, oh, oh.

May your observances of Pentecost be blessed and life-giving.  May the spirit (ruach, pneuma) blow through you and your day with her life-giving whimsy.

Holy Spirit (ruach, wind) come.  Call, gather, enlighten and sanctify us to live and serve in ways that are pleasing to you and life-giving to us and to all.