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I subscribe to a daily meditation from Richard Rohr. These are often very helpful and searching.
Today’s is this:
How have you let the spirit change you?
Rohr goes on to describe the Pentecostal spirit:
The Spirit is always unmerited favor. She always does it first. God is experienced as intimacy and warmth and fire, as love-power. She is surprising, elusive and free. The Spirit blows where the Spirit will, like the wind: It comes from and goes where you know not.
Although Rohr is taking as his reference the experience of Christ’s disciples at Pentecost, I think this experience of “God as intimacy and warmth and fire” is probably common to all faiths (even if God/dess goes by different names).
The question “How have you let the spirit change you?” is challenging for me. It is entirely possible to deny the fiery call of Wisdom. I believe I am called to compassion. Often, I’ve allowed its flame to burn in me; as many times, I’ve turned away.
It can be difficult to discern Wisdom’s call. Am I, are you, called to something that seems impossible? Is it really impossible? How much is ego, how much deep listening? What is the difference between joy and enjoyment?
I’ll be holding those questions close over the next few days.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I feel called to finding a common ground between people of religious faith, “believers” of no particular faith, and even agnostics, if not atheists too. I think the human spirit has certain longings that all match up, despite the words they’re dressed in.
It seems like an impossible task to find this commonality when people are so easily offended or frightened by different expressions of faith.
Despite that, I think I do a fairly good job, with my hospice patients and their families, at conveying the feeling of “all will be well, all manner of things will be well.”