How do you know when someone has fallen in love? What are the signs?…
The signs, don’t you think, might include extraordinary happiness, excitement, passion for life and the other, a sense of profound connection, and maybe odd behaviours to others, like baby talk and extravagant actions? That is my experience anyway, and, in spiritual terms, this is very close to that great story in the Acts of the Apostles which we heard earlier, which describes the early Pentecost gathering. For that is an extraordinary story about the nature of the early Christian religious experience, isn’t it?! - an extraordinary story with extraordinary elements, because how do we put into words truly divine experiences of love, including falling in love with God in Godself?...
The signs, don’t you think, might include extraordinary happiness, excitement, passion for life and the other, a sense of profound connection, and maybe odd behaviours to others, like baby talk and extravagant actions? That is my experience anyway, and, in spiritual terms, this is very close to that great story in the Acts of the Apostles which we heard earlier, which describes the early Pentecost gathering. For that is an extraordinary story about the nature of the early Christian religious experience, isn’t it?! - an extraordinary story with extraordinary elements, because how do we put into words truly divine experiences of love, including falling in love with God in Godself?...
falling in love
Falling in love with God, with the greatest, deepest, Love which forms all of Creation, all of history, all of everything, including every element of each of us, and everyone around us – that is what the Pentecost story is trying to express. All of that is really far beyond words, isn’t it?! No wonder then that we have those extraordinary symbols of life in that story of the Acts of the Apostles! The tongues of fire, the mighty rush of wind, the babbling in many languages, colour, life, movement, transformation, and the profound sense of dynamic unity and purpose – all of these are about ecstasy, which, literally, means standing out from usual existence, and experiencing extraordinary connection and bliss.
When human beings speak of religious experience, we may not always use the same images as in the Pentecost story, but we always reach for similar terms – just read the mystics, of every tradition. For we don’t have to be, capital ‘P’, Pentecostal Christians to experience the Holy Spirit, and religious experience may come in different ways, perhaps very quietly, or as a raging fire. Love, after all, can be very, very gentle, about simple kindness and humble connection. Love, the spirit of God, is however always about helping us be ec-static people – that is, people who stand out beyond our ordinary selves, standing and growing in Love, becoming new creations.
ecstatic moments of divine love
What moments of divine love, I wonder, have we experienced? The special moments may not come along very often but they are very real. Some people experience very powerful moments of transformation, including what some call conversion experiences. Others of us may experience God’s Love in other ways. This may involve special places, including religious places. As the story of Pentecost reminds us however, experiencing the Love of God can happen anywhere. In my case, for example, the most powerful religious experience I have ever had was on a street in White City in west London, as I stepped out of the Underground heading to watch a football match. Quite unexpectedly, everything seemed transformed, suffused with wonderful light and love, everything connected. Was it something you just ate or drank, the sceptics might have reasonably asked, just as the onlookers in the Pentecost story wondered if the disciples had been drinking. Perhaps you have your own experiences, similar or very different? If so, give thanks for these today also. For today, Pentecost, is rightly a feast to celebrate ecstasy, and the power of transforming love.
marks of divine, transforming, Love
Divine, Transforming, Love – that is truly the heart of life, of faith, and of any life-giving form of religion. Sadly, too much religion easily becomes fixed, like a marriage or other relationship which has lost its heart. Of course, our experiences of love, human or divine, cannot exist on ecstatic levels for very long. Love also needs to be lived out in very ordinary ways, most of the time. However, if we do not treasure and find ways to rekindle moments of deep joy, any relationship, human or divine, will falter. Pentecost, in other words, is not just about a past experience, or a one off, but something to hold precious and nurture here and now, and everyday, even if it may take different forms as we grow and journey on.
In other words, sharing in the Holy Spirit is so much about the experience of God here and now. That helps us make sense of God as Holy Trinity too. For the Christian affirmation about God as Holy Trinity is not primarily about doctrine, about belief, but about experience, the experience of divine love. Just as the first Christians experienced Jesus as a profound embodiment, or perfect window, into the ultimate mystery of God, so they also experienced that same love in one another, and in the wider creation, after Jesus had gone from them after their experiences of resurrection. That deeply intimate, often ecstatic, love they then called the Holy Spirit. This is the witness of Pentecost. Only later, over time, did Christians try to make further sense of all of this in creating the creeds and other things. However, rather like words of commitment in relationships, the creeds are there to witness and support our experience of love, rather than to replace them. After all, words, and even deeds, are one thing. Yet isn’t feeling the presence of love what really matters to us?
At Pentecost, celebrating the Holy Spirit is therefore about celebrating the presence of divine, transforming, love in our lives and world, and recommitting ourselves to a living faith founded in experience and hope, the experience and hope of further loving transformation. In that sense, Pentecost is also certainly a wonderful rainbow festival if there ever was one. It turns upside down, or ‘queers’ many things, including reminding us of the message of the story of the Tower of Babel – that God’s Love is ecstatic not exclusive. In other words, God’s Love is not about building upwards but about building outwards. God’s Love is not about making everything one by making everything the same, or by enforcing order and hierarchy. Rather, it is about shattering monstrosities of authority and scattering power. God’s love is about connecting with others, treasuring diversity, and being open to fresh experiences of love and joy.
a personal love note
Let me conclude with a few words about my falling in love with my life-partner of over 40 years. After all, as it is her birthday, it may be fair enough to mention Penny. We met at theological college but the final turning point in our journey towards one another was when I visited Penny where she was living in the east end of London, a day when we exchanged our first kiss. At the time, I was living with relatives in west London and I recall going way past my return stop on the wrong branch line, so overcome was I by feelings of love. It was a highly intense experience, just like the experience of falling into love with God in our Pentecost story. Both were just beginnings. For like personal experiences of falling in love, Pentecost-like experiences of divine Love are rightly further expressed in less exciting but more durable ways, including in patience and endurance, and all the other gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Yet just as the romantic elements of all kinds of love are always worth celebrating and renewing, so Pentecost, like a birth or marriage anniversary, is still important to mark.
Let us then give thanks celebrate all our experiences of love today, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. For we certainly need all our diverse kinds life-giving transforming loves today. In the joyful spirit of the queering bird of Pentecost. Amen.
by Josephine Inkpin, for the Anglican Parish of Gosford, Sunday 24 May 2026
Falling in love with God, with the greatest, deepest, Love which forms all of Creation, all of history, all of everything, including every element of each of us, and everyone around us – that is what the Pentecost story is trying to express. All of that is really far beyond words, isn’t it?! No wonder then that we have those extraordinary symbols of life in that story of the Acts of the Apostles! The tongues of fire, the mighty rush of wind, the babbling in many languages, colour, life, movement, transformation, and the profound sense of dynamic unity and purpose – all of these are about ecstasy, which, literally, means standing out from usual existence, and experiencing extraordinary connection and bliss.
When human beings speak of religious experience, we may not always use the same images as in the Pentecost story, but we always reach for similar terms – just read the mystics, of every tradition. For we don’t have to be, capital ‘P’, Pentecostal Christians to experience the Holy Spirit, and religious experience may come in different ways, perhaps very quietly, or as a raging fire. Love, after all, can be very, very gentle, about simple kindness and humble connection. Love, the spirit of God, is however always about helping us be ec-static people – that is, people who stand out beyond our ordinary selves, standing and growing in Love, becoming new creations.
ecstatic moments of divine love
What moments of divine love, I wonder, have we experienced? The special moments may not come along very often but they are very real. Some people experience very powerful moments of transformation, including what some call conversion experiences. Others of us may experience God’s Love in other ways. This may involve special places, including religious places. As the story of Pentecost reminds us however, experiencing the Love of God can happen anywhere. In my case, for example, the most powerful religious experience I have ever had was on a street in White City in west London, as I stepped out of the Underground heading to watch a football match. Quite unexpectedly, everything seemed transformed, suffused with wonderful light and love, everything connected. Was it something you just ate or drank, the sceptics might have reasonably asked, just as the onlookers in the Pentecost story wondered if the disciples had been drinking. Perhaps you have your own experiences, similar or very different? If so, give thanks for these today also. For today, Pentecost, is rightly a feast to celebrate ecstasy, and the power of transforming love.
marks of divine, transforming, Love
Divine, Transforming, Love – that is truly the heart of life, of faith, and of any life-giving form of religion. Sadly, too much religion easily becomes fixed, like a marriage or other relationship which has lost its heart. Of course, our experiences of love, human or divine, cannot exist on ecstatic levels for very long. Love also needs to be lived out in very ordinary ways, most of the time. However, if we do not treasure and find ways to rekindle moments of deep joy, any relationship, human or divine, will falter. Pentecost, in other words, is not just about a past experience, or a one off, but something to hold precious and nurture here and now, and everyday, even if it may take different forms as we grow and journey on.
In other words, sharing in the Holy Spirit is so much about the experience of God here and now. That helps us make sense of God as Holy Trinity too. For the Christian affirmation about God as Holy Trinity is not primarily about doctrine, about belief, but about experience, the experience of divine love. Just as the first Christians experienced Jesus as a profound embodiment, or perfect window, into the ultimate mystery of God, so they also experienced that same love in one another, and in the wider creation, after Jesus had gone from them after their experiences of resurrection. That deeply intimate, often ecstatic, love they then called the Holy Spirit. This is the witness of Pentecost. Only later, over time, did Christians try to make further sense of all of this in creating the creeds and other things. However, rather like words of commitment in relationships, the creeds are there to witness and support our experience of love, rather than to replace them. After all, words, and even deeds, are one thing. Yet isn’t feeling the presence of love what really matters to us?
At Pentecost, celebrating the Holy Spirit is therefore about celebrating the presence of divine, transforming, love in our lives and world, and recommitting ourselves to a living faith founded in experience and hope, the experience and hope of further loving transformation. In that sense, Pentecost is also certainly a wonderful rainbow festival if there ever was one. It turns upside down, or ‘queers’ many things, including reminding us of the message of the story of the Tower of Babel – that God’s Love is ecstatic not exclusive. In other words, God’s Love is not about building upwards but about building outwards. God’s Love is not about making everything one by making everything the same, or by enforcing order and hierarchy. Rather, it is about shattering monstrosities of authority and scattering power. God’s love is about connecting with others, treasuring diversity, and being open to fresh experiences of love and joy.
a personal love note
Let me conclude with a few words about my falling in love with my life-partner of over 40 years. After all, as it is her birthday, it may be fair enough to mention Penny. We met at theological college but the final turning point in our journey towards one another was when I visited Penny where she was living in the east end of London, a day when we exchanged our first kiss. At the time, I was living with relatives in west London and I recall going way past my return stop on the wrong branch line, so overcome was I by feelings of love. It was a highly intense experience, just like the experience of falling into love with God in our Pentecost story. Both were just beginnings. For like personal experiences of falling in love, Pentecost-like experiences of divine Love are rightly further expressed in less exciting but more durable ways, including in patience and endurance, and all the other gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Yet just as the romantic elements of all kinds of love are always worth celebrating and renewing, so Pentecost, like a birth or marriage anniversary, is still important to mark.
Let us then give thanks celebrate all our experiences of love today, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. For we certainly need all our diverse kinds life-giving transforming loves today. In the joyful spirit of the queering bird of Pentecost. Amen.
by Josephine Inkpin, for the Anglican Parish of Gosford, Sunday 24 May 2026
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