On May 15, Christians worldwide celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was crucified, Peter explained on that first Pentecost, but “God raised him from the dead,” and being “exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (Acts 2:24, 33).

The Spirit was active before Pentecost, of course, but now the Spirit poured forth from the ascended, victorious Jesus – into His body, the church. This continuation of Christ’s mission and teaching through the Spirit was an even better arrangement, Jesus had promised His sorrowing disciples before His death, than His remaining with them in human flesh.

Our Confession of Faith sums up biblical teaching of the Spirit’s work this way: “The Spirit convicts people of sin, gives them new life, and guides them into all truth. By the Spirit, believers are baptized into one body. The indwelling Spirit testifies that they are God’s children, distributes gifts for ministry, empowers for witness, and produces the fruit of righteousness. As Comforter, the Holy Spirit helps God’s children in their weakness, intercedes for them according to God’s will and assures them of eternal life.”

A great gift indeed! But how can we celebrate it?

When observant Jews commemorate Passover, they do not re-tell the story of the deliverance from Egypt as something that happened to their forebears. Each generation is obligated to tell the story as if it is their very own – “we (not they) were in bondage, we were brought out, etc.”

Similarly, we can celebrate Pentecost by re-telling the story as participants, as those who have both heard and heeded Peter’s sermon that day. We can say, with joy, “It was we who repented, we who know this Jesus who was crucified as both Lord and Christ. We have forgiveness of our sins, and we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Changing places

For some weeks now, the staff of the Canadian MB Conference, Herald staff among them, have been forced into a great flurry of unusual activity in addition to regular work. We have been packing up our offices for the move from 169 Riverton, Winnipeg to a new ministry centre at 1310 Taylor Avenue.

Decades of accumulated files and materials had to be considered. Does this need to be archived, kept in current files, or discarded? If discarded, should it be shredded or simply recycled?

Each piece of furniture was evaluated by persons responsible for such matters, and a decision was made about whether it should be taken along or left for the new occupants. (Once vacated, our offices will be renovated into classrooms for the neighbouring MB Collegiate Institute’s expansion of their middle school.)

Several days before the actual move, Conference staff met together for a short time of reflection on the past 20 years at the 169 Riverton site. Two people were present in 1985 when the Canadian conference and MB mission offices re-located into the second floor of what was then the Mennonite Brethren Bible College. They recalled that the discovery of the missing and murdered Candace Derksen was very much on their minds during that move.

Others recollected some of the issues that have engaged our denominational life over the past 20 years: an inter-Mennonite consultation, higher education, and re-structuring. Remembrance was also made of former co-workers like Henry Brucks, Lorina Marsch, Jake Wiebe and others, who have died.

There was laughter too, as humorous incidents and memorable idiosyncrasies of staff life were recounted.

In a prayer spoken by the longest serving staff person, Susan Brandt, gratitude was offered to God for these many memories. Confession was offered too. Working together, even in the Kingdom, requires more forbearance than we are often willing to give, and in this place we have failed one another at times, and have needed to apologize and forgive.

As I write this (working at home, since we’re “neither here nor there”), the final part of the move is underway. On Monday, we’ll begin unpacking, settle into our respective work spaces, and once more focus fully on our work.

As moves go, this office move is not that drastic, of course. We will be working with the same people and doing the same jobs. Many people undergo moves between countries or provinces, or within a city, which wrench them out of their familiar environment. I’ve watched our children making the adjustments of moving to Europe and then the U.S. as their adult lives unfold. I’ve watched my parents and older relatives, on the other end of the adult trajectory, making moves that gradually shed the accumulation of a lifetime and bring them into one or two rooms in a seniors’ complex.

Changing places is a challenge. Moves confront us, often painfully, with how deep our attachments have grown.

What a comfort to know that God is not bound to place in the way we are. “The Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool’ ” (Acts 7:48–49 RSV). Move where we will, we are still in God’s house.

At the same time, this Most High God attended the wanderings of Israel, had in Jesus no permanent address, and did not release the disciples into the world until the Holy Spirit had filled them with His presence and power. Within that paradox of God’s presence, completely unbound and yet specific to our small worlds, we change places.