COME HOLY SPIRIT!
A Reflection on Psalm 104
Creator. Creation. Creatures. And Fire. That’s what this psalm is about - recognizing
and declaring God’s awesome creativity of innumerable, diverse, complex living things.
The psalmist is taken by the sea and its beasts - especially ones that show off the divine sense of
humor by creating, for the “sport of it, great beasts” to live in the sea, a fearful and chaotic
place. Today we are the creatures living in a chaotic world (to say the least.) But we can know
that God comes in the middle of such chaos to bring order and peace - in God’s own time and in
God’s own way. In such times we can rest assured that God is with us in the middle of it to renew
and rebuild.
God is not only creator. He is our sustainer and provider on whom we depend on so much that when we
do not feel God’s presence, it is like taking our breath away
- which can feel like we are dying. But when God sends Spirit, we feel God’s
presence that comes to renew and restore all things. Pentecost celebrates the Spirit’s coming to
comfort us in the midst of such chaos.
God’s Spirit is also fire, capable of constructing and de-constructing. His touch alone can set
mountains on fire! Often destruction is as necessary for reconstruction as death is for
resurrection. And so we live in that hope of resurrection that we have been celebrating for fifty
days, knowing that the chaos of today will lead to new life and new ways that God promises will be.
And so, the best thing we can do during such times these is offer praise to God, knowing that such
chaos has happened before but God is here with us, creating order out of chaos. Come Holy Spirit!
- Pastor Marilyn Crosby
