But you can do too much thinking, you know!
Couch Potatoes!
Some say we have become a generation of “couch potatoes”, spending too much time watching television and computer screens and loving to criticise, analyse and systematise.
Think of the massive popularity of The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I’d do anything!
We need some Distance!
This season of Pentecost, the time when the Church celebrates the coming of the Spirit of God, is a great opportunity for us to reflect rather than analyse and criticise. And for this we need some DISTANCE.
Just as a great painting can be perceived best when we stand back from it and place some distance between us and the subject, so too can the great meaningful things in life be better experienced when we recognise some distance.
The Spirit of Distance?
The Bible tells us that our Lord had to go away so that the Spirit of God could come to his followers. I wonder if the implication of this is that everything about Jesus Christ – his unending love, his hope, his faithfulness, his healing power, his true self – needs to be observed and reflected upon from a distance. Perhaps this is something to do with the Spirit.
When Jesus is described at his Ascension as being lifted up into the heavens, so filling the universe – perhaps it is when we give this its due sense of distance and universal
perspective that we can begin to grasp the Spiritual power of his life.
Let’s take time to reflect on that!
Fire, Wind and Tongues!
Also, the time of Pentecost has filled the mind of the Christian Church with strong images of the Spirit coming down on the Apostles like flames of FIRE and like a mighty rushing WIND. The Apostles even started to speak in other LANGUAGES or tongues. (see Acts Chapter 2)
Breath!
In another part of the Scriptures we read that Jesus BREATHED upon his disciples, giving them the Holy Spirit.
I would suggest we do not waste time trying to analyse, criticise and systematise the meanings of these words – or whether the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost or on the day of Resurrection.
Our response & reflections
I think our response – especially as modern people living in the modern world – should be in the area of a question to ourselves. Are we motivated in all our living by the same universal love we see in Jesus Christ? Is our very breath filled with the burning desire to see the world, our neighbour and ourselves in the way Jesus Christ sees us? Are our words, our different languages throughout the world, heard and understood with the accent of love, acceptance and openness?
Cyclone in Burma
The horrors of the Cyclone in Burma, (along with the seemingly inane prevention of humanitarian aid being given to the desperate needy) have made us all wonder if anything in the world has changed. Has the startling resurrection life of Jesus Christ, so full of hope and love and peace for the whole world, made any impression on our societies and communities whatever?
Everything we are
Maybe we could try to answer this profound question by asking ourselves if we can find some Distance as we reflect upon the universal love of God in Jesus Christ. Can we so allow our own lives, our very breathing, everything we take in and give out, be infused with that same love?
Such a thought is a bit different from being a “couch potato”!
