Nancy Chinn: Tongues of Fire
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By John Woodall
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number of years ago when doing some continuing education in Berkeley, I spent an afternoon visiting some of the sights in San Francisco. One of my favorite stops is Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill. It’ s about as close as one can come to visiting one of the great European cathedrals while staying on the west coast. The massive front doors, replicas of Ghiberti’ s Renaissance masterpiece,“ Doors of Paradise,” make it clear to the visitor that this is no ordinary place. I had visited the cathedral before. As I walked inside on that particular day, I was taken aback by an art installation that had the effect of“ stopping you in your tracks,” a real“ take your breath away” kind of experience. Nancy Chinn, a Northern California artist, had installed a work entitled“ Tongues of Fire” over the pews in the nave of the Cathedral. Hundreds of yards of fabric streamers in various hues of red, gold, orange, seemed to float overhead and the effect was really quite surreal. It captured the church season of Pentecost in a most dramatic way. It created a place and space that while of this ordinary world, felt very extraordinary.
In many ways, that is what this season after Pentecost is about – the extraordinary being inserted into the ordinary. Since that day in Jerusalem so long ago, followers of Jesus have spoken, written, sung, and artistically depicted that unpredictable, strange and empowering way our world experiences God as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has been called comforter, refiner, empowerer, grace-giver. Whatever the name, the result is the same. When we choose to open our being to God’ s Spirit, to receive the grace it provides and the inspiration it yields, amazing things happen. Simply put – things will change.
That’ s probably one of the reasons we are often uncomfortable with the concept of the Holy Spirit. Most of us appreciate stability, predictability, solid foundations that we can count on – always. The Church is an institution that has carried that notion out exponentially. Even the most casual observer senses, however, that change is in the air. We who value our church homes and faith communities realize that these expressions of the Christian faith are at a crossroads, that things will be different. Some are observing that our inability to move past some of the doctrines and dogmas of a different time are holding us back, probably even preventing us from doing the work for which the Holy Spirit is providing the lead.
While insights may change, while foundations may shift, we are inheritors of the promise that God’ s grace and God’ s love – as experienced through the Holy Spirit – are eternal. The poet T. S. Eliot wrote, The dove descending breaks the air With flame of incandescent terror Of which the tongues declare The one discharge from sin and error. The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre – To be redeemed from fire by fire. [ Four Quartets, Little Gidding ]
Could this be a time when the Pentecost Fire is working to ignite a fire within us? A flame that refines a new vision for how those who follow Jesus may live faithfully so that justice, peace, and hope are available for all? How is it on your journey?— Pastor John
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