WhitSunday!

It’s now 50 days since the Resurrection, and 10 days since we celebrated the Ascension – and you know what that means!  The promise has been fulfilled!  The Spirit of the Lord has been poured over all the earth!  It’s WhitSunday!  It’s Pentecost! 

(pause)

Okay, if we had a tech crew and unlimited budget, now would be the time when we would see all sorts of celebratory things happening.  Balloons, confetti, streamers, maybe a cake with sparklers.  But the reality is, we’re not going to have that today.  No cake.  No balloons. 

But – we’re still going to celebrate.  Because Pentecost is worth celebrating.  Not with the gadgets and gizmos that can cause our focus to go awry, but instead with the Spirit.  Because of the Spirit.  Because of the pouring out of the Spirit on the whole earth – on each and every one of us. 

So we’ll celebrate, in our calmer states.  In our very normal, ordinary ways.  Because I believe that God is speaking to us ‘normal’ folks just as much as God is speaking to folks who have the confetti and fireworks and all that.  I believe that God speaks to us in the everyday.  In the unremarkable.  Making things become remarkable – if only we have the eyes to see them.

And that’s where our faith comes in.  We can see that the Spirit is moving, is present and active, because we believe.  We don’t believe in coincidences – we believe in God.  We don’t believe that good things happen just because, we believe in the promise of God’s great glory made manifest in our lives.  We don’t believe that things just come together by chance – we believe that God is actively participating in the world to demonstrate what’s possible.

And what is possible?  Well, anything.  The sky’s the limit.  God’s grace and love will be shared among all of us so long as we believe.  So long as we want to receive it.  So long as we are able to recognise it when it’s shown to us.

So when was the last time You saw the power of the Spirit being active in the world?  Making ordinary things sacred?  Turning the unremarkable into the astonishing?  It can be a challenge to see what’s happening – especially when the secular world doesn’t tend to share good news stories as often as we might like.  But they’re there, waiting to be found.  Waiting to be shared.

Perhaps the happiest story I heard this week was of a young child whose life was changed – by chance, some say.  By a nice series of events, others may say.  By God’s action, I’d say.

The story goes something like this.  There’s a 4-year old boy in the States, Anthony Smith, and he has major hearing problems.  He has no right ear and minimal hearing in his left – so he needs to use a hearing aid – which he calls Blue Ear because of it’s colour. 

But he doesn’t like Blue Ear.  And his rationale?  Superheros don’t wear hearing aids.  Good logic for a 4-year old!  So his mom tries everything, nothing works.  On w him, she emails Marvel comics about the situation.  Not only do they get a response about a superhero in the ‘80s who got hit in the ear by his own arrow, the artists design a new superhero.  Anthony Smith becomes the superhero “Blue Ear” who needs his hearing aid to hear when people need help.  They design a whole cover for a comic and send it through. 

Needless to say, little Anthony has no objection to wearing his hearing aids now – and he’s become the hero (as it were) at his school.  Good news indeed.

It was a small thing. The mom didn’t have to email the comic book company; the person getting the email didn’t have to send it to the Executive, who didn’t have to send it to archives for the 80’s comic, who didn’t have to send it to the art department, who didn’t have to spend time to make a new character.  But it happened.  Good news.

Now, I know that a lot of people will hear this story and take it as a heart-warming warm-fuzzy rainbows-and-butterflies kind of thing.  Because they can only see the ordinary – they can only see the earthly actions that are in there.

But I see this story in a different light.  I see the Spirit moving in all sorts of ways to make a difference in the world, to make the world a better place.  For young Anthony Smith, for his family, for his friends, for everyone out there that this story touches.  I see the Spirit moving in everyone who had something to do with it.  Everyone had their heart opened just a tiny bit… everyone had their minds opened just a little bit… everyone had the incentive and desire to do what they could – just a little bit – to make a difference. 

I can hear the rush of wind encouraging them to take action; the tongues of flame inspiring them to do something about the situation.  I see the power of God in this story.  I see the movement of the Spirit in and through these people – these ordinary, average, normal people.

And I challenge us all to go out and find these kinds of stories this week.  Find examples of the Spirit being active in the world – and in your life!  No matter how ordinary your life may seem, the Spirit is moving.  The potential is there.  I challenge you to go into the world and be moved by the power of God, be inspired and invigorated and encouraged to make it a better place.  I challenge you to make a difference for someone else – not for any return, but because of your belief in the power of good – in the power of God.  I challenge you to go into the world and live out your ministry any and every way you can.  I challenge you to be like the disciples, seeing God’s presence in front of your eyes.  So go - delight in the celebration of the Pentecost - delight in God’s power to make the ordinary extraordinary.