Wednesday Morning Connection A Product of Liturgical Publications Inc.   Sunday, May 11, 2008 A Mighty Wind

This Sunday’s Scripture Readings Pentecost   Vigil: Genesis 11:1-9; or Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b; or Ezekiel 37:1-14; or Joel 3:1-5 Romans 8:22-27 John 7:37-39 Day: Acts 2:1-11 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 John 20:19-23      The news from Asia this week was devastating: a cyclone tore through Myanmar, killing over 10,000 people – with the toll expected to climb (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5greyFH3qkj9mc9oagSoulgjN4KHgD90G1EU80). Hundreds of thousands more are helpless and homeless, without shelter or drinking water (http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKBKK16789320080505). It is probable the numbers will only get worse. Meantime, the country has agreed to accept outside aid (http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSSP180805). But it is impossible to know right now the full extent of this disaster. It appears to be the biggest catastrophe to strike the continent since the tsunami in 2004.  The descriptions of the aftermath are harrowing (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/asia/06myanmar.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin). “People are starving,” one resident said. “Fuel is becoming scarce,” he added. “People are likely to die of starvation. If international help doesn’t come within a week, it will be impossible to survive. There will be nothing left to eat.” Relief agencies, including the UN’s World Food Program, are jumping in to help. The people of Myanmar are in for a difficult and agonizing fight.  It is a powerful reminder of how nature, overnight, can transform the world. A rush of wind can change everything.  Just ask the apostles.  This Sunday, we mark Pentecost, the great birthday of the Church – an event that, the scripture tells us, also began with a rush of wind – a roar that sent the people of Jerusalem into the streets. Like the citizens of Myanmar, the followers of Christ also saw their universe turned upside down – an old order wiped away, a new one about to begin.  We can only imagine what it was like on that first Pentecost – the uncertainty that must have filled the apostles’ hearts when they heard the rush of wind and couldn’t understand what caused it. And most of us can only imagine, as well, what it must have been like for the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been uprooted and destroyed by the cyclone on the other side of the world.  So often, our lives are changed by forces we can’t control or understand. And we are left to ponder the aftermath with bewilderment and confusion, with prayer, and with unflagging hope. In the process, we also come to realize how much we are bound, more closely than ever, to others – how much we need one another to survive difficult times. Surely all of that – enhanced by the bold and empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit – helped sustain the early Church.  One of our prayers this Pentecost is that the suffering people of Myanmar may also be able know one of the gifts of the Spirit – fortitude – so that they may also be sustained by an inner strength, by a sense of community, and by the generosity and good will of the world.   Greg Kandra http://deacbench.blogspot.com/

PRAYER   Father, you sent forth your Spirit to renew the face of the earth. We pray that this same Spirit will continue to renew our hope, uplift our hearts, and inspire our minds. Let our faith be stirred by the Spirit’s winds, illuminated by the Spirit’s fire, so that we can continue your great work, and make the Gospel message known to people of all nations. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.