Meditation: The Coming Out

Acts 2:1-21  |  John 20:19-23

Take a slow breath.

Let your body settle.

Let yourself arrive here, just as you are.

You do not need to earn your place here.

You do not need to have the right words.

You do not need to be further along than you are.

Just be here.

Just breathe.

· · ·

Hear these words from the prophet Joel,

quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost:

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

Not some flesh.

Not the right flesh.

Not the flesh that has everything figured out.

All of it.

Including yours.

· · ·

Let that land for a moment.

The same Spirit that moved over the waters at creation.

The same breath that Jesus breathed into his frightened friends.

The same fire that fell on every head in that room —

on sons and daughters, young and old,

on the certain and the doubting alike.

It is here.

It is in you.

It has always been in you.

· · ·

Gently ask yourself:

Where have I believed that the Spirit was for someone else —

someone more qualified, more certain, more spiritually together?

Do not judge what rises.

Just notice it.

Now hear what Jesus said on the evening of the first Easter.

He came through the locked doors.

He showed his wounds — still present in the risen body.

And he said: Peace be with you.

Not: get it together.

Not: you should be further along.

Peace.

Then he breathed on them —

the same breath God breathed into the first human being.

New creation.

That breath is in you right now.

· · ·

Now ask:

What locked room am I still hiding in?

What would it mean to let the Spirit

open that door today?

· · ·

Now pray:

Holy One,

pour yourself out on all flesh —

including mine.

When I believe the Spirit is for someone else,

    remind me: all flesh means me.

When fear keeps me behind locked doors,

    breathe peace into the room.

When I forget that I am sent,

    send me again.

When I don't know whose language to speak,

    give me ears to hear theirs first.

Amen.

· · ·

Rest for a moment in this truth:

You are not waiting to become

someone the Spirit can use.

You already are.

Take one slow breath as you return to your day.