‘The Unknown, the Not Yet, the Possible’

Andrew Collis
Pentecost, Year B
Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104; John 15:26-27;16:4b-15

Today is Pentecost! The icon for this festival is known as the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

Figures are seated in a semicircle (note the semicircles [mandorlas] at the top and bottom of the icon; perhaps we see the “U” of the UCA emblem – incidentally, a pentecostal image). 

There is order, a certain harmony, yet there is incompleteness. It is not that our lives are inevitably imperfect. They are, in the Spirit, richer than any idea of perfection. 

Worshippers/scholars note the inverse perspective of the icon. Figures appear larger the further away they are – figures appear larger as they sit nearer to the empty, unoccupied space (the teacher’s seat). 

Or, in variant icons, nearer to Mary the Mother of God (representative of Jesus and exemplar of faith). 

What is happening? 

We take it in turns to reflect (on) the gospel, to share our testimony. We attend to the testimony of others. We grow in faith and wisdom (it takes time, perhaps a lifetime), all the while approaching a holy emptiness, respecting/revering it – the Unknown, the Not Yet, the Possible …

Spiritual maturity means accepting the loss of any direct contact with Jesus. 

“It is much better for you that I go,” Jesus says. “If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never come to you, whereas if I go, I will send her to you” (John 16:7).

In the Spirit, Christ’s presence is mediated by Word and sacrament, imagination, tradition and ethical action. 

The world, symbolised by the figure of Cosmos, waits (in darkness) for the gospel, awaits (with arms outstretched) our testimony. We owe the world beloved of God our honest, open witness – our best thinking and practice.

What gift/scroll/testimony are we given to bear? What teaching do we offer? What offering for the life of the world? Amen.