Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Coincidence - Luck - Chance - Happenstance...Are they God’s way of being anonymous?



Dear Friends,
As believing people, many of us grew up with two rather divergent world views:
          One world view encompasses our everyday lives: work, school, family, neighbors, friends, sports, shopping – by and large, a world we love, value and enjoy.
          The other world view is the God world: Sunday church, prayer, keeping the commandments. Often this world seems rather distant, not particularly warm or inviting.
          The Feast of Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday celebrates and reminds us of quite a different world view.
Pentecost celebrates and reminds us that there is only world:
The world of  Genesis in which God looked at this earth and said “It is good. It is very good.(Gen.1.31)”
The  world of  which Jesus said “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.(John 10.10)”
The  world of which Jesus said “I will send the Holy Spirit to be with you always. ( John 14.26)”
The challenge of Pentecost is twofold:
-         to recognize the Holy Spirit  present in every facet of our lives
-         to understand that the Spirit of God comes where and when the Spirit will it and not at our command..
Think about the people who were present in Jerusalem at the time of
the First Pentecost.. They came from places with tongue-twisting names. All came for other reasons, but they were privileged to hear Peter, newly infused with the Holy Spirit, and to experience the power of the Spirit themselves. Coincidence that they were there?
A woman  in New York City, hesitant about taking a job in Rochester  was considering her options when a jogger passed her on the street, wearing a tee shirt that said “ I’d Rather Be in Rochester.” Coincidence?
Walking through a courtyard at the University of Pavia, Italy last month, my friends and I came across a graduate with her family. We applauded her, engaged her in conversation, then she said to us  “ I have
been considering going to America. You are my sign I should go.” Concidence?  Luck? Chance? Happenstance?
          Someone once said that “Luck and chance are just God’s way of being anonymous.”  Where has God been anonymous in your everyday life?     
~Sister Joan Sobala