Adam, as he deliberates, says this remarkable phrase, “ … whom the pain Of death denounced, whatever thing Death be.” (Book 9; Line 694-5) For Adam, death was still a mystery. It remains in many ways still a mystery for us, but for Adam the experience was beyond his realm of experience. He hadn’t seen anyone suffer death. When we read Paradise Lost, or Genesis 3, we understand far more the implications of that decision than Adam or Eve.
For those who were gathered together waiting for the giving of the Holy Spirit, what the Pentecost experience was going to be and how it would change them, fill them and empower them was beyond what they could have understood. To use Milton, the disciples would be saying something like, ‘we are together, waiting for the giving of the Spirit, promised by our ascended Saviour, whatever this giving of the Holy Spirit be.’ It was a time of mysterious possibility as they were waiting together…
Two things came to mind.
The first is the reminder that it is worthwhile when reading the Bible to feign ignorance so that we can experience the mystery, intrigue and surprise of how God’s story unfolds in the life of his people. Reading the text like this gives us the opportunity to be shocked and surprised by a God who is beyond our capacity to understand, put in a box or predict. This can helps us dream the mysterious possibilities that God is calling us into.
The second, bringing the idea into the context of the connection, is that as we gather together to celebrate Pentecost by sharing a meal and by considering how the implication of resurrection can impact our community in our coming together and in our going out, we should wait with anticipation and also mystery as we consider where the Holy Spirit is leading us as the connection, whatever thing that be…
~chris