Image by He Qi: Holy Spirit Coming
The reading for Pentecost Sunday, from Acts 2:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ... (Peter said) "No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.'"
Last night I attended the regular Vestry meeting / mini Vestry retreat. In addition to the business of the church, we had a team-building exercise led by a member of the church who is a former HR trainer. It was called "Colors" and is a simplified version of the Meyers/Briggs and similar to the Enneagram and other such personality grouping tests. Here is a sample of a similar test.
I'd come from a day at work and then a dental appointment - just a cleaning but I always have a headache after I see the dentist. Sensitive teeth. So I was tired going into the meeting, and tired as the activity began. As a tired person, an introvert, and a blue on that test scheme, I was a little less than thrilled about it. But we did it. It was interesting and useful. And it gave me several of those "ah-ha's" when I saw what "colors" the other Vestry members were, and learned the descriptions of their types. It's about understanding people better, and approaching them in a spirit of compassion.
The meeting ended with a presentation on our Stewardship campaign planning for the year. The member who is leading that effort is a gifted church leadership professional and I would pay money just to sit and hear hear talk about this stuff. She gave us a charge of things to pray for, and we closed the meeting in prayer, with each person offering their own concerns and thanksgivings.
And as the prayer went around the circle, I imagined the Holy Spirit in the room...speaking through all of those different voices, through people who speak different "languages" based on their personality types, who get frustrated with one another sometimes because of the differences. Our common prayer was to hear God's leading for the future of our parish and community.
Not so tired any more, I thought, "It feels like Pentecost!"
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