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For the last few years I have been fascinated with an idea called “resonance.”  It’s that feeling where something bigger than you (God, the universe…) “hums” inside of you—resonates—or something strikes you and you’re aware of that “bigger thing” that you can’t explain or control or manufacture.  That bigger thing that is life-giving.  That idea is not new to me, but I encountered that way of talking about it a few years ago.  Y’all know I’m a reader and when I read about this idea, I thought “of course!”  I fell in love with the church’s theologies of the Holy Spirit, because I believe it’s the Holy Spirit that is underneath those experiences.  I have been blessed and privileged to have gotten into a LOT of conversations over the years with people about their “spirituality,” and what I have heard is “resonance,” and the Holy Spirit.

            Resonance doesn’t always happen individually.  It can also happen in community.  And of course, the Spirit isn’t just the “Spirit and me.”  It’s the Spirit of the post-Resurrection Living Christ!  And this Sunday which is Pentecost is all about how the Spirit was poured out on the disciples when they were praying together, waiting for “What’s next?” after Jesus’ ascension into heaven (Acts 2).  Paul talks about that same Spirit that moves believers to say, “Jesus is Lord!” (I Corinthians 12:3), giving us spiritual gifts for the sake of others.  WE make up the Body of Christ, and it’s the Holy Spirit that makes us that.  WE are Christ’s Body, hands and feet, and ears, and even the pinky toe.  And WE can experience “resonance”—the Holy Spirit ‘humming’ inside of us—when we use our gifts, with others, for the sake of others.  For example, I have heard volunteers describe that feeling at Grace Crossing, at the Coatesville Youth & Women’s Alliance. 

            Those are positive experiences that I believe we are all looking for in our society.  The beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit is that it is with us even when we’re not “feeling it.”  That’s a faith conviction—that God the Spirit is present with me and in me when I cry out in prayer, in anguish.  Resonance is not the sum total of my spirituality, but it is a vital part; the promise of the Spirit is the foundation.

Come Holy Spirit!

Pr. Christian