Our Sacred Stories ~ Lord Stanley’s Cup: The Spirit and Gifts

The final round of the NHL playoffs is beginning with two teams, Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers vying with each other for the Stanley Cup .  So often the teams playing in the finals are not the teams expected as the season began.  Some of the favourites may still be around.  But frequently in the playoffs, some “underdog” surprises everyone.  Why does this happen?  The favourites have great talent.  Through the regular season their performance may have been excellent, much better than the “underdogs” who simply squeaked into the playoffs.  Time and again it is these “underdogs” who end up taking the cup.  How does this happen?

Perhaps talent is only half of the game.  What is needed is “spirit”, “heart”, the drive to use the talents and gifts to their full.  This spirit allows the talent to work as a team.  It gives the team the drive to reach beyond what appear to be their capabilities.  Our talents, our gifts will take us only so far.  Without spirit or what we sometimes refer to as “heart”, our talent, gifts and skills are lifeless.  A team, a people, a community, a person can experience this.  We can be dogged by a “defeated spirit.”

Those disciples who gathered after the crucifixion faced this reality.  They had walked and talked with Jesus.  They had heard his message.  They had seen his actions.  They had been his friends and followers.  Now they lost heart and were filled with fear.  Their hopes were dashed.  But the appearance of the risen Jesus, like the one we see in John’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) on this Pentecost Sunday draws them back to the power and hope of the Spirit that gives them heart.

The appearance of the Risen One restores their hope and as Jesus breathed the Spirit upon them it restores their mission.  They were to continue the mission of Jesus.  Like him, they were to take up the mission of forgiveness and reconciliation, of healing and new life.  The disciples were to bring liberty and freedom to all peoples.

This Spirit, that was to remain with the disciples is the one that Paul refers to in his letter to the Christians in Corinth (1Cor.12:3-7) – Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit.  The Spirit was for all and was to mark the whole community of believers.  Just as it takes a family to raise a child, so it takes community of believers to accomplish the mission of Jesus for the whole of humanity.

The Spirit poured out upon the disciples on that first Pentecost gave them new gifts which brought new life, new heart to their own personal talents and abilities.  They became a community of disciples, filled with energy and drive for the message and the mission.  The outpouring of the Spirit builds the disciples into a community of believers and missionaries of the message of Jesus.  They become Church, focused on hearing the message anew and taking it out to the ends of the earth.  Filled with this Spirit, they went forth and began to change the world with the message and the mission that they had received.

We are Church, called to be a Spirit-filled community of disciples of Jesus in our own time and place.  On this Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the Spirit that we have been given.  With this Spirit and the variety of gifts that we possess, we are to bring new heart to a world seeking hope and promise and a sense of new life.  May God bless us with energy and commitment to carry out the mission we have been given.