A gentle breath of power in dangerous times
Keynoter describes the Gospel of John’s slow burn of Pentecost
DECATUR, Georgia — “With a gentle breath, he conferred spirit onto his disciples, who became the guardians of that spirit through the ministry of Christ’s church.”
That image anchored the keynote message delivered by the Rev. Shannon Kershner, senior pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, during the National Association of Presbyterian Clergywomen’s conference held April 14–17 at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
The gathering, titled “Dangerous Times and Still We Rise: Love, Truth and Other Revolutionary Solutions,” drew clergywomen from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for worship, workshops and theological reflection The event was designed to support pastors navigating a moment when “churches face many challenges in the current political and economic climate” and when clergy are often balancing sharply different expectations within their congregations.
Navigating floods, storms and fires, both literal and figurative, formed a common thread running through daily worship and all three keynotes, including addresses by the Rev. Dr. Khalia J. Williams, associate dean of worship and formation at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and the Rev. CeCe Armstrong, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly and associate pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Workshops also touched on these themes. Armstrong invited participants into discovering the spiritual resiliency of praying with music in “Earth, Wind and Fire – Lyrical Prophets and revolutionary Vocalists.” The Rev. Dr. Gini Norris Lane, executive director of UKirk Collegiate Ministries, shared resources and first-hand experience in “Ministering After Natural and Unnatural Disasters.”
In her keynote address, Kershner turned attention away from the familiar drama of Acts 2 and toward what she called John’s “much more discreet beginning to our church’s story.” In the Gospel of John, the story of Pentecost is marked not by flames and wind but by patience, waiting and breath.
Kershner lifted up how Jesus’ resurrection appearance to frightened disciples came not with flames or noise but with breath. “With a gentle breath, he conferred spirit onto his disciples.” She emphasized the ordinariness of that moment, pointing out that the Spirit’s arrival did not immediately transform the disciples into bold witnesses.
“After all, they stayed in that room for another week trying to bring Thomas up to speed,” she said. “Jesus had ended up having to do the whole meeting all over again.”
“That doesn’t sound exactly like inspiring ministry,” she added, “but this was enough Pentecost for John.”
To illustrate what she called the Spirit’s “slow burn,” Kershner shared a story of hiking up to a volcano told by a member of her preaching cohort, the Rev. Becca Messman, who pastors Burke Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Messman recounted hiking up in the dark of night and being shown by her guide how to hit the ground with a staff to see if it was cooling lava.
“The cool ground we always stand on has a molten heart at its center, slowly and continually burning, even though we rarely see it,” Kershner said. “That doesn’t make it any less powerful. That makes it kind. It has all the time in the world, because it made and continues to remake the world.”
From that anecdote, Kershner framed Pentecost not as spectacle but as sustaining presence.
“The Spirit does not always blow with gale-force winds,” she said. “Sometimes it comes as a gentle breath of power, a slow burn that stokes the fireplace of our soul.”
She connected that slow burn to the witness of Christian leaders across generations, referencing John Wesley’s “heart felt strangely warm,” Frederick Buechner’s description of “the moment when a deep need in the world intersects with something in you that produces deep gladness,” and Mother Teresa’s “call within a call.”
In closing, Kershner named what she sees as the distinct gift clergywomen bring to ministry in dangerous times.
“Our gift is that we can remind folks that we’re all in this together,” she said, “and that stuff that’s going on right now doesn’t have to be.”
“We have each other,” she added. “We have the people in those congregations who, for whatever reason, trust us. And we have God’s power to help shift it.”
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