THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT

Lectionary Text: Acts 2:4 -  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

[Author's note: This is one of my few unrhymed poems, but it has poetic structure, as all lines have 14 syllables. To be more technical, the lines are iambic heptameter, meaning each line has seven two-syllable feet (iambs), with the accent on the second syllable. The poem can be read with that rhythm, although the accent of two or three of the iambs in normal speech would not fall on the second syllable ("Jesus," for example, in the second line). But I find that to be true of most poems in this meter. You can get the "feel" of the poem by reading it aloud.]

Who is this one that came on Pentecost to dwell with us?
Jesus called him “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in my name” (John 14:26).
The word could be translated “Comforter” or “Advocate.”
The corresponding Greek verb means “to call to someone’s aid.”
It is a great encouragement for us who follow Christ
to view the Holy Spirit as the one called to our aid.
Note that the Holy Spirit is a Person not an it ---
not masculine or feminine.  The Spirit has no sex,
but one must use a personal pronoun to make that point.
So of the Spirit Jesus said, “He will teach you all things
and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”
and “he will guide you into all the truth. . . he will declare
to you the things that are to come. . . He’ll bear witness to  me.”
The Spirit has an intimate relationship to Christ.
The two are perfectly identical and yet distinct.
“I’ll pray the Father and he’ll send another Counselor
to be with you forever,” Jesus then went on to say.
“I will not leave you comfortless; (for) I will come to you.”
But in that same passage in John, Jesus also declared:
“Those who love me will keep my word; my Father will love them,
and we will come to them,” he said, “and make our home with them.”
This is the basis of the doctrine of the Trinity.
It is a mystery to be declared but not explained:
God in three Persons ---Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each
is God and yet they are distinct, even as they are one.
“I and the Father (we) are one,” Jesus proclaimed.  So, too,
the Spirit and the Son. Said Jesus: “I will come to you.”
We’re also told the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son,
“For he will take all that is mine and make it known to you.”
The Spirit’s work, then, is to bear witness to Jesus Christ,
to make him known to human hearts, and to apply his work
to people’s lives, not just the man Jesus who lived and died ,
but Christ who reigns eternally with God.  On Pentecost
Christ’s life and death, his resurrection, and ascension, too,
as well as Jesus’ living presence were imparted to
his followers in their full meaning, power, and impact,
imparted in a way they’d not experienced before,
not even while their Master was still with them in the flesh.
The gift that had been promised them had been received at last.
The symbol of that gift Luke has described as “tongues of fire,”
as powerful a symbol as there possibly could be.
It stands for light, for warmth, for power.  That’s what they  received:
new understanding, zeal, and power for all who believed.