When the Spirit Disrupts Us Into Aliveness
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind… Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.”
—Acts 2:2–3
Yesterday was Pentecost in the Christian tradition. Pentecost is the day when the Spirit—ruach, pneuma, breath—descended like a violent wind and tongues of fire upon the gathered disciples after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They were hiding, afraid and uncertain. But when Spirit came:
The disciples spoke in many languages—radical mutual intelligibility
They left their fear behind—courage without certainty
They were sent out—not with answers, but with presence ablaze.
Pentecost is not the arrival of belief—it’s the eruption of embodied knowing, the kind that bypasses doctrine and goes straight to the nervous system. It’s what theologian Dr. Matthew Fox might call a Via Transformativa moment,1 where the veil lifts and you don’t just believe in Spirit—you become a vessel for it. Pentecost was not a moment of comfort. It was a disruption. The disciples were not gathered in confidence or clarity—they were huddled in fear, uncertain of what came next, unsure of what their faith even meant in the shadow of political terror and personal grief.
And then—wind. Fire. It wasn’t a gentle affirmation; it was an interruption of the ego’s grip, a decentralizing of power. No longer would faith be mediated through hierarchy or tradition alone. Spirit had become wildly contagious—blowing through walls, crossing borders, breaking binaries.
The miracle of Pentecost was not doctrinal—it was relational. The disciples didn’t speak one new language. They spoke many. They didn’t become heroes or authorities; they became available—to difference, to grief, to presence. What descended was not a theological answer sheet, but an embodied knowing that bypassed certainty and landed directly in the nervous system. Spirit said: Now you must feel it. Now you must live it. Now you must move.
This moment wasn’t new. It echoed ancient patterns:
Contact with the sacred → Undoing of ego → Emergence of deep attunement.
It is the Sufi’s burning heart, the trembling surrender before a vision quest, the breaking open of the mystic in darkness. Long before churches were built, long before Pentecost had a name, this cycle was inscribed in the human soul. When the sacred arrives, it rarely asks for comprehension. It asks for surrender. It unseats the ego’s dominance and reveals capacities we didn’t know we carried—language, courage, connectivity, presence.
And this, too, is our call.
In a world unraveling under the weight of uncertainty, extraction, supremacy, and division, Pentecost comes not to crown us with fire, but to decenter us for the sake of the whole. It comes to make us humble enough to listen across difference, to make us brave enough to speak from the soul, to make us fluid enough to move as Spirit moves.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you being undone so that something deeper may emerge?
What old story or certainty is Spirit asking you to release?
What new language—literal or metaphorical—might you be invited to speak?
A Prayer for the Day
Spirit Who Undoes and Unfolds
Spirit who comes not to comfort, but to awaken—
we open the doors we’ve kept locked.
Blow through our structures.
Burn away our illusions.
Bring us back to aliveness.
Teach us to sit in the trembling.
To trust what we cannot yet name.
To speak in unfamiliar ways
for the sake of deeper understanding.
Undo our egos, not in shame, but in love—
that something more whole might rise in their place.
That we might be vessels of presence
in a world gasping for connection.
Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Listening for the Language You’ve Never Spoken
Take time today to notice where you feel resistance—noticing not as judgment, but as curiosity. In moments of tension, ask:
Is this my ego protecting certainty?
What deeper invitation might be trying to get through?
Find one conversation, setting, or community where you tend to speak from habit. Try showing up differently—not to teach, but to listen until you hear something sacred underneath the noise. Let your response come not from performance, but from presence.
You might even journal each day:
“Where did I hear Spirit speak today?”
“What language did I not know I could speak?”
Let Pentecost be not a commemoration—but a re-ignition.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
June 14, 2025 - On June 14—Flag Day—No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance. From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like. Find a protest in your city HERE. I will be out there with you!
July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more.
August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Mark your calendars! More on this soon.
September 4, 4:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2025/03/27/the-4-paths-as-spiritual-practices-for-hard-times/
Thank you, thank you. I am blessed that you are in my life. So much already existant inner knowingness comes together in new ways when I read your words. You are giving me entrance into a language I have not been inhabiting, as it is not my tradition, nor what I have studied, and I receive a deeper awareness of these truths, reading your Work.
"Ah!" I can say. "Pentecost!" That's what Penecost was/is!
Your last paragraph was beautiful. We are, indeed, in this together.
Beautiful- thank you!