50 days after Easter, the disciples were all gathered in a room in Jerusalem. It was the day of a Jewish religious festival, and the city was filled with people from many countries who were ready to mark the event. All of a sudden, the house was filled with a sound “like the rush of a violent wind.” Then there were tongues like fire that rested on each of the disciples. The Holy Spirit filled them and they could speak other languages. The sound like wind drew people to the house where everyone from another country found that these people from Nazareth could speak their languages and they were telling about the mighty acts of God. At that moment, the followers of Jesus began to spread the story of God’s amazing works and the story of Jesus.
I’ve always loved the way the writer of Acts describes the Holy Spirit’s entry into the story. We read there was a “sound like the rush of a violent wind.” I don’t quiet know what to make of tongues as of fire, but I have experience with wind. I grew up on the plains in northern Illinois, where the wind could be relentless. I’ve watched winds whip off the lake or ocean, pelting the shore with their force. I’ve seen trees and tall grasses whipped in powerful winds. I’ve watched funnel clouds form (from a safe distance). There is a rawness and strength in the wind, an uncertainty, and a kind of beauty.
I once visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. They have some pretty significant winds there, too. You could watch for hours as the winds lift and move and reshape the dunes, shifting little bits of sand, forming and reforming the giant sand piles. Beautiful sculptures of ever-moving sand. On the road into the park, I noticed a sign that warned, “Watch for wind on the overpass.” It amused me because you can’t actually see wind. It is an invisible force that is made visible by what it moves, by the things it affects.
I like to think about the Holy Spirit in that way, too. The Holy Spirit is here, though we cannot see it. We can, however, feel its effects. Moving us to reach out in care and compassion, pushing us to speak out for justice, relentlessly changing the shape of our lives in ways that are consistent with the things Jesus taught and lived and called us to. The Holy Spirit is unseen, and yet we see the power of its movement in the ways the followers of Jesus reshape the world.
May the Holy Spirit move you in powerful and healing ways, transforming the world within and around you.
Peace,