“I will pour out my Spirit
on all people . . .
and they shall prophesy.”
Dear Trinity Family,
I have been discouraged this week. Planning a youth group is proving tricky. Celebrating Pentecost Sunday in a parking lot has limits. And Greg Callsvik heading to the hospital made me grieve for him, for Joyce, and proved a stark reminder of where all our pilgrimages are headed. So what should I write for this week’s Pilgrimage Church letter?
I was about to begin writing when Carson gently encouraged me to first go for a walk. I took a quick loop from the church to Methow Park. Strolling down Spokane, I saw a woman I recognized standing in someone’s front yard. It was Kristy, who I met four years ago at a bible study in a women’s shelter called “Haven of Hope.” I could tell by the way Kristy waved her hand that she was excited to show me something. With a smile of purest joy, Kristy said this was her house, which she just bought! It would be her pride and joy – except for 2 things she’s even more proud of and thankful for. The first one you can guess from the above picture: Kristy’s backyard, which when first sold was a solid square of dry dirt. But with her housemate Addy’s help, Kristy & Addy have been turning the desert into a garden.
The green patch they’re standing on is from a $100 strip of sod Kristy purchased and replanted. What you can’t see in the corners are the fresh vegetables, lettuce, fruit trees, fire pit, and fresh water pond. Nor can you see the thing Kristy is most proud of – the additional backyard door leading to a basement apartment. “I don’t need the extra room,” Kristy explained, “and I want to make room in my life for people who can’t find affordable housing.” Kristy is proud of her home, proud of her garden, but most proud that she is making room for those with less. It made me ask myself, “What am I proud of?”
In the Bible being a prophet is less about predicting the future, and more about speaking to the present, exposing pride, and living sacrificial lives of joy. I think Kristy is a prophet. What do you think?
This Pentecost, let’s ask the question in Revelation 2:29,
“What is the Spirit saying to the churches?”
Trying to listen,
Pastor Matt
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