It was my grandson Peter’s 8th birthday party. It was a “Nerf Gun Birthday Party,” to
be exact. Party goers were to bring a Nerf Gun. I experienced a Nerf Gun Party at my
grandson Brixton’s 9th birthday last summer. So I knew what to expect (sort of).

Not wanting to miss any of the fun, I brought my Nerf Gun. It held 10 rounds and
shot a long way, both important factors in these Nerf Gun battles. As before it was
adults against kids (yes the adults were out-numbered 3 to 1). The game was capture the
flag. And if you got shot you had to go back and touch the wall behind your team. There
were some boxes to hide behind.

And so the battle was on. Adults charged. Kids charged. Nerf bullets flew. Rules
were followed (sort of). And the adults won the first game. We gloated a little.

Round two went the other way. The kids charged from two directions at once. The
adults were outnumbered. We couldn’t shoot and load fast enough to beat back the marauding hoards of 8- and 9-year-olds. The kids were pleased.

And then something happened. Rules and order just went out the window. And kids
and adults just ran around shooting each other. It was chaos. I was shot with 6 Nerf bullets at once. The kids I had hit earlier decided to get even. And it was all laughter and
joy. Something fun, special, and memorable had broken out from the order.

It reminded me of my many squirt gun battles. Everything starts out orderly with
squirt guns. And then sooner or later it goes to water balloons and buckets of water. And
then finally it’s drenching each other with the hose. Any rules—who cares? And the
soaked participants are all smiles.

Presbyterians are orderly types. It’s one of our trademarks as a denomination. We use
agendas, committees, and teams, Robert’s Rules, a Book of Order, and proper ways of
approval. And there is a strength in that. We are good at planning and process.

But Pentecost is coming and that is something else. Pentecost is the celebration of the
gift of God’s Holy Spirit to the Church so to continue the ministry and mission of Jesus.
And often the Spirit comes and moves and empowers in surprising ways. Acts 2 describes the Holy Spirit as wind and fire disrupting the order and planning of the first disciples. And with that the surprising mission of the Church begins. We believe it still happens.

So this Pentecost I’m going to remember the spontaneous joy and chaos of Nerf bullets
flying, and kids and adults laughing. I’ll remember something that moved us beyond the
rules and planning to simple and surprising joy. So I’ll pay attention for the moving of the
Spirit that might come like a Nerf bullet from heaven.

A Nerf Battle Veteran,
Glenn