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Pentecost: gathering in and sending out

Pentecost: gathering in and sending out

The Holy Spirit brings people together – so that we can see and understand each other at the deepest level. And the understanding is, for Christians, that we are all connected through that same Spirit.

On Pentecost afternoon, the Holy Spirit brought many parts of the diocese together to sing, to pray – to have our ministries blessed – and to be fed and freed by the Spirit.

Prayers were read in different languages; incense from several thuribles wafted to the ceiling; red streamers and lion dancers manifested the movement of the Spirit; the Rev. Dr. William Howard of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark witnessed to the power of the Spirit from the pulpit.

I was blessed to be there. I was literally blessed at the end of the service by those in attendance, with a prayer and laying of hands as I begin my sabbatical leave. I will carry that blessing with me – as I engage in what priest and writer Henri Nouwen calls spiritual displacement; which involves going to new places for the purpose of discovering God in a new way. Spiritual displacement will be the measure of my life over the next three months as I spend three weeks visiting Tibetan monasteries in Nepal; and staying in an Anglican monastery in New Delhi that has a particular ministry to the Dalit community.

Bishop Beckwith is blessed by the congregation before his sabbatical.

Bishop Beckwith is blessed by the congregation before his sabbatical. NINA NICHOLSON PHOTO

In July, Bishop Julio Murray from our companion Diocese of Panama and I will spend a week at Christ in the Desert Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico. Following that retreat, for four days we will be guided about the Area Mission of Navajoland by its bishop – in order to see how God is working in that part of the world.

My wife and I will take a vacation in Europe; and most of the rest of the time will be spent reflecting and reading – and some writing, at our home in southern New Hampshire.

The Holy Spirit brings us together. And the Holy Spirit brings us closer to God. That is my hope during my sabbatical. For all of us.

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