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Confronting a crisis, everyone in the family rises to the occasion — what could have been a painful, divisive situation becomes an experience of love and affirmation.

Artists and athletes often speak of “flow.”  When they are deeply involved in their craft or sport, time ceases to exist.  They don’t see themselves as separate from what they are doing — they become “one” with the lathe, the brush, the clay, the bat, the puck.  They move as much by instinct as thought.  They become part of something bigger than the self.  They are “in” the flow.

The “flow” is not something you make happen.  You don’t do it.  It does you.  You don’t find the flow.  The flow finds you and carries you.  And when you find yourself in the flow, it feels like it has always been there, always available to you, but now is finally happening and you are in it.

[Suggested by An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor and a sermon by the Rev. Samuel I. Lloyd III, Washington National Cathedral, May 23, 2010.]

The Spirit of God that “blows” through the community of disciples is the ultimate “flow” of God’s compassion and peace, giving shape and direction to Jesus’ community. 

From that Pentecost to our own day, the Spirit catches us in its “flow,” drawing us into communion with God, with the world, with one another.  The “flow” is the Spirit “working” through us, carrying us, inspiring us to Easter transformation. 

Pentecost is a moment of profound realization and transformation for the small band of Jesus’ disciples: the Word they had heard and the wonders they had witnessed came together in a “flow” of understanding, clarity, unity and courage that compelled them to carry on the work Jesus had entrusted to them — and now, to us. 

Pentecost is the “flow” of God’s love in our midst, a love that transcends words and laws and sentiments to embrace the heart and soul of each one of us.  It is the very presence of God in every act of charity and compassion, in every moment of forgiveness and peace we extend and experience, in every effort we make for justice and community.   

– Rev Dr John Frauenfelder