“Thinking of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose is uncomfortably dangerous. If the Holy Spirit is like a wild goose, then he (or she) cannot be pinned down or domesticated.” –Rachel Young

We celebrated Pentecost this past Sunday, embracing the coming to us of the Holy Spirit. How do you picture the Holy Spirit? Do you picture the Holy Spirit? It seems that if we imagine the Holy Spirit in a form at all, it typically is in the shape of a dove. And that makes sense, because all four gospels tell us that the Spirit descended “like a dove” on Jesus at his baptism. The early Celtic Christians, though, had a different avian image to represent the Holy Spirit: a wild goose. Some of us are familiar with this image, but for those who aren’t, let’s explore.

Doves are perceived as gentle, peaceful, docile; perhaps the Spirit came upon Jesus “like a dove” to show that Jesus was not coming to us as a conquering king but as a selfless savior. The Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost, though, looks quite different. There’s violent, rushing wind and tongues of fire and loud proclamation. The Celts saw in this event congruity with Jesus’ words in John 3:8: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes….” 

Wild geese are unpredictable. They are bold, courageous, loud, fierce, challenging, untamable, and utterly free. To the Celts, this character is reflected in the Spirit of God who pours him/herself out on all flesh, who births the Church into the world, who boldly proclaims the truth of Jesus, who calls the unruly and the uncivilized into the Kingdom in words they can understand, who goes where s/he wants when s/he wants to accomplish what s/he wants. We do not control the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is indeed utterly free.

As we begin the long walk of Ordinary Time, let us daily remember that we are filled with the wild and life-giving Spirit of God. Spend some time this week meditating on this quote from ELCA Pastor Sara Olson-Smith: “Like a wild goose, the Holy Spirit is hard to capture, difficult to nail down with an easy definition or quick answers. One can’t domesticate the Holy Spirit. There is freedom, surprise, and unexpectedness to this Holy Wild Goose. … God’s Spirit is not safe, tame, or predictable. But God’s Spirit is good and never stops bringing life to this world.”

Artist: Mary Fleeson, Lindisfarne Scriptorium