Archive for the ‘Holy Spirit’ Category

Getting our attention

May 30, 2020

Pentecost – 2020
John 20:19-23
Marian Free

In the name of God who enlivens, empowers and equips us for ministry. Amen.

One of the things about Covid-19 is that is has got our attention. Globally and locally, most of us were caught by surprise. While some countries had plans (and resources) to cope with a pandemic, many among even the richest nations were not well-equipped to meet the demand of thousands of seriously ill people and an equally horrendous number of dead. In Australia, the lock-down not only helped us contain the virus, but it also bought the nation time to ensure that our hospitals and our medical teams were prepared and equipped to meet a worse-case scenario. Panic buying of such items as toilet paper demonstrated that as individuals and as families we too we were caught off-guard.

No one would wish such a situation on any community yet, as people reflect on their experience, some have wondered whether or not the virus was the shock that the world needed – to give the planet a rest from pollution or to reassess whether what we knew as “normal” is the model that we hope will emerge when all this is over (or under control). Others are commenting that, on a personal level, the enforced isolation has made them re-think their priorities and to re-assess how they live.

I would not for one moment suggest that God sent the virus to make us sit up and take notice, but it is certainly the case that often it takes something unexpected and dramatic to get our attention and to force us to make long-needed changes in our lives.

Such seems to be the case of that first Pentecost. God was very clearly trying to get the attention of the first disciples – to move them from fear to boldness, from inaction to action. Whether or not the event took place as John describes – on the day of resurrection; or whether, as Acts suggests, the Holy Spirit arrived on the Feast of Pentecost the disciples were caught unawares and their lives were turned upside down as a result. According to John, Jesus miraculously appears to the disciples even though the doors to the room are locked. He says: “Peace be with you” before showing them his credentials (his hands and side) and then he breathes on them and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John doesn’t tell us how the disciples respond but, given that there is a community to receive the written gospel some 40-50 years later, we must assume that the disciples were emboldened and empowered to share the gospel with others.

Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit is quite different but equally, if not more, dramatic. Again the disciples were gathered. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind filled the room and tongues of fire rested on each of them. Once more we are left to guess how the disciples felt, but Luke’s account does tell us how they reacted (or were spurred to act). The scene changes from the room to the street and, amazingly, what the disciples say can be understood by people from a multitude of nations. Peter, as the disciples’ representative, not only addresses the crowd, but delivers a sermon that is sufficiently eloquent and powerful that many of the listeners (3,000) are baptized.

Of course, the sending of the Spirit is so much more than an attention-getting device on God’s part. It is a completely transformative event in the lives of the disciples who are changed forever as a consequence of their experience. Not only are they pulled up short by the power of God’s Spirit in and among them, they are also changed – emboldened, empowered and enlivened.

According to Acts, the disciples are impelled to preach the gospel to strangers. The Holy Spirit gives them the courage to speak and the words to say. Peter, at least, seems to have been given a knowledge of the scriptures such that he can trace the story of Jesus form creation to the present. The confusion and lack of understanding that characterized his discipleship have simply disappeared. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he finds that he has the wisdom to communicate with all manner of people in such a way as to bring them to faith. He and his fellow disciples learn too that God is blind to colour, race and religion. Peter preaches without prejudice to a crowd that has come to Jerusalem from all over the world and those who seek baptism are not refused – regardless of their background.

The consequences of John’s more subtle account of the giving of the Spirit are no less extraordinary. In giving the disciples the Spirit, Jesus is commissioning them for ministry – not it must be noted, ministry on his behalf but ministry in their own right. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Through the work of the disciples Jesus’ presence and mission in the world will be continued and at the heart of this mission will be the authority to forgive or retain sins. (See below)

In both accounts the disciples are transformed from followers to leaders and are equipped by the Spirt of God, the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel – to open the eyes of the world to God’s loving reconciling presence. In Jesus’ absence they are to continue the work that he began.

What has happened in the succeeding centuries that we no longer have the confidence to share the gospel with those around us? Why is it that we find ourselves to be timid or inarticulate (or both). When did we as individuals and community lose confidence in God’s presence in us?

In these strange and uncertain times, many of us have the opportunity to reflect on our lives and on our faith. On this, the two thousand and twentieth anniversary of God’s sending of the Holy Spirit there are a number of questions that we could ask ourselves.

How does God our attention?. What does it take for us to take heed of the Spirit within? And what could we not achieve if only we trusted the power of the Spirit that has been given to us?

(It would take another sermon to explain what Jesus means by this. Suffice to note, before we arrogantly take the place in judging right from wrong, ‘sinner’ from ‘saint’, we have to understand John’s use of the word ‘sin’. Essentially, by ‘sin’ Jesus means separation from God or a failure to see or know God. Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples can bear witness to God and thus free people from their ignorance (or their sin).
A similar passage in Matthew is likewise less about judgement but rather about knowing what rules/laws to retain and what can be loosened or done away with.
Neither allow us to put ourselves in the place of God.)

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Getting our attention

May 30, 2020

Pentecost – 2020
John 20:19-23
Marian Free

In the name of God who enlivens, empowers and equips us for ministry. Amen.

One of the things about Covid-19 is that is has got our attention. Globally and locally, most of us were caught by surprise. While some countries had plans (and resources) to cope with a pandemic, many among even the richest nations were not well-equipped to meet the demand of thousands of seriously ill people and an equally horrendous number of dead. In Australia, the lock-down not only helped us contain the virus, but it also bought the nation time to ensure that our hospitals and our medical teams were prepared and equipped to meet the worst-case scenario. Panic buying of such items as toilet paper demonstrated that as individuals and as families we too we were caught off-guard.

No one would wish such a situation on any community yet, as people reflect on the situation, some have wondered whether or not this was the shock that the world needed – to give the planet a rest from pollution or to reassess whether what we knew as “normal” is the model that we hope will emerge from this experience. Others are commenting that on a personal level the enforced isolation is making them re-think their priorities and to re-assess how they live.

I would not for one moment suggest that God sent the virus to make us sit up and take notice, but it is certainly the case that often it takes something unexpected and dramatic to get our attention and to force us to make long-needed changes in our lives.

In the case of the coming of the Holy Spirit God was very clearly trying to get the attention of the first disciples. Whether or not the event took place as John describes – on the day of resurrection; or whether, as Acts suggests, the Holy Spirit arrived on the Feast of Pentecost the disciples were caught unawares and their lives were turned upside down. In both instances frightened believers were gathered together in one place. According to John, Jesus miraculously appears even though the doors are locked. He says: “Peace be with you” before showing them his credentials (his hands and side) and then he breathes on them and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John doesn’t tell us how the disciples respond but given that there is a community to receive the written gospel some 40-50 years later, we must assume that the disciples were emboldened and empowered to share the gospel with others.

Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit is quite different but equally, if not more, dramatic. Again the disciples are gathered. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind filled the room and tongues of fire rested on each of them. Again we are left to guess how the disciples felt, but Luke’s account does tell us how they reacted. The scene changes from the room to the street and amazingly, what the disciples say can be understood by people from a multitude of nations. Peter, as the disciples’ representative not only addresses the crowd, but delivers a sermon that is sufficiently eloquent and powerful that many of the listeners (3,000) are baptized.

Of course, the sending of the Spirit is so much more than an attention-getting device. It is a completely transformative event in the lives of the disciples who are changed forever as a consequence. Not only are they pulled up short by the power of God’s Spirit in and among them, they are also changed – emboldened, empowered and enlivened.

According to Acts the disciples find the courage and the words to preach the gospel to strangers. Peter, at least, seems to have been given a knowledge of the biblical story from creation until now. The confusion and lack of understanding that characterized his discipleship have disappeared. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he finds that he has the wisdom to communicate with all manner of people in such a way as to bring them to faith. He and his fellow disciples learn too that God is blind to colour, race and religion. Peter preaches without prejudice to a crowd that has come to Jerusalem from all over the world and those who seek baptism are not refused regardless of background.

The consequences of John’s more subtle account of the giving of the Spirit are no less extraordinary. In giving the disciples the Spirit, Jesus is commissioning them for ministry – not it must be noted, ministry on his behalf but ministry in their own right. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Through the work of the disciples Jesus’ presence and mission in the world will be continued and at the heart of this mission will be the authority to forgive or retain sins.

In both accounts the disciples are transformed from followers to leaders and are equipped by the Spirt of God, the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel – to open the eyes of the world to God’s loving reconciling presence. In Jesus’ absence they are to continue the work that he began.

What has happened in the succeeding centuries that we no longer have the confidence to share the gospel with those around us? Why is it that we find ourselves to be timid or inarticulate (or both). When did we as individuals and community lose confidence in God’s presence in us?

In these strange and uncertain times, many of us have the opportunity to reflect on our lives and on our faith. On this, the two thousand and twentieth anniversary of God’s sending of the Holy Spirit there are a number of questions that we could ask ourselves.

How does God get our attention? What does it take for us to take heed of the Spirit within? And what could we not achieve if only we trusted the power of the Spirit that has been given to us?

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Giving the Spirit room

May 16, 2020

Easter 6 -2020
John 14:15-21
Marian Free

In the name of God, Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver. Amen.

The liturgical season of Easter lasts for seven weeks. The chocolate may have been eaten and the hot cross buns may have disappeared from the shelves until Boxing Day but the Church continues to affirm that Christ is risen and to reflect on what that means for those who follow him. Of course every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection but there is so much of Jesus’ life to remember we, concentrate our celebration of the actual resurrection during these seven weeks. Historically – at least according to the Book of Acts – the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples on the Jewish feast of Pentecost – fifty days after the Passover. The church adapted this pattern for its liturgical calendar – celebrating the resurrection on the Sunday following the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox (similar to the dating of the Passover) and maintaining the feast until the Sunday of Pentecost.

It is not surprising then that during the seven weeks, the lectionary readings should change their focus from the resurrection to the coming of the Hoy Spirit – the readings reflecting the movement from one feast to another.

As we identified last week, chapters 14-17 constitute Jesus’ farewell speech. Jesus, knowing that he was about to die and return to God, was doing his best to prepare his disciples for life in a world without his physical presence. Interestingly the focus of Jesus’ speech is not on his impending death or on the trauma that the disciples can expect in the next seventy-two hours. Jesus’ primary concern in this speech is not with death, but with life. Jesus looks to the future. In effect he is making it clear that message that he preached, the example that he gave and the miracles that he performed are not dependent on him. Amazingly, it seems that Jesus’ work will continue through the disciples and through the church that will come into being through them. Jesus’ goal here is to prepare the disciples for his absence and for the role that they will play in the future.

What becomes clear is that the disciples are not expected to do this alone. Jesus knows that the disciples will be bereft without him. Like a ship without a rudder they will be directionless – used to being led rather than being leaders. So Jesus is speaking to this situation when he says that he will not leave them orphans but will send them another advocate – the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ absence the Holy Spirit will lead the disciples into all truth, will teach them and will enable them to testify as Jesus has testified.

Jesus introduces the Spirit by telling the disciples that the Father will send them another Advocate. There are two confusing things about this statement. One is the word ‘advocate’ which in our context relates to one who takes our part – in the court, in relation to health care or in any other situation is which we might need another person to firmly state our case. Koester points out that John uses the word in the reverse sense. The Holy Spirit does not represent us to God, making the case for our salvation, rather the Holy Spirit continues Jesus’ work of representing God and God’s love to us. Jesus first, and then the Holy Spirit bring to us the truth of God’s love – love that requires nothing of us.Though we do not require representation in the heavenly court we may still need to be convinced that God’s abundant love will never be withdrawn. The Holy Spirit, (God’s Advocate) will come to the disciples – and to all who join their number – as a constant reminder of that love.

The Spirit is referred to as ‘another’ Advocate. In more ways than one, the Spirit continues the work of Jesus in and with the disciples. Jesus and the Spirit both come from and abide in the Father. As Jesus taught, revealed the truth, exposed sin and glorified God, so the Spirit will do the same and more. The Spirit will continue the work of Jesus and will make known the presence of the risen Jesus to the disciples and to the world.

Not only does Jesus assure the disciples that they will not be abandoned and promise ‘another Advocate’ he makes the even more extraordinary claim that the disciples ‘will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you’. The intimate relationship that Jesus shares with the Father will, he claims, be extended to include the disciples. Indeed, all those who believe in Jesus will share in the mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus death and resurrection makes possible a relationship in which God (the Trinity) is in the believer and the believer is in God (the Trinity). It is as if the crucifixion dissolves the barriers between human and divine, just as in the life of Jesus the barriers between human and divine were broken-down.

Jesus is going to his death (and his glorification) and is returning from whence he came but the world is irrevocably changed as a result of his presence. Humankind have been assured of and been witness to the unconditional love of God as expressed through the incarnation. What Jesus has done will be continued through the work of the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit, the disciples will be empowered to do the same. The world should be overflowing with the presence of God.

Isn’t it time we stopped getting in the way and gave more room to the Holy Spirit?

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“People can’t talk about God from the outside”

May 18, 2013

Pentecost – 2013

John 14:8-17, Romans 8

Marian Free

In the name of God whose Spirit moves within us so that we might know God as we are known by God. Amen.

There are so many books in the world that I tend to read most books only once. However, there are some exceptions, some (to me) iconic books that I return to time and again. Sometimes I re-read them in their entirety because the story is just so imaginative or moving and sometimes I just dip in and out looking for that brilliant idea or expression that made a difficult concept much clearer to grasp. One such book is called Mister God This is Anna[1]. It is the story of an unlikely friendship between a nineteen year old boy, Fynn and a five year old girl – Anna.  Their lives collide, when late one foggy night, Fynn sees Anna sitting alone on a grating down by the docklands in the East End of London. Fynn sits beside her and offers her his hotdog. Initially hesitant, Anna gradually loosens up, laughs and plays, finally deciding that Fynn loves her.

At ten thirty, it is time to go home. Fynn asks Anna where she lives. She announces that she lives nowhere, she has run away. She flatly refuses to tell him where she lives and absolutely refuses to be taken to the cop shop. On being asked about her parents she states firmly that her mother is a cow and her father is a sop. She is, she says, going to live with Fynn. It is late and so Fynn takes her home with him. At home the whole household is awoken by their arrival and they busy themselves preparing a bath for what is – after three days on the streets – a very dirty little girl. It is only when Anna’s clothes are removed and she is sitting naked on the table that Fynn understands why she cringed in fear and whimpered piteously when she accidentally blew sausage in his face while blowing out his match. It is clear that she had expected him to thrash her for the perceived offence. She is used to being beaten – her whole little body is bruised and sore.

Despite all their efforts, Anna never tells the family where she comes from and she simply will not go to the cop shop. So it is that Anna joins this warm, welcoming family. Anna is bright, curious, unconventional and engaging and her relationship with God, which is what draws me back time and again to the book, is direct, personal and insightful. For example, when the parson asks her why she doesn’t go to church, she responds: “Because I know it all!” “What do you know?” “I know to love Mister God and to love people and cats and dogs and spiders and flowers and trees,” and the catalogue went on, “- with all of me.” (33)

Another time, Anna is pondering the nature of love, especially God’s love. She fills Fynn with despair by claiming: “Mister God doesn’t love us. I love Mister God truly, but he don’t love me!” Fynn needn’t have feared. Anna has not lost her innocent faith, she has simply taken it to a different level. “No he don’t love me, not like you do, it’s different, it’s millions of times bigger.” “People can only love outside and can only kiss outside, but Mister God can love you right inside and Mister God can kiss you right inside. Mister God can know things and people from the inside too. So you see Fynn, people can’t talk about God from the outside; you can only talk about Mister God from the inside of him.” (40-43)

It is an extraordinarily profound insight, one that – had Anna been versed in the Bible – could have come straight out of Paul’s letter to the Romans or from the gospel of John, yet stated with such simplicity and such clarity that it needs little further explanation. God’s love is incomprehensible, God can only be known through the presence of God in us and our being in God.

It seemed to me that this was a useful way to think and speak of the Holy Spirit, who to my mind is the most elusive, the most difficult member of the Trinity to describe.

Few of us have felt the Spirit as a violent, rushing wind or seen it as tongues of fire. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen the Spirit descend like a dove. We imagine that we can see God the Creator in the world around us. We can come to know about Jesus’ life and teaching through the words of the Gospels. The Holy Spirit is much harder to pin down because the Spirit has to be experienced, to be felt by us and to be known in us and in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves within and among us.  At our best, the Holy Spirit informs, inspires and directs us. It is the Holy Spirit who fills us with the knowledge and love of God and who is, in fact the presence of God dwelling within us.

In John’s gospel the presence of the Holy Spirit is expressed in this way: before he departs, Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will abide with them and in them. The in-dwelling Spirit will take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to them. The Holy Spirit will teach them all things and remind them of all that Jesus has taught. The Holy Spirit, who is indistinguishable from Jesus, who in turn is indistinguishable from God will make a home within the disciples – will indeed “know them from the inside out”, and help them to know God from “the inside of God.”

Paul too claims that the Spirit of God dwells in those who believe. In Romans he says that the Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies and bear witness with our spirit that we are children of God. “Those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the Spirit,” Paul says. (8:6) What is more, the “Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, according to the will of God.”(8:26-27)

The Holy Spirit then, is God dwelling within us, enlivening us, revealing God’s love to us, reminding us of all that Jesus taught us, enabling us to be children of God, searching our hearts and speaking to God for us. To use Anna’s insight, the Spirit who is God knows us from the inside out and the inside of God enables us to speak about God.

If we are open and willing, we will learn that the Holy Spirit fills us with the presence of God, so that we can know and talk to God from the inside, because through the Holy Spirit God is already inside us. God who has already given us everything through Jesus Christ, gives us this one thing more – God’s own self as an integral part of our being, an essential part of our lives – that is how we know the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit knowing us.

[1] Fynn. Mister God this is Anna.  London:William Collins and Sons Co Ltd, 1974.

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May 26, 2012

Pentecost 2012

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Marian Free

 

In the name of God who breathes life into us, and asks that we take hold of life and live it to the full. Amen.

 

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Now hear the word of the Lord

 

Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones

Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones

Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

 

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around

Now hear the word of the Lord.

 

(Your turn)

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Now hear the word of the Lord

 

(If you want to hear it for yourself – sung much better – try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhmLXHtT1A8 )

 

I can’t read or hear Ezekiel 37 without the words of that Negro spiritual bubbling up in me. It is such an evocative song of what is one of the most evocative passages in scripture. In our mind’s eye we can see God carry Ezekiel out into the desert. We see him puzzling over the dry bones, – thousands and thousands of them – and wondering if they can live. Then we hear the bones shaking and rattling as they lift up from their resting place and re-connect to one another. We are filled with wonder as we imagine the bones being filled out with sinew and flesh and then being covered with skin – bodies once more. Finally we marvel as Ezekiel  calls on the wind which breathes life into the bodies and they stand on their feet – a vast multitude.

The bones are not real, but represent the people of Israel whose faith has dried up and whose existence as a result is barren. They are in exile – far from the land God promised them and separated from the Temple (the centre of their faith). Perhaps it is hard to believe in God’s promises from so far away, hard too to keep the flame of faith burning. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God reminds them that all is not lost. God, who can breathe life into the dead, will breathe new life into the people of Israel and restore them to the promised land.

The breath of God as the power for life permeates scripture as ruach or wind in the Old Testament, and pneuma or spirit in the new. God’s life-giving breath brings creation into being , is the sign by which Elijah knows the presence of God and is the breath that restores to life the dry bones of Israel.  In the Gospel of John the action is much more direct, Jesus breathes on the disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit.

Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is perhaps the most intuitive and therefore the most difficult to capture in words. Most of us know the Holy Spirit by experience rather than through intellect or sight.

It is not too hard to justify belief in God the Creator, God almighty, all-powerful, God as distant from us and from our experience as the heavens are from the earth.  There are still enough people who believe in something beyond this existence that they can understand what we mean by God. There is enough information in the New Testament to give us some idea as to the person and nature of Jesus.  If nothing else, we can share with others, what we think that Jesus taught and we can model our lives on his

The Holy Spirit however is elusive, difficult to grasp, almost impossible to put into words.  Few of us have the sort of dramatic experience that is described in the book of Acts, not all of us prophesy or speak in tongues. Even the creeds find it difficult to adequately express what it is that the Spirit is. Both the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed are satisfied with attaching the Spirit to belief in the holy catholic church and the communion of saints and do not describe the nature or work of the Spirit in detail.

There are some who say that the Holy Spirit is a sign of the new age inaugurated by Jesus, but the reading from Ezekiel puts the lie to that theory (the Spirit is not new but like Jesus has always existed with God). Others believe that a person does not have the gift of the Holy Spirit unless they can speak in tongues. (If that is the case then those of us who are poor teachers or inadequate administrators are also lacking the Holy Spirit as they too are gifts of the Spirit.)  The Thessalonians had to be warned not to despise the Holy Spirit which suggests that they were not quite sure what to do with it and the Corinthians are reminded that they were moved by spirits before they knew Christ which implies that there are spirits and then there is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit as the breath of God gives us another dimension to consider. God, the Holy Spirit breathing life into creation, God the Holy Spirit breathing new life into those who had fallen into despair, God the Holy Spirit being transferred from Jesus to the disciples. God’s own breath becoming our breath, God’s life-giving breath, breathing life into us.

It is an amazing. almost inconceivable to think that our lives are empowered and driven by the breath of God, that God’s own breath flows through our lungs and our veins. In fact, the idea is so inconceivable, so unimaginable, that I wonder how many of us take the idea seriously. How many of us really take notice of the presence of God within us? How many, with every breath that we take, feel the power of God coursing through us? Are we aware every moment of the closeness of God? Do we understand ourselves as so intimately connected with God that God is a real and integral part of our being?

We receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, we are surrounded by the Holy Spirit in the community of faith. It can lie dormant, unrecognized and under utilised or we can open ourselves to its life-giving power and watch in wonder as God empowers, encourages and transforms us.

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