Pentecost Sunday

This morning Kate and I went to church and as we walked across the parking lot we saw a group of young people in green t-shirts, two of which were carrying acoustic guitars.

Kate immediately, said, "Oh great, a praise band. I hate praise bands."

As we entered the narthex, Kate said, "Well, I guess we won't have to sing in the choir."

But I led her down to the choir room and opened the door, and there were three members of the choir and the pianist getting ready for the service.

I turned to Kate and said, "Nope, we've got choir."

So we walked into the choir room and headed back behind the organ to the robing room. We dressed in our robes, grabbed our music books and returned to the choir room. After practicing the anthem, Reverend Dalstrom entered and prayed for our performance and then we entered the sanctuary.

Today was Pentecost Sunday. We were wearing our red stoles and Reverend Dalstrom had his red stole with the modern depictions of the descending dove of the Holy Spirit. He was proud. He only gets to wear it once a year.

The service began and we installed the camp workers at Camp Calvin and then the service began in earnest and we listened to the sermon about Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit, then we finished up with communion.

And as we sat in the quiet of the sanctuary and Tim blessed the elements and the body of Christ and the blood of Christ was served by the elders to the congregation and the guests assembled, it occurred to me the struggles of the different people I had dealt with this past week.

I thought about Rev. Tom Baynham up in Richmond, struggling with a crisis of conscience, and the question of whether he should continue to be a minister of the word. I thought about some of my friends who are struggling with the economics of their lives in these difficult times. I thought about all the trials and tribulations we all seem to struggle with these days.

And I prayed that the Holy Spirit would visit us all. I prayed that we could find consolation and solace in our lives from our troubles. Not as a crutch, but as a signal that the Father God who created this world and continues to sustain our lives and the life around us is still there, concerned with our miniscule lives. From the greatest details to the tiniest. I prayed that we would know the presence of God in our lives.

And we would know God.

We sang, "Crown Him with many crowns." As the stanzas passed, my voice became clearer and stronger. Faith became confidence in my heart.

Doubt will return, but for now, I feel closer to real faith.