Romans 8:15-17a 
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.
When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

When I read the words bear witness I think of someone who comforts and attends to my fears. I imagine one who will look into the face of my discomfort, my fear my deepest troubles and will not look away, but will bear those things with me. In the same way the Spirit knows the prayers of our hearts the Spirit bears witness to our trouble as well as our joys, to our deepest truths and to the most important truth of all: That we are children of God.

Who sits in the darkness with you? Who reminds you of who you are and to whom you belong? How does the Spirit speak this truth in your life? Through another person? In a sacred place?

I’m drawn to this image of the Spirit as the day of Pentecost winds to a close. The epic, nearly violent movement of the Spirit gives way in this text to a gentle companionship. A Spirit that is bound up in each of our own spirits. A Spirit to give us courage to move forward beyond the day of Pentecost and into the world. A Spirit that invites us to be claimed by God and to claim our inheritance.

May you inherit the hospitality of those first
Christ followers who fed one another and the poorest among them,
May you inherit the comforting breath and
companionship of the Holy Spirit,
May you inherit the creativity, imagination
and the unconditional love of God the creator,
May you inherit Christ’s commitment to justice,
inclusion and love of neighbor,
And may all of these things fill you, teach you,
and make you whole.

AMEN

Peace,

Shawna

Musical Meditation