Pentecost

Poem by Bruce Prewer

Lord, you come

like the wind

and the earth grows

hale [healthy] at your breath.

You brood

over the face of the waters,

and in the Body of the Church,

shaping

the world that is to be.

You arrive --

like the wind filling a thousand sails

on Sydney Harbour --

and fill

our slack churches

with new power

and vision.

Like moist air

carrying refreshing rain

to the Flinders Ranges,

clothing the valleys with red hops,

carpeting the slopes with purple and gold,

so your Spirit

brings the colour of Christ

into drab communities.

You sweep in,

fresh as sea breezes across Port Phillip

bringing relief and restoration

to a hot and tired city,

dispersing the smog,

encouraging us to breathe deeply again

of the Breath of life.

Sometimes you roar

like a hurricane, tearing away

the flimsy structures

of our gaudy materialism,

demolishing us

to the Ground of our Being.

As strong as a summer wind

transporting a myriad of seeds

to impregnate distant plains

with new patterns of life,

so you seed us

with new faith,

fertile from the Teller of parables.

Warm as the breath

of a loved one

whispering forgiveness

and unearned respect,

so your Spirit

breathes renovating grace

into our dispirited souls.

Some days you spin

like a willy-willy [Aboriginal word for 'mini-tornado'],

startling, tearing, hurting,

uprooting us from apathy

and leaving us giddy

with new possibilites

in discipleship.

Like a soft breeze at dusk

soothing tired faces

at the end of a hard day,

so you visit us

in the evening of life

when all our work is done,

giving us Christ's peace at the last.

We believe

in the Holy Spirit,

Lord, and giver of life,

Poured out on all flesh,

Who with the Father

and the Son,

is worshipped and glorified!

Amen!

Taken from Australian Accents, Selections from Australian Psalms, Australian Prayers and Australian Images, by Bruce D. Prewer and Aub Podlich. 1988