By Scott Herr
This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday in the Christian liturgical calendar, marking 50 days after Easter. The gospel writer Luke describes in Acts 2:1-31 the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ apostles as they had gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Shavuot, one of three pilgrimages the Torah requires to mark the wheat harvest and celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. The miracle of the coming of the Holy Spirit “upon all flesh” was prophesied by the prophet Joel 2:28-32. It’s one of the biggest celebrations in the Christian year as the coming of the Spirit upon the fearful disciples, transforming them into bold and courageous witnesses “speaking about God’s deeds of power” in various languages to pilgrims from around the Roman Empire.
This story is provocative as it describes how foreigners of different races, nationalities, cultures, linguistic and religious backgrounds experienced the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit and ensuing miraculous “hearing.” The list of peoples includes “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs,” from every part of the Roman Empire at the time. If his first volume (The Gospel according to Luke) emphasizes the gospel’s relevance for the “marginalized,” especially women, social minorities and misfits (e.g., Mary’s Magnificat, the parables of the Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son), then Luke’s second volume (The Book of Acts) emphasizes the gospel’s universal relevance (i.e., for all the nations of the world).
Incidentally, I am writing this while on a “pilgrimage” with fifteen members of our congregation to Iona, Scotland. The Isle of Iona is where Saint Columba with twelve of his disciples first landed from Ireland in 563 CE as missionaries to the pagan tribes of the Gaels and the Picts of northern Scotland, warrior peoples known for the “pictures” on their skin (tattoos). Columba’s influence brought the Pictish King Bridei to convert and be baptized, and Christianity spread to the peoples of Scotland.
Columba’s name in Latin means “dove,” one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. And while a Dove is a more gentle symbol of the Holy Spirit, in Celtic spirituality, a Wild Goose is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Wild Geese, by the way, are not peaceful! They are used in some cultures as “guard dogs” to scare away predators. I’ve not experienced it, but apparently Wild Geese can be quite frightening when they honk loudly, hiss and nip at you with their serrated beaks! They see ultra-violent light and have better eyesight than both humans and dogs, so make excellent security guards.
Symbols only go so far, but while the Spirit as Dove descends upon Jesus (Mark 1), the Holy Spirit as Wild Goose startles and attacks whoever it goes after! And this is where it gets interesting to me as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. While the Dove may symbolize peace and serenity, the Wild Goose stimulates and motivates! Indeed, one of the biblical qualities of the Holy Spirit is to send God’s people “out” into the world where we are to live into God’s will for our lives and life together; to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.” The Wild Goose is more synchronistic with how Luke describes the “rush of a violent wind” and “tongues of fire” as the Spirit rested on each of the apostles that first Pentecost.
Perhaps the Spirit inspires us to go out and do something dramatic, like marching in a demonstration and speaking truth to power (e.g. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, The Rev. Dr. William Barber, et al), but maybe the Spirit also inspires us to humbly offer ourselves in loving service? Part of my pilgrimage included worshipping at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, the “Mother Ship” of the Scottish Presbyterian Church. After the first service I was searching the Cathedral sanctuary to find the Senior Pastor as I had a message to deliver from one of our mutual American colleagues. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Sir Iain Torrance, President Emeritus of my alma mater, Princeton Theological Seminary. President Torrance was standing at the door welcoming and handing out bulletins to unsuspecting tourists for the second service. Here was one of the greatest theologians alive, a man of tremendous stature on both sides of the Atlantic… handing out bulletins! And in a flash, I felt like I learned a very important lesson from Dr. Torrance: Humble service can be a dramatic form of faithfulness!
May the Holy Spirit, whether a Dove, Fire, Wind or Honking Wild Goose, inspire each of us to go out into the world and serve in any dramatic or humble way we can. Honk!
The Rev. Dr. Scott Herr is one of the pastors serving the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan.
