I will never forget what Hammo Hammond (a long time member) said to me just before he died. He told me that the biggest gift in his life was the last few days with his family. He told me that the love he could feel from his family, from his friends, from god, the love streaming towards him that he allowed himself to receive into his heart, this was the greatest gift of his life.

And Hamo’s spirit can remind each and every one of us about what is most important in life. For it is a well known fact that at the end of our lives, when it is all said and done, most of us will not feel; I wish I had worked harder and longer at my job, or I wish I had made more money, or I wish I lived in a better area of town with a fancier house. Most of us will not think of all the superficial things of life but think about what is most important, relationships. We will cherish our relationships. Like hammo, we will cherish the relationships with family, with friends, with Christ and the moral substances of love, trust and hope that weaves us together. 

And so on this Whitsun Sunday, let us be inspired like the disciples were by the Holy Spirit, to cultivate what is most valuable in life. Let us be inspired like Hammo to give and receive love in community. For the essence and signature of Whitsun is to build the moral substance of universal love between human hearts, love gifted by The Spirit. This love, this purest moral substance, comes to expression when we see the highest in one another and allow the highest to be seen in us. This love comes to expression when we leave behind all narrowness and self-seeking and say yes to genuine forgiveness, feeling deep inner tolerance and compassion. Love comes to expression with real, heart-felt understanding of all that is human on earth. Therefore, let us resist the temptation to to dismiss each other, to box each other in with our judgments, and life ourselves actively to the gift in each one. The gift of healing in one, the gift of teaching in another, the gift of organizing and leading in another…for there is truth, beauty and goodness at the root of every human heart.

In this way we build moral substance between us. In this way we unite the divine masculine and the divine feminine. In this way we build the body of Christ.