Greening Power

 After so many dry stretches, the steady rain has felt like a gift. The ground drinks deeply. Trees look fuller. Grass greens up almost overnight. And all of it has made me think of Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century mystic who spoke of the Spirit’s viriditas—often translated as “greening power.” Scholars describe viriditas as Hildegard’s image for the living vitality that comes from God: a life-giving energy of growth, healing, fruitfulness, and renewal that runs through creation and, by grace, through us too.

     That image feels just right for the Season after Pentecost.

     The liturgical color is green for a reason. This long stretch of the church year invites us to pay attention to how the life of Christ grows in us and among us through the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is not just one bright Sunday with red paraments and Acts 2. It is the beginning of a Spirit-shaped life. If Easter proclaims that Christ is alive, then the Season after Pentecost asks: what does that new life look like as it takes root in us? What might it mean to blossom?

     I think blossoming in the Spirit does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like making room for what gives life.

     This summer, perhaps blossoming looks like unhurried family time around the table. Perhaps it looks like opening scripture with fresh attention. On Wednesday, June 3, we will begin an evening Bible study through the Gospel of Matthew, and summer may be just the right season to let the words of Jesus sink a little deeper into us. Perhaps blossoming looks like prayer becoming less like one more obligation and more like rain on dry ground.

And perhaps blossoming also looks like love made tangible.

     One beautiful opportunity before us is Project Transformation, a summer reading camp benefitting students in the McAllen area. St. Mark’s UMC hosts the camp every summer, but it’s truly a work of many churches across our United Methodist connection! Volunteering as a reading buddy is patient work, faithful work, Spirit work. It is the kind of thing that helps a child grow in confidence and joy. It is one small, real way of saying: the Spirit’s life is for our neighbors too.

     There are other ways to blossom this summer as well. Resting when you are tired. Reaching out to someone you have not seen in a while. Cooking a meal for someone. Giving yourself back to worship after a distracted season. Sitting outside long enough to remember that God still makes all things grow.

     The Spirit is the greening power of God. That means God is not finished with us. Not with this church. Not with this season. Even now, the Spirit is watering what feels dry, renewing what feels tired, and coaxing new life from places we might have overlooked.

     So may this summer be a season of blossoming. May the Spirit make us green and growing. And may the life of Christ flower in us for the sake of the world.

Creciendo contigo / Growing with you,

Pastor Sarah