Holy chicken

Bedtime Theology with the 4-year-old...

(4-year-old singing an unrecognizable song to himself, that included the words “Holy Spirit”)

Me: Did you just say Holy Spirit?

4 yo: Yes!

Me: Do you know what the Holy Spirit is?

4 yo: A chicken!

Me: Wow, that’s interesting. The Holy Spirit is part of God, and some people think of it like a bird, like a dove.

4 yo: It’s a chicken.

Me: Does that mean God is like a chicken?

4 yo: Yes. And God has feathers!

Me: Wow, that’s interesting.

I preached on Pentecost Sunday a few days ago, which celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. At the children's sermon, I asked an 8-year-old boy if he knew what the Holy Spirit was. He didn't have an answer. I told him it was okay - the adults in the room didn't really know either. 

What is the Holy Spirit, anyway? Scripture portrays the spirit as a dove, a flame, a rushing wind. Biblical interpreters have noted that the Greek word for dove can also mean pigeon and if you think of God as ubiquitous, a pigeon works pretty well. In the Celtic Christian tradition, the Spirit was portrayed as a wild goose - noisy, a bit disruptive. Maybe a chicken is a stretch, but who knows? Theologian Paul Tillich said another phrase for the Holy Spirit is "God is present" and that resonates.

My Lutheran tradition has not always emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit, or at least in the way of Christian traditions like Pentecostal or Charismatic denominations. But we've got Spirit (yes we do) and can point to the holy in daily life. I have experienced God's presence through the Holy Spirit, which sometimes comes as disruption.

This past year or so has been a wild goose period for me, professionally. I left a perfectly good ministry job so that I could focus on writing and parenting. I partly blame the Holy Spirit, but there were practical concerns - like the fact that my work travel schedule wasn't working for my family. 

Now, I'm in the gig economy, and the (unpaid) caregiving business. Depending on the day, I'm either doing Sunday pulpit supply, filling in pastors on parental leave, substitute teaching, writing a regular column for a women's magazine, trying to write a book, volunteering with the school PTSA, teaching yoga, caring for my three kids, managing a household and helping with remote caregiving for an aging parent. My sister says I'm the busiest unemployed person she knows. What do I tell people when they ask me what I do? None of the answers fit into a tidy box. Maybe I could start saying that I'm following the Holy Spirit, or at least keeping a lookout for her.

The interesting thing about doing a lot of different things, is that I see a broad swath of humanity and encounter God in interesting places. The Holy Spirit can be found in the moms who give hours of unpaid labor to make school carnivals and family fun nights happen. The Spirit is blowing through the middle school paraprofessionals who give encouraging words, high-fives and focused attention every day to students with complex special needs. It has to be the Holy Spirit that enables a tiny congregation to host a well-used food pantry three times a month. Somehow, the holy dove/fire/wind/chicken keeps showing up in these days of late-stage capitalism where everything is too expensive and there are too many bombs and too many bullies and still every day I see someone being kind in this world and on my very best days it might even be me. God is here and still squawking and that is enough.