The God of Light and Color

This weekend is Pentecost, the Feast (Solemnity) of the Holy Spirit. Forty-nine days have passed since Easter. That is seven weeks of a week of weeks. The coming of the Spirit bonds us together as God’s people and so one of the many things which we celebrate at Pentecost is the birth of the church.

When one thinks of the Holy Spirit, what thoughts or images come to mind? What does the phrase “Holy Spirit” remind you of? It isn’t easy to imagine the Holy Spirit. We can picture God as creator, the loving Father calling His family together, as the one who always hears our prayer(s). Christ became human and lived among us. We can read the accounts of His words and actions in the Gospels and see Him depicted in religious art. But the Holy Spirit is different. We depend on the images that we find in the bible and our own experiences of His presence.

That image I associate with the Holy Spirit center on light and color. One picture that comes to mind is from the artist, Carl Zimmerman, in the mural in our church sanctuary. His illustration of St. Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit, looking intently to heaven. This beautifully mural which depicts various scenes highlighted by the Ascension just as the Holy Spirit illuminated the upper room on the first Pentecost. In the gospels, the spirit took on the form of tongues of fire and is often depicted as a dove.

The Holy Spirit brings to mind peace and harmony. It is the peace that you experience when you walk into a Church where there just a few people quietly praying. It is the sort of harmony you often see between couples who have grown old together while navigating the ups and downs of life. The Holy Spirit is the gift of peace and inner happiness.

The Spirit invokes images of joy. The unbridled happiness of little children reflects the Spirit. You hear it when you walk past a primary school at break time. When a parent arrives to get them from school, the children explode in joy. Children don’t take things for granted. They celebrate everything. The Spirit came that we might have life and have it to the full.

The Holy Spirit dwells in us as we struggle with the sadder side of life. The Spirit works through us as we stand together at the grave of a loved one or come to terms with the pain of a broken relationship. The Spirit guides us as we hand out food to those in need at the St. Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen. The Spirit who gave the apostles the power to overcome their fears, gives us the strength we need when our human weakness is most evident. The Spirit guides and protects God’s people no matter what challenges we may meet.

Pentecost is the feast of peace, patience, kindness, forbearance, generosity, faith, temperance and all the other blessings that the Spirit brings. The feast of the Holy Spirit is a reminder that we should never close our minds to new possibilities. None of us have it all figured out, none of us ever will. Maybe that is at the center of the distinction between divine and human. At our confirmation we were anointed with the oil of chrism and blessed by the bishop. The olive oil and balsam first clings to our skin and then filters through to our deeper being becoming part of us, just as the Spirit enters our soul.

Pentecost is the celebration of the unlimited presence of God in each and every one of us, those with whom we agree and those who view life differently. When Christ walked among us only those within earshot could hear His words or experience His presence. When the Spirit came, these limitations banished and the healing, saving presence of the divine reached across generations and continents.