I am currently writing a prayer for Pentecost.
\n(The Day of Pentecost: last Sunday of Easter, also called Whit Sunday. Readings Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104: 26-36; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15)<\/p>\n
The prayer is to be part of an inspirational brochure to be distributed in parishes on the Day of Pentecost, 31 May 2009. The brochure will also appear on the web and maybe in a shorter version \u2013 Tralee! Tralaa! on YouTube!\u00a0 Now, back to the prayer. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
In the Bible we find little warrant for directing prayer to the Holy Spirit. Prayers are to God, the intimacy of \u2018Abba, Father\u2019 in Jesus\u2019 Gethsemane prayer (Mark 14:36) and his encouragement to the disciples to pray, \u2018Our Father in heaven\u2019 (Mt 6:9). There are some prayers to Jesus Christ in Acts (7:59 of Stephen) and the Epistles (2 Cor 12:8 of Paul; 1 Peter 1:3 of Peter). But there are neither prayers to the Holy Spirit nor examples of people praying to the Holy Spirit, although there is praying by Christians in the Spirit (Eph 6:18) and the Spirit praying in Christians (Rom 8:26).\u00a0 Overwhelmingly, Christian prayer is \u2018to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit\u2019.<\/p>\n
Graham Cole in a chapter, \u2018Ought we to pray to the Holy Spirit?\u2019 in \u2018Engaging with the Holy Spirit\u2019, Apollos, England, 2007, concludes (p.72) with these words,<\/p>\n
\u2018Christians may<\/em> indeed pray to the Spirit. Our God is<\/em> Triune.\u00a0 … We must not allow (however) systematic theology, working from first principles, to trump biblical theology\u00a0 … That biblical theology shows that the Spirit\u2019s ministry is a floodlight one.\u00a0 … (The Spirit) directs our gaze elsewhere (away from itself) in the adoration of God. In so doing, the practice of prayer to the Father through the Son with the assistance of the Spirit encapsulates the gospel of the one mediator between God and humankind, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for us all and poured out the Holy Spirit on that singular Pentecost so that we might be caught up in the Son\u2019s own communion \u2013 as our Lord, Saviour and elder brother in the household of God \u2013 with the Father.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And so to my Pentecost prayer!\u00a0 The current draft, there have been many, opens with the address:<\/p>\n
Abba, Father,
\nyou sent your Holy Spirit
\nin wind and fire at Pentecost,
\nempowering the disciples
\nto proclaim with boldness
\nthe revolution (transforming life) of your love in Christ,
\ngiving birth to your church.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI\u2019ll let you know the final version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am currently writing a prayer for Pentecost. (The Day of Pentecost: last Sunday of Easter, also called Whit Sunday. Readings Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104: 26-36; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15) The prayer is to be part of an inspirational … Continue reading