PENTECOST! Congregations all around the diocese found special ways to celebrate this glorious feast, recalling for us the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples...an experience so dramatic and compelling that a mighty rushing wind and tongues of flame can only begin to express the inner transformation which the Spirit’s presence works in the lives of believers. It is the Spirit who pulled disciples to their feet, and propelled them into all the world to witness to the risen Christ. This same Spirit made heroes out of cowards, made resistant hearts stir with hunger for new ways to win the world to Christ, and formed a group of rag-tag human beings into the Church, the very Body of Christ.

I heard of all manner of celebration: baptisms, red balloons, a birthday
cake (for Pentecost is truly the birthday of the Church), Scripture read in
various languages (to portray the many languages which could suddenly be spoken and understood, and to symbolize the many peoples to whom the Gospel must be preached), Vespers of Pentecost jointly sung and prayed by congregations worshippng together, and RED everywhere. Not only the appointed liturgical color of red, but red ribbons, red hats, and red clothing worn by everyone...

At a joyous Pentecost homecoming in Millinocket, we baptized and confirmed... and witnessed the Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows by a very special believer who witnessed to a personal spiritual renewal woven into a struggle with serious illness. And afterwards — an "inside" picnic, amidst high spirits which even the rain outside did not diminish. As I stood applying mustard to one of those thin red hot dogs (which I never saw until I came to Maine), a young person advised me, with the serious intensity of youth, that red hot dogs were the only kind to serve at Pentecost. So, of course, I had two.

If we think of Pentecost as a wonderful historical moment, which served to awaken the disciples of old to their mission, we have only a fraction of the truth. Pentecost is NOW, ALWAYS, happening all around us. Pentecost continues, because the Spirit is ever touching, inspiring and — yes, unsettling us. The Spirit is active in our midst:

Turning hesitant people into enthusiastic leaders;

Prompting congregations to dream new dreams and to step out in faith;

Bringing healing to old wounds which have long sapped energy and hindered new vision;

Stirring people to seek new ways to reach out to those less fortunate;

Planting a holy restlessness in the hearts of those who labor for justice;

Helping us to hear and understand the "languages" of young people, the languages of collaboration and mutual responsibility, the languages of servanthood and shared episcopate;

Inspiring us to envision our life together as: "We’ve never done this before...but let’s trust the Spirit and try it";

Prompting us to ever-greater generosity with one another and with those whose needs are far greater than ours;

And, in quiet invisible ways, the Spirit strengthens those who work
tirelessly and sacrificially in all the unsung efforts which sustain our diocesan community (have you thanked a leader, a
vestrymember, a committee chair, a Church School teacher, your
clergy...? Be a vehicle of the Spirit’s encouragement to them!)

Let us never underestimate the Spirit’s movement nor shrink from the
possibilities to which the Spirit draws us. Let us always lean on the Spirit’s power to uphold and guide us, and to lead us where we have not ventured before. Let us welcome the Spirit, who is shaping us into all that Christ calls us to be; for we are people who have been stirred by a mighty rushing wind, whose hearts have been set on fire by tongues of flame. And the Spirit is making known to us truths which we have never perceived before, rooted and grounded in Christ who makes all things new. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us: melt us, mold us, heal us, use us...

...To the glory of Christ,