A SOUND LIKE THE RUSH OF A VIOLENT WIND

Pentecost is remembered and celebrated this weekend. It is the final act in the drama that started in Bethlehem with the birth of Mary’s child. The seed that he sowed felt on rocky ground but it also fell in fertile soil. His closest friends gathered in Jerusalem, hesitant and fearful, behind locked doors. They had learnt much and had high hopes but they did not know where to begin or what to do. ‘Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the whole house. … All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.’

Robert Bridges adapted the twelfth century Amor Patris et Filii and put it into modern English with words that included, ‘who formest heavenly beauty out of strife’. The Spirit forms beauty out of our terrible human mess. Here is an example of ‘strife’ I read some time back: Two Guinean boys, Yaguine (14) and Fodé (15) stowed away in a plane to Europe and were discovered dead in the luggage hold. A letter was found in the clothes of one of them which read in part:

Excellencies, leaders of Europe. We have the honourable pleasure and great confidence in writing to you about the reason for our journey and sufferings, we the children and young people of Africa. But first we send you the most delightful, charming and respectful greetings. Be our support and our help. We beg you for the love of your beautiful continent, your feeling towards your people, your family and especially the closeness and love of your children whom you love like life itself. And also for the love and friendship of our Creator ‘God’ the Almighty who has given you the background, ability and wherewithal to build well and organise well our continent so as to become a beautiful and respected friends among others … So if you see that we sacrifice and expose our life, it is because people suffer too much and we need you to fight against the poverty and to put an end to the wars in Africa … We beg you to excuse us very very much for daring to write to you les grands personnages to whom we owe great respect. Yaguine Koita et Fodé Tounkara.

I do not think anyone can read these words without a tear coming to their eyes. The letter was written more than twenty years ago. It seems at first sight a hopeless task; two young boys facing a mighty continent. And yet who knows what tiny ripples of hope this letter set off? The Spirit is at work all over the world connecting the hopes and sacrifices of children and adults everywhere. No journalist can capture what is really going on. The situation is not hopeless. People are finding their voice. It may not be the rush of a violent wind – how we would love that it was – but ‘a sound of silence’ such as Elijah heard (1 Kings19:12). Can we hear it too?

June 5, 2022          Pentecost    Acts 2:1-11 1 Cor 12:3…13     Jn 14:15…28