Day of Pentecost 06/08/25
The Still Point
A Time of Meditation and Reflection
Day of Pentecost:
Whitsunday
... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance... T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
Peace on each one who comes in need;
Peace on each one who comes in joy.
Peace on each one who offers prayers;
Peace on each one who offers song.
Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,
Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen.
The Lord is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
Opening Prayer
O Lord, when your Son ascended into heaven, he sent down upon the Apostles the Holy Spirit, as he had promised, that they might comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom: Distribute among us also, we pray, the gifts of the selfsame Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel John 14:8-17
Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees her nor knows her. You know her, because she abides with you, and she will be in you."
Poem: “Antiphon for Divine Wisdom” by St. Hildegard von Bingen
O Wisdom’s energy!
Whirling, you encircle
and everything embrace
in the single way of life.
Three wings you have:
one soars above into the heights,
one from the earth exudes,
and all about now flies the third.
Praise be to you, as is your due, O Wisdom.
Meditation
It is Pentecost, a day for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, an ancient holiday that is ever more obscure in American culture. In my meditation on the meaning of Pentecost this week, I am struck by its expansive directionality, like the wings St. Hildegard describes in her antiphon. We humans like to make sense of things. When things make sense, we feel like we have some control over them. We like to know what the answer is, what's going to happen, and what the parameters of a thing are. Knowledge gives us a direction to go in. We like knowing things as our senses experience them: our vision, our hearing, which are nevertheless limited by the placement of our eyes and ears in our heads.
What the disciples experience at Pentecost is totally beyond what can be sensorily comprehended, which is why everyone in the scene is so confused about it, thinking folks must surely be under the influence of wine or...something. The people in this story want to understand, to know what's going on, from their human perspective, from the direction of their senses. What happens, though, is that those gathered receive the gift of the Spirit, and since it is received in a manner beyond sensory data, they struggle to assign something comprehensible to the mystery...tongues of fire....rushing wind...anything to make sense of it.
But that's the reality of this mystery... They, and we, can interact with it, engage with it, experience it, and receive it, but we can never really "know" it to our liking, in the human sense of knowing things. We want to know it, and by knowing, to possess it, to make it our own. But the mystery of the Spirit, the mystery of Wisdom, is that she is unpossessed, active in dimensions and directions beyond our forward-facing eyes and sideways-facing ears, beyond our limitations, our language, our binaries and comparisons. We cannot know her. But we can be shown, in dreams, and hold the vision that is made manifest in God's dream of love for us.
Questions for Reflection
- Consider a time when you felt inspired. From which direction did the inspiration come? Did inspiration come from a place you expected, or was it a surprise? Did you have a physical sensation of it? What did it feel like? Where did you feel it?
- Consider an area of your life that you feel lacks inspiration. What's missing? Where is the energy flowing? Are you generating the energy, or is it coming from somewhere else? How does the energy flow "speak" to you or "show" you something?
- When in your life have you put forth energy into something? Where did that energy come from? When in your life have you received a surge of energy? Where did it come from, and how did you receive it? Name these moments before God.
Prayers
We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today
We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer
We bring to God a troubled situation in our world
We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection
We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives
We name before God those who have died.
Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.
May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way, and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.
Reflections this month offered by: Kathleen Schmidt
Cover Image: Rupertsberg Manuscript, Scivias, Hildegard von Bingen
