Reflection of a Parish
Fifty days after Easter we have the electrifying arrival of Pentecost!
Scripture gives us the story of that first coming of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles by referencing many images of surprise, change, movement, energy, fire, empowerment, understanding of foreign languages. And today, if we consult Scripture scholars and spiritual directors, they will tell us that the same—the exact same—changes, surprises, energy and empowerment are meant for us as well—gifts from the same Spirit to fit our needs in our specific places and time! That, however, is the disturbing part of the Pentecost liturgy and truth! It is also the most promising part of Pentecost!
So, you may ask how can it be both disturbing and promising? Where is the missing link? Let me tell you a story…
Recently I received the following email message entitled “Dead Church.” There are times, aren’t there, when we feel we are dead members of a dying church? Let me share this email with you! It seems a new pastor in a small Oklahoma town spent four days making personal visits to each of the members of his parish, inviting them to come to his first Eucharistic celebration the following Sunday. But to his chagrin, the church was all but empty! Accordingly, the pastor placed a notice in the local newspapers, stating that because the church was dead, it was everyone’s duty to give it a proper Christian burial. The funeral would be held the following Sabbath afternoon. The notice read, “Come one, come all”!
Morbidly curious, a large crowd turned out for the “funeral.” In front of the pulpit, they saw a closed coffin smothered in flowers. After the pastor delivered the eulogy, he opened the coffin and invited his congregation to come forward and pay their respect to their dead church.
Filled with curiosity as to what would represent the corpse of a “dead church,” all the people eagerly lined up to look into the coffin. Each “mourner” peeked into the coffin, then quickly turned with a guilty, sheepish look on their faces.
Inside the coffin, tilted at the correct and exact angle, was a large mirror to catch the parishioners’ faces! Deep silence reigned!
Am I the missing link? And perhaps you too?
Renee Domeier, OSB
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.
