Tag: Holy Spirit

God’s Spirit poured out

*Fairfield Horseshoe, Lake District, with the Helvellyn range to the left. Photograph by Gill Henwood*

God’s Spirit Poured Out

Then afterwards
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
   your old men shall dream dreams,
   and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
   in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

Today’s daily meditation from the Church of England (14th Feb) was by Tom Clammer, who gave his thoughts on the Book Of Joel, Chapter 2 verses 28 – 32 .

Tom Clammer led his readers to make a connection between the prophecy of the Old Testament prophets, like Joel and what, in hindsight they are prophesying about, or rather whom.
Tom invited his readers to make the link between prophecy and fulfilment by making the connection with the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Tom Clammer makes this point:

“What happens between Ash Wednesday and the feast of Pentecost is, of course, the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. When we read of portents in the heavens and on the earth’, when we think about darkness and blood, we are not only sitting firmly in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets; we are also in the story of Good Friday.”

He then makes a further link between the darkness experienced by Jesus which enfolds him in his suffering and death. This, he says, is the cost to Love, the cost to our salvation, the price Jesus pays. In paying it, Jesus makes the utterly self-emptying offering, is indeed amazing grace, and the gift to us is the closeness and intimacy of the Holy Spirit.

In the pouring out of God’s Spirit in the Crucified’s action we are reminded that it is the connection made between us and Christ Crucified; between Jesus and the world of the prophets, we are caught up in what Tom Clammer calls an extraordinary act of love.
As ever in our involvement with God, we are not spectators but fully involved.

In the context of the passage from Joel, that involvement calls us to become dreamers of dreams and sharers of visions. For this, we must, Tom Clammer insists, pray. At the end of today’s Reflection he makes both a plea and an injunction: to pray once again for the Holy Spirit of God to make us receptive to the dreams and visions that might inspire us for the living of our Christian faith today.

And here lies the challenge for me and I think for many.
So many of us are infected with a ‘deep negativity’ which enforces a downward drag of the Spirit of God within us. Very little in the news from ‘the affairs of men’ (and it’s mostly men who are leading us downwards!), give us much to hope for, in the world, in nations and also in churches.

Yesterday I met a neighbour in my road and we passed the time of day. In our own ways we have a deep love of God. As we talked, her two children, aged 6 and 8, politely waited. I said that I felt that my post-war generation had failed in building a fair, just and hope-filled society. I looked at her children and added that I fear for them and all young people throughout the world. What sort of society, world, climate or alternative kingdoms such as that of the animals, are to be our legacy to those growing up today?
What hope can we give to them and what vision?

This is the challenge that came to me when I continued to think of today’s reflection from Joel.

Old men, like me, are being called again to dream dreams, and our young are being led to see visions and all, whoever they are, must become people from whom the Spirit of God pours.
That can only be so if we move away from negativity to an enrichment of a life which, despite those who are despots and dictators would wish it otherwise.

There is a Proverb in Chapter 29 of the King James Version of the Bible, which reads:
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
That was quoted to me many years ago now, and I have never forgotten it
(though, sadly, I haven’t always practiced it!)

We cannot do this alone because as a well-known prayer puts it, we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves.
So we must turn back to God. His joyous, glorious vision is always reflected in creation, in a world teeming with real life and growth. God’s love is waiting always to pour over and through us.
In that love our visions and dreams begin and blossom.

My friend Gill’s latest photo gives me both inspiration and hope in all this, because as a biblical poet once said in a Psalm (21)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

[Mr G. 14th February 2025]

[][][] The Revd Canon Dr Tom Clammer trained for the priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge, before serving his Title in the City of Gloucester. After curacy Tom was incumbent of seven rural villages in the Diocese of Gloucester, before becoming Canon Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral. He retired from the cathedral in 2019, and now combines a ministry of spiritual direction and writing with teaching posts at Cuddesdon and Sarum College.

God creates a little flower.

One Sunday afternoon in heaven, a wing of Guardian Angels met God and he noticed their glum faces.
“Why are you looking so miserable”, God asked.
“We’re bored” they replied.
“How can you be bored! You have so many humans to look after, and animals too.”
“That’s the trouble,” Angel Anthropos said. “Many of the humans aren’t much fun and right now so many of them are anxious and sad.”
“Some are downright wicked” said Angel Pax.
Angel Vocalis, ever one to put in its opinion, added that, “many are just dull.
“and,” said Angel Gloriana, “so many of them keeping asking for things for themselves. Some of them think they are so important that they want bigger and better homes, cars, boats, holidays. They are possessed by their possessions. They don’t care about anybody else. Angel Anthropos concluded, “There is no joy or colour in their lives.”

God smiled at his little group of angels whom he loved so dearly. Then he shook his head and sighed, “I know just what you mean. So many dark things are going on at the moment, causing many of the little ones to suffer. The vulnerable ones have so many things to deal with. That’s why they need their Guardian Angels now more than ever.
The Angels twitched their wings and began to feel guilty, though God reminded them that there in no room for guilt in heaven. You must brush away your guilt with love. Go and love those in your care more than ever.
They knew God was right, of course, but it was hard to do that right now.

Then God smiled. “I know a way to cheer you up, and maybe some of the humans too.”
He beckoned them into his studio where he kept his art material. It was the Creative heart of heaven where God made things.
The Angels noticed the design of a tiny flower. Angel Vocalis said that, though it was pretty, the flower didn’t look that much. It was hardly worth making. Then he flung a wing over his mouth, “Sorry, Father God, I shouldn’t have said that.” “Don’t worry,” God replied, “who gave you your mind to think, to have opinions, to speak. But let me tell you about this flower.
As you say, it’s tiny and most people won’t notice it. It could so easily be ignored. That’s why I’ve painted it pinky-purple with dark foliage – and there’s something I want to show you but I need all your help.”
The angels looked at God expectantly.
“I’ve made lots of copies and I need you to colour them in for me. Now get on with that whilst I go to Evensong and listen to all the voices singing throughout the world, and listen to their prayers.

After God had gone, the Angels got busy and carefully and quietly painted the flowers and the foliage. A hush descended as it often did when they were doing creative things.
It also helped that they were absorbed doing part of God’s work. As they worked skillfully, they remembered how much of Himself God poured into the things he made – including themselves. The secret was that everything was made by Love as love.

When God returned he brought the Holy Spirit with Him and together they examined what the angels had done. “Tove!, Tove!” said the Spirit, which was a Hebrew word meaning Good, Beautiful.
The angels were pleased because God was pleased.
They all looked at their paintings and loved them. The tiny flowers were bursting with life.
God agreed that they were little and would be dwarfed by bigger, brighter, more showy flowers. Some would be hidden by the grass and would be mown when the grass was cut but God had a plan, as always!

First, he explained something very important. He told the angels, “It’s not always the big flowers, or the big things or big people who show people what I am like, nor is it always by big gestures that people serve me. My dear daughter, St Teresa of Calcutta , once reminded people that we don’t necessarily do big things in our life but rather little things with a big love. These little flowers are signs that we can bring beauty and peace and love to others by the little things we do – smiles, thoughtfulness, acts of kindness, just ordinary things which make others feel better and wanted and loved.”
“Now put your paintings next to each other”.

When they did, there was a carpet of colour and the table, the floor, everywhere was covered in beauty. Then God, the Holy Spirit blew on them and the little flowers came alive and danced, and danced. And as they swirled to the music the Holy Spirit made, tiny seeds flew from the flowers. “Catch them!” said God, and they did.
“Go now” said God as he smiled on them and they were filled with joy. “Be off with you to the earth especially to dark and sad and lonely people who need brightening up, but go everywhere – cast the seeds all over the place. It’s the tiny seeds of love which bring joy to life, even in the difficult and broken places. Place some of your seeds gently in the cracks and reclaim people’s hearts with beauty and love. May these little flowers bring hope and joy and remind people that little things make a big difference, especially when those little things are joined to each other in a big carpet of love and care.

“Tove! Tove!” said the Holy Spirit, blowing God’s love over them… and they went gladly and willingly.

It is in little things that we show people what God is like. Simple things like caring, smiling, showing people that they matter and are valued, holding a hand, giving a hug, acts of practical kindness, praying for people, breathing God’s love over them. It is such things that really change the world and make it a better place.
Every time you see a little flower, give thanks to God for making it and breathing the same love into it as He does into us …. And remember the words from the Book of Genesis: “and God saw all that He had made, and it was very good”.

[Mr G]

Breath. (Ruach)

This poem was inspired by Peyton Salmon, who when she was just 4 years old, answered a question in Family Church about Pentecost in a profound way. (Piers Northam.)

‘How do we know God?’ She asks.
‘We feel it inside us.’ says the child.
‘And what does it feel like?’
‘It feels like breath…’

It feels like breath:
the engendering, enlivening breath,
the rushing wind,
the gift of life…

This child,
just four years old,
speaks an ancient truth –
a truth not learnt
but lived.

She knows the One
who knit her together
in her mother’s womb:
recognises in a way
that can’t be taught.

Knows herself beloved.

Piers Northam

Delightful Collared Doves

Collared doves can be seen just about anywhere, but often around towns and villages. They’re common visitors to gardens. But collared doves only came to the UK in the 1950s, after a rapid spread across Europe from the Middle East [RSPB]

The Eurasian Collared Dove first bred in England in the 1950’s, in Norfolk.
Because their young like to wander, they could soon be found in more widespread places. It is said that they can travel over 600km from where they were born.

One lovely fact about them is that they are monogamous. Barring accident they keep their partner for life. They also share in bringing up their young equally so they are an example of real partnership.

The Dove, of course, has a deep spiritual meaning and in Christianity is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity.
In the Old Testament, it was the Dove sent out across the waters by Noah which returned with the Olive Branch as a sign of God’s forgiveness and love.
We use the phrase ‘holding out an olive branch’ whenever we seek reconciliation between people and nations who are at loggerheads with each other.
As a result the Dove has come to be known for its gentleness but it has a reputation for being tough and often seen in places of danger and where human striving is failing. The Dove is a much loved symbol of Peace.

It is also a symbol of love, which makes the quotation, chosen by Joyce, from Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury) very apt.
For me, it is the partnership of collared doves which speak particularly of relationship and commitment and sharing together which are symbols of love.
Rowan Williams speaks of ‘truth making love possible and Love making truth bearable. Rowan always puts things beautifully but also in a way that makes us ponder the depth of meaning. So to help me work out what he is saying, I turn to the image of the little Collared Doves. They are true to each other and they are together in a relationship which feels like love to me. That is what sustains them and should sustain us.
In a world of shifting relationships between people but also nations and within nations, where truth and love seem to be trivialized and discarded, the collared doves may well remind us of the vitality of truth and love, of comittment and the joy of friendship which makes our lives so rich. We have to work at it!

Where chaos longs to reign,
Descend, O Holy Dove,
and free us all to work again
the miracles of love. Amen

[Mr.G]