Pentacost love
Love Is the Ground:
A Pentecost Reflection on Prayer
Every year, Pentecost sneaks up on me a little. Easter gets all the buildup—the weeks of Lent, the drama of Holy Week. But fifty days later, here comes the Holy Spirit, rushing in like wind, appearing like fire, and turning a frightened group of disciples into people who couldn't stop talking about what God had done. Happy birthday, church!
But underneath all the wind and fire, I keep finding the same word at the heart of the Pentecost story: love. The Spirit is poured out, says Peter, quoting Joel—poured out on all flesh. Not measured. Not rationed. Poured. Love is not just a feeling we celebrate. It is the ground of everything. It is, as the mystics tell us, our origin, our sustenance, and our destination.
BELOVED FROM THE BEGINNING
Before we could earn anything, before we had achieved or failed or tried or given up—we were beloved. The first chapter of our story is always God's yes. "I have loved you with an everlasting love," says Jeremiah. That love does not fluctuate with our moods or our performance. It is as steady as breathing.
And Pentecost is the declaration that this love is now loose in the world—poured into human hearts by the Spirit, spilling out across every boundary the disciples thought was fixed. Jew and Gentile, young and old, men and women. The love of God will not be contained.
When we understand ourselves as beloved—truly, to our core—it changes everything about how we pray. We are not approaching a distant judge hoping to be found worthy. We are coming home to the One who has always known us and always loved us.
A PRAYER PRACTICE FOR THIS SEASON
This month, I invite you to try a simple centering practice rooted in the Spirit of Pentecost. Sit quietly and breathe slowly. On your inhale, receive these words: I am beloved. On your exhale, release these words: I belong to love.
Let the words settle below your thinking mind and into your heart. You might find resistance at first—our inner critic can be loud. But stay with it. This is not self-flattery. This is receiving the truth that the Spirit has been speaking over you since before your birth, and declaring aloud at Pentecost for all the world to hear.
Theologian Paul Tillich wrote that the courage to be is rooted in the God who accepts us even in our unacceptability. That acceptance is love—radical, unconditional, transforming love. When we receive it, we become capable of giving it away.
LOVING OTHERS FROM THAT PLACE
This is the secret at the heart of the Pentecost story. The disciples didn't rush out into the streets of Jerusalem because they had worked themselves up into a state of enthusiasm. They went because they were filled—filled with a love that had no intention of staying put.
We can only love well from the overflow of being loved. This Pentecost season, may you know yourself as beloved. And from that place, may you love generously, freely, and without borders.
Go make peace, my friends.
Pastor Leanne
Attribution for graphic is “Stushie Art - stushieart.com”
Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502
info@sjcpres.org