Milestones, Holidays, and Thresholds
By Jeannie McCabe
Jeannie is the secretary for the Director of Elementary Instruction in the Russellville Public School District in Russellville, Arkansas, USA. She is a former educator in the Episcopal Church, USA.

Milestones, holidays, and thresholds on life’s journey are all occasions to pause and reflect on the lessons of the journey. The Day of Pentecost is just such an occasion. For those in Biblical times, there had been weeks of changes, confusion, hurt, death, surprise, challenge, hope, resurrection, and life. Each year, our annual celebration of Pentecost follows the intense spiritually and emotionally packed seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Ascension. It begins the long, stretching season to follow. It seems fitting, embarking on that piece of the annual seasonal pilgrimage, to recall some of the promises we are given, the sign posts of hope.

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”
Gen. 1:31

“I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” Gen 12:3

“Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Ex. 19:5

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Is. 43:1b

"To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10:11

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11

All of the above verses are, for the most part, single verses pulled out of context. Yet, each is able to stand on its own with strength, hope, and encouragement. When woven together, then into the fuller fabric of the entire Scripture and expounded by thousands of inspired theological reflections, we are provided a foundation for the Kingdom of God among us.

The incarnation of the Almighty God into our midst is literally earth shattering: nothing changes and everything changes in a moment. God breaks into humanity individually and collectively. When we experience this, our lives are changed forever. One of my favorite visual representations of this is the portion of the painting on the Sistine Chapel, God’s hand reaching out to touch the hand of Adam (humanity). God is forever reaching, energized. The hand of Adam (humanity, me) is depicted as relaxed, unenergetic. Until I respond to the ever-reaching hand of God and open myself to that incarnation within me, I am choosing to refuse the promises made in so many loving ways. I refuse the opportunity of rebirth, death of sinful self, and resurrection into new life. When I do choose to respond and reach to receive the touch of God, my life is “zapped” with an energy that is unmistakable.

Jesus came that we might witness and experience the unfailing, gentle, forgiving, consoling, and eternal love of God. Flesh ages, corrupts, and dies. But flesh is a temporary housing for the eternal spirit that will be set ablaze when it responds to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are invited into an eternal love affair with God Almighty, Creator of the Universe. Such a relationship empowers, emblazons, enriches, and encourages. We can live our entire lives entrapped in the bondages of self-deception, denial, illusion, justification and rationalization. Or we can respond with the ever-so-slightest movement in response to God’s touch and be changed forever.

When such a change occurred, it is no wonder that everyone that Jesus restored with the powerful touch could hardly wait to rush to share with others. Peter, on that day of Pentecost fully empowered by the touch of God, spoke to the multitudes that recognized the out-stretched hand of God and responded ever so slightly. As a result, three thousand plus were drawn into the family of God that day. Peter says to them, “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts. 2:39) Those that are “far off” may live right next door. The lonely desert prisons in which we find exile are most often those within the heart. Freedom is available to all … that our joy may be full.

Just over two years ago my world was shaken. My husband of nearly nineteen years died suddenly of a stroke. He was a healthy man who rose on the morning of Christmas Eve, fixed his family a bountiful, delicious brunch, soon after heading out the door for his evening shift at work to rejoin us at the Midnight service. We never arrived at that service. Early in the evening, while still at work, he sneezed twice and collapsed. His descent to physical death was a rapid one. His last spoken words to me were, “Jeannie, God will take care of us.”

He died hours later. In the midst of the chaos in my outer world with our two teenage children, I was struggling with an even greater chaos in my inner world. All of the religious teachings and practices upon which I had stood for years began to buckle. There is not a ONE of us who will not encounter loss at some level in our lives. It wasn’t until this event in my life and in the months following of sifting through “words” that I am beginning to find “meaning.” No longer am I able to just carry beliefs around in my head. I am learning how to live them. I am still learning how to draw on the strength of God and trust in the promised guidance in a much more focused approach. Many of my self-constructed prison bars have been revealed and removed as I continually reach for the ever-present, out-stretched, energizing hand of God. When I receive that unmistakable energizing touch, I remember the promises and I cannot help but share with those around me.

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