It is called “Wishful Thinking” by theologian, humorist, and Christian minister Frederick Buechner. With a mixture of whimsy and abiding faith he often spells out the vocabulary of our faith with a clarity and purpose that few others offer.
Plus, the book is also only 126 pages long, which also helps!
For the definition of “Holy Spirit” here is what Buechner writes:
The word spirit has come to mean something pale and shapeless, like an unmade bed. School spirit, the American spirit, the Christmas spirit, the spirit of ’76, the Holy Spirit – each of these points to something you know is supposed to get you to your feet cheering, but which you sometimes can’t rise to…
Like its counterparts in Hebrew and Greek, the Latin word spiritus originally meant breath (as in expire, respiratory, and so on), and breath is what you have when you’re alive and don’t have when you’re dead. Thus spirit = breath = life, and aliveness and power of your life, and to speak of your spirit (or soul) is to speak of the power of life that is in you. When your spirit is unusually strong, the life in you unusually alive, you can breathe it out into other lives, become literally in-spiring…
God also has a spirit – is Spirit, says the Apostle John (4:24). Thus God is the power of the power of life itself, has breathed and continues to breathe himself into his creation. In-spires it.
I hope to see you this Pentecost Sunday (remember to wear something red!) as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and God’s abiding presence in our lives.
Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment