Called to freedom: Pentecost Wednesday
Look: Seacoast (Red Sky, Two White Sails), Emil Nolde - Source
Listen: Spirit Lead Me Where My Trust Is Without Borders, Raspo - Spotify | YouTube
I made us a new playlist for Pentecost! You can listen to it here: Holy Ghost: Pentecost 2022
Read: Psalm 72; Psalm 119:73-96; Ecclesiastes 9:11-18; Galatians 5:1-15; Matthew 16:1-12
Prayer to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful,
and enkindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Amen.
Do: Throughout the week I'll be sharing excerpts from spiritual teacher Henri Nouwen as well as my own brief reflections about the way the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in peace, freedom, and power. Read, reflect, journal, and share your own responses with the rest of us in the comment section below.
Empowered to Receive Love
"The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is "Abba, Father" but also that we belong to God as his beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning.
Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: "Daddy." The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit."
- The Inner Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen
Empowered to Be
"Who are we? Are we what we do? Are we what others say about us? Are we the power we have? It often seems that way in our society. But the Spirit of Jesus given to us reveals our true spiritual identities. The Spirit reveals that we belong not to a world of success, fame, or power but to God. The world enslaves us with fear; the Spirit frees us from that slavery and restores us to the true relationship. That is what Paul means when he says: "All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons [daughters] of God, for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Romans 8:15).
Who are we? We are God's beloved sons and daughters!"
-Here and Now by Henri Nouwen
The greatest of all freedoms is to give and receive love. From the arms of Abba, we welcome others into his embrace. One of the ways I live into this truth is to imagine myself curled onto the shoulder of God. I don’t worry that I’m not sure what God looks like or that Jesus has the human form, not the heavenly father. I just imagine myself covered, sheltered, held, and at rest. I do this especially when I’m feeling anxious for the welfare of others and tempted to believe the embrace of God is only big enough for one of us and that it’s my job to give up my space for others. I’m learning to settle into this place when my instinct toward someone else is hostility rather than hospitality. From the embrace of Abba, I’m completely safe and free to love others indiscriminately.
For the glory of the Father, for the glory of the Son, for the glory of the Spirit of our adoption as son and daughters of God, let us be known by our love.
Peace, friends,
Tamara
p.s., If you'd find it helpful to have another person discern with you how the Spirit of Jesus is revealing your true spiritual identity, that's what I do as a Spiritual Director. You can message me here or through the contact form at my Spiritual Direction webpage for more information: https://www.tamarahillmurphy.com/spiritual-direction