π is for Spirit (June)

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π is for Spirit

I took the very minimum Greek language required from my seminary to graduate and become a priest. Sometimes I wish I had taken more, but more than that I am grateful to have the little bit I learned. It comes in really helpful sometimes; I like to use a Bible that has the English and Greek side-by-side to understand the original language of the New Testament. 

In a recent study, I came across one of my favorite Greek words: the word for Spirit. It is transliterated pneuma, and is related to our English word, pneumonia, which refers to a sick spirit or breath. The word pneuma is that gift given to the first Apostles, it is what empowered a virgin to become a mother, and it was the mover to watch in the early church, known to us in English as the Holy Spirit. 

This person of God, who dwells in the eternal dance with the Father and the Son is not a God to be understood, but to be experienced. Try to pin down the wind. You cannot even see it, only what it moves. 

Another π word is the word we translate to our English words belief, faith, and trust. In Greek it is pistos. Whenever you bump in to the word belief or believe you can safely replace it with the word trust. While the belief word, these days often leads people to consider a particular doctrine and dogma, the trust word often leads people to recall healthy, loyal relationships. We are invited again and again to trust not in the spirit of the times, the spirit of wrath, or any other spirit. Instead we are taught to trust in the Holy Spirit. 

In my church we baptize either infants or adults. Even if a baby cannot articulate the doctrine of the church, or explain what their faith is about, we trust the Holy Spirit to be at work in them at the time of baptism and throughout their journey. Baptism is just the beginning: the initiation into a life of learning to trust the Holy Spirit's guidance. There is a reason the metaphor of water and wind are used for this person of the Trinity: they flow, and we'd do best to pay attention to where and how they flow.

I think about learning to swim in a river, and learning to sail. Paying attention to the wind and water is so important. It is a good lesson on learning to trust in the Holy Spirit. We have to pay attention, learn from, and work with that Holy Spirit. How do you practice trusting in the Holy Spirit? 

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