“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore” Vincent van Gogh
A wealthy family used to take a month’s vacation every summer to the coast of Maine. The mother had an ritual at the beach she practiced each year which was more than just a ritual, it was a reflection of her life story. She wore an old-fashioned bathing suit, complete with a little white hat, and carried enough paraphernalia to stock Wal-Mart. She would settle herself on the beach, cover every inch of her exposed flesh and journey down to the water’s edge. There she would hesitate while taking deep breaths and working up her courage to enter the icy-cold water. Finally, she would daintily extend one foot and lower it slowly into the water until she barely had her big toe submerged. Then she repeated the act with the other foot. Then, having satisfied her minimal urge to experience the ocean, she would retreat to her chair and umbrella and spend the remainder of the vacation curled around a book in comfort and safety. She had been to the beach, but she never knew the sea.
I’m afraid that may be a parable of our Christian experience with the Holy Spirit, vast, mysterious and inviting, but we approach tentatively, reservedly, and always maintaining complete control. Are we afraid to give in to the Pentecost experience, fearful that we might lose control and comfort? That’s what it is really all about, isn’t it? Control. We want to be in control. Well, if Pentecost is to do nothing else, it should remind us that we are not in control, not even - or perhaps I should say especially - of ourselves.
What would happen if we admitted the obvious, we're not in control, and begin trusting on One that through generations has guided saints and sinners to a better kind of life they ever thought possible? What would happen if we reached for something more noble, something grander, something eternal and found the life we're looking for?
How many have come to the ocean only to find sand and dead seashells, but never find the living sea?
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