This coming Sunday is Pentecost.  The celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Who cares?

You’ve got God up in heaven, who created everything.   You’ve got Jesus on earth, who died for our sins.   Isn’t that enough?

Some people think it is.  Hmm, maybe we don’t need the Holy Spirit.  Maybe we should get rid of the Trinity and call it the… Twinity?  The Twoity?  Personally I think the Doublity has a nice ring to it.   Then we could just call it the  “Father and Son”.   Sounds like a furniture store.

It’s true, sometimes the third person of the Trinity gets the short end of the stick (triangle?).   After all the miracles of the Bible, all the concepts Christians are asked to believe, for some reason it’s the idea of the Holy Spirit that can trip some people up.  Is it an actual Ghost that floats around whispering in people’s ears?  Is it some ethereal mist that helps inspire people? Does it breathe tongues of fire?  Does it convey the ability to speak in other languages?  A student told me they were taught that the Holy Spirit looked like Jiminy Cricket, sitting on your shoulder.   That’s a new one.

I 0nce wrote a paper describing the Trinity this way:

1. God the Father(Parent) is LOVE, the source of all Love, the creative power of Love.
2. God the Son(Jesus) is the LOVER–God’s expression of Love, come to Earth to love us, even to the point of His death.
3. And God the Holy Spirit is LOVING–the divine power of Love, present in us and around us, helping us to put love into practice.

What do you think?  My professor didn’t seem terribly impressed, but when I think about the Trinity this way, I’m reminded that it’s a package deal.   Each way of talking about love is connected to the other.  All are ways we experience God.    God is our LOVE LOVER LOVING.

If you think about it this way, what would the world be without LOVING?   Sure, we’d be created in LOVE, and we’d be saved by the LOVER, but what would join your soul to mine?  What would inspire us to cherish and serve each other.   What would lead us down the right paths?  Without LOVING, I believe we’d be lost.

The truth is, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and never left.   The third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, is literally the glue that holds us together.   And the energy that sends us out.   The Holy Spirit is so much a part of your life, and mine, that if we aren’t mindful we can take its presence for granted.  Let’s not do that.

This Sunday, how about wearing red to church?   Red is the color of the Pentecost and the color we assign to the Holy Spirit.

And how about practicing some LOVING while you’re at it?   Celebrate God with you!  Pass out hugs like they’re going out of style.  Sing like you’re in the shower.   Put a smile on the face of a stranger.   Pray for world peace, and believe it can happen!

In other words, put some Spirit…

In your Holy.

Have a Great Week,

Mitch