Even the people who were there at the Pentecost feast found it really difficult to explain what went on. Some talked about a 'violent wind' and 'flame' around the heads of the disciples!
Some ways of describing the difficult without using words
Some people find it easier to express difficult ideas in the form of pictures. For hundreds of years artists have used their own style of painting to show their thoughts about, and experiences of, God in all His forms.
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Go to the Web Gallery of Art, and look at Pentecost an early manuscript
painting from the Ingeborg Psalter.
Visit the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America web site to view an icon depicting Pentecost. You can see that there are many different ways for thoughts to be expressed by an artist. |
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In recent years
members of a number of churches in different parts of the world have experienced
something called the 'Toronto Blessing'.
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The Religious Movements Homepage section on the Toronto Blessing explains how it all began.
There have been similar experiences in the past. Then, as now, some Christians have been suspicious of the more extreme effects on people who have these 'experiences'. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wrote about his response to the 'Toronto Blessing' type happenings of his day in the Journal he kept:
During this whole time I was almost continually asked ... 'How can these things be?' And innumerable cautions were given me ... not to regard visions or dreams, or to fancy people had remission of sins because of their cries, or tears ... . To one who had many times written to me on this [matter], the sum of my answer was as follows:
'The question between us turns ... on matter of fact. You deny that God does now work these effects; at least, that He works them in this manner. I affirm both, because I have heard these things with my own ears and have seen with my eyes. I have seen (as far as a thing of this kind can be seen) very many persons changed in a moment from the spirit of fear, horror, despair, to the spirit of love, joy, and peace; and from sinful desire, till then reigning over them, to a pure desire of doing the will of God. These are matters of fact whereof I have been, and almost daily am, an eye- or ear-witness.'
In every age there are examples of people having mystical experiences which change their life. Some of the most spectacular of recent experiences took place in the tiny village of Medjugorje. A Short History of our Lady's Apparitions in Medjugorje tells the experiences of some children from this tiny village in central Europe.
There have also always been extraordinary individuals who seemed to have a much closer relationship with God than the majority of people. They are sometimes known as mystics, some are also called 'saints'.
Go to the Christian Mystics web site, and choose someone to research. For example, follow 'Traditional' to find e.g. St Julian of Norwich (under 'Women Mystics of Christianity'), or 'Contemporary' to find e.g. Brother Lawrence ('Someone's In the Kitchen'). The pages include quotations from the mystic's writings on different themes.
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Remember how the people who experienced the Holy Spirit at Pentecost found it difficult to describe what was happening - although they found it easy to talk about the effect or the result.
