BELOVED PEOPLE OF GOD,
I think I’ve been “Sunkist” in response to sharing my eclipse story as I found a 6 pack of Orange Sunkist soda on my chair in the sanctuary. At first, I thought it was for the acolyte, but it remained and I’m still not sure who it is from and what the intention is of the mysterious appearing of the six pack of pop. It is a mystery, a mystery that I will understand to be a clever treat from the people of puns. It took some planting of seeds from Gretchen Vigil who told me the one about a son who asks his father to explain the solar eclipse and the father replied, “No sun.” And my mind was opened not necessarily to understand scripture but rather to wonder at the mystery gift giver and think that my eclipse experience was “sunkisted”. I will take it as a delightful breath of the playful spirit among us until someone confesses or solves the mystery.
How are you seeing the delightful breath of the Holy Spirit play in your neck of the woods? Are you smelling the signs of Spring in the blooming flowers and trees? Hopefully you don’t have allergies and if you do, hopefully the play of the Holy Spirit draws your attention in another direction to see the signs of resurrection abound. Or the sneezing and watery eyes are a fierce reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit to wrestle in our lives and keep us up all night.
We want the gentle playful breath of the Spirit, the sunkisted one rather than the wild, mysterious and out of control one. The Holy Spirit that Jesus breathes into the disciples helps them to reach out and see more, to see life beyond death, to see life anew. We see the turmoil of fear and joy; of disbelief and belief as Jesus invites the disciples into the new reality of resurrection. It is hard to trust Jesus and God’s way for us and creation. God, our painstaking planner who sticks with us, trying all sorts of maneuvers to nurture in us a living relationship beyond anything we know. God who uses puns and playfulness also uses wilderness and death to get our attention, hoping we will take another look and see more of what God is up to in our lives.
And yet God is more than we can imagine or possibly know and understand or as one of our Advent hymns puts it in reference to God’s gentle grace, unexpected and mysterious. The unexpected and mysterious appearance of a six pack of orange Sunkist on my chair brings a smile and another reflection on the sun, moon and earth aligning and getting to be a part of the experience of God’s magnificent and marvelous masterpiece always unfolding in our lives. What a great treasure we have in God’s love lived out with us.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
