Dear Friends,

 

The fullness of spring surrounds us, and in the church we continue our journey from Easter

joy toward the fire and wind of Pentecost.

 

Two moments this month invite deeper reflection:

On May 10, we celebrate Mother's Day - a day that, for many, carries joy, gratitude, grief,

complexity, or all of these emotions at once. Scripture itself expands our understanding

of God beyond any single image. Alongside fatherly language, w e encounter God as a mother

who  births, nurses, and comforts; as a woman searching for what is lost; as a mother hen

gathering her young.

Later in the month, on May 24, we celebrate Pentecost - a day of fire and breath.
Anthropologists tell us that fire is one of the defining markers of humanity. For thousands of

years, people have gathered around it for light, warmth, nourishment, and community.

Scripture draws on this same reality to speak ofGod. God appears to Moses in flame, leads

Israel by a pillar of fire, and receives offerings through it. Fire reveals God's presence - but it

also refines and judges.

On Pentecost, that divine fire rests not on a mountain, but on people, alive in human

community. The Hebrew word ruah means spirit, breath, and wind. It is the breath within us

and the movement beyond us.  It is the Spirit of the risen Christ - drawing us into lives of love,

service, and resurrection hope.
 

This month, we hold these images together:
 

God as Mother, nurturing and gathering.
God as Fire, igniting and refining.
God as Breath, sustaining and sending.

May the Holy Spirit of God kindle in us a living flame - warming, illuminating, and 

drawing others into the life of Christ.

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Warmly,