Saturday, April 5, 2003
Saturday, April 5, 2003
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not
go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
One day his wife, back in Norway, looked up from the doorway of her home and saw this pigeon
circling in the sky above. Immediately, she knew that this was her husband's way of
communicating his love all the way from the North Pole.
The symbol of the Holy Spirit is not a homing pigeon, but a dove. Still, the story fits. Christ could
not remain with us in person. So, he sent a dove (the Holy Spirit) into our hearts to bear witness
to his love. Under such circumstances, who could be comfortless? "I will not leave you
desolate," he says, "I will come to you." How? In love, truth, and the indwelling presence of his
Spirit.
(John 16.7
NRSV)
In his book, SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, Gordon Brownville tells about the great
Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen. Amundsen was the first man to discover the magnetic
meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole. On one of his trips, Amundsen took a
homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird's
cage and set it free.
Dear God, thank you for Christ's presence who lives and reigns in me. Amen.
