Come, Holy Spirit!

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Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

John 20:21-23

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. He said He would send His Spirit, and indeed he did. The promise was fulfilled!

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Mary visited Elizabeth

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This feast of the Visitation always makes powerful connections for me.

It’s one thing for God to ask Mary to be the mother of our Lord. That’s miraculous, of course, but we’ve heard the story so many times that we become a bit immune to the wonder of it.

But here we have Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, recognizing this wonder in a very real sense.

In a loud voice [Elizabeth] exclaimed, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

Luke 1:42
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He ascended into heaven

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I have this amazing image in my mind about what it must have been like to witness Jesus’ ascension first hand. But it’s probably more influenced by movies I’ve seen than anything else.

He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:9-11 NASB

We know it was up. We know there were clouds. We know He rose into the sky, or heaven, depending on the translation.

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St Joseph the worker

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Work is valuable, and I think that people are starting to recognize this. Right now there are way too many people out of work, unable to live out their vocation for the larger contribution to society.

And it’s not about making money.

God put Adam and Eve in the Garden to work the land and tend His creation. From the dawn of humankind, this has been honored by our Maker.

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Father, Son, Holy Spirit

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I find our Christian faith to be amazing.

It seems that we often focus on the three persons of the trinity like they were three people stuffed into a single package. Well, I’m not sure about calling the Holy Spirit “people” – maybe he’s in between the cracks? That’s a weird image

But I’m coming to realize that the REAL message here is that we have a God of relationship. God himself already is a relationship of 3 persons, but then each of us also are invited to be part of that relationship as well.

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Coming of the Holy Spirit

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Today, with great joy, we focus on the Spirit that Jesus said the Father would send.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

John 14:26

Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus is just a remembered character from a story 2000 years old. Compelling, yes, but a lot less active.

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Eternity

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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

Rev 22:14

Everything that I do, everything I understand, is based on time. My own time – my life – started at a particular point and will end at a particular point. And time goes in exactly one direction.

I enjoy science fiction and time travel stories, but still … that’s just tweaking around the edges. The idea of true eternity just blows me away.

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It’s real!

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At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Luke 1:39-45

We have just completed the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, and suddenly we’ve switched to the time before Jesus’ birth. I find this to be one of the wonderful things about our yearly liturgical cycle.

We have another chance to meet Jesus!

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Ascension

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The resurrected Son of God left us after just a few weeks – forty days in the Christian tradition.

But there was so much more to learn! There still is, nearly 2000 years later!

At some stage, you have to let your kiddos grow up and navigate the world in their own way.

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