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Pentecost – not as orphans

June 9, 2025

Pentecost – 2025

John 14:8-27)

Marian Free

In the name of God who inflames, inspires and encourages us. Amen.

Hallelujah! not as orphans,

are we left in sorrow now;

Halleljah! He is near us, 

faith believes nor questions how;

So goes the second verse of the hymn: “Hallelujah! sing to Jesus.” For me, these words bring to mind fond memories of my church-going childhood. I’m not sure why but the words, “not as orphans”, really struck a chord in the young Marian. For some reason the notion of not being abandoned, not being left alone made a powerful impression.  The words had a similar effect to being gathered up in a warm embrace or wrapped in a soft blanket – God might be an amorphous and vague notion, but somehow the fact that God would not leave me orphaned gave God some sort of shape or form. I was also taken with the phrase “faith believes nor questions how.” I’d be quite sure that even then I didn’t think of faith as being blind acceptance of implausible ideas, but, young as I was I had some understanding of faith as mystery.

Of course, I had no idea in my childhood that the hymn writer was quoting the words from John 14 that we heard in this morning’s gospel. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you” (14:15).

Chapters 14 -17 of John’s gospel are known as Jesus’ farewell speech. Jesus has had what will be his final meal with his disciples, Judas has been sent off to “do what he is going to do” and Jesus has begun to prepare his disciples for his departure. We know that this means his crucifixion, but his disciples are confused and anxious, especially as Jesus continues his pattern of speaking in apparent riddles. “Where I am going you cannot come” (13:33). “I go to prepare a place for you.” “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

At least three key themes run through the Farewell Discourse and in our reading this morning. One is that of love. Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment – to love one another (13:34), those who love Jesus will keep his commandments (14:15),  those who have Jesus’ commandments are those who love him and are loved by the father (14:20) and those who love Jesus will keep his word, the Father will love them and with Jesus, will come and make a home with them (14:23). 

This expressions last draws on another thread – that of the indwelling of the Father and the Son – a mutual indwelling that is extended to each one of us, an indwelling that is supported by and held together through love and which is enhanced by the third member of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity whom Jesus will send to the disciples (the third theme). 

In the midst of their confusion and grief, Jesus assures the disciples of his ongoing presence with them – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Spirit of truth who, with the Father and the Son will abide in those who love him. 

This concept of mutual indwelling is a very different picture of the Spirit from that presented by Luke in the Book of Acts in which the Spirit rushes upon the disciples from without. The writer of John’s gospel understands the Holy Spirit not so much as an external force that enlivens and empowers, but rather as a deep awareness of the presence of God within and a willingness to allow all one’s own desires and needs to be caught up within the Trinity[1] – God the Trinity in us and we in God. Jesus is one with God and God’s presence is made visible through Jesus, so we, through love, can be absorbed into the divine, and allow the divine in us to shine through us.

As Jesus continues speaking, we learn that the Jesus of John’s gospel is confident that those to whom he is speaking will  be able to let go of their egos and, being free of their egos will be open to the prompting of the Spirit who will remind them of all that Jesus has taught them and who will guide them into all truth (16:12). 

That Jesus’ confidence was misplaced has been demonstrated over and over again throughout the centuries. As the gospel spread and communities of believers formed, so different agendas, priorities and egos began to dominate what became the church. Instead of being one as Jesus prayed (17:22), believers have become fractured and divided into a multitude of communities at least some of whom claim exclusive possession of the truth.  Throughout the centuries the church has become side-tracked; worrying more about right and wrong, who is in and who is out, what is correct worship and what is not. The practice of self-denial has become a practice of going without physical things rather than a practice of denying the self so that the Spirit can direct and control our individual and collective lives. The idealism of John’s Jesus has been buried under human self-interest, a human need to have clear boundaries; rules and regulations rather than to trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.

Jesus’ continued presence through the Holy Spirit does ensure that we are not left orphaned, but his hope that we would be one as he and the Father are one, his desire that we should experience the mutual indwelling with himself, the Father and the Spirit remains an unrealised dream.

[1] Of course, “Trinity” is not John’s language, but our attempt to explain the indwelling of Father, Son and Spirit.

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The promise of the Holy Spirit – Pentecost

May 18, 2024

Pentecost – 2024

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 (thoughts)

Marian Free

In the name of God, source of all being, eternal word, life-giving Spirit. Amen.

The revised common lectionary provides us with a three-year cycle. That is, over the course of three years, we more or less read our way through the Synoptic gospels. The Gospel of John is fitted in – primarily during Lent and Easter. This means that the fourth gospel is not read in a consecutive manner, but in a somewhat disjointed way. For example, in the Farewell Discourse (chapters 14-17) Jesus makes five promises regarding the Holy Spirit. Each of the promises along with the name (characteristic) given to the Holy Spirit, relates specifically to a fear named by Jesus immediately prior. In other words, as Jesus addresses the situation that the disciples will face when he leaves them, he makes a promise that he (or the Father) will send Holy Spirit to equip the disciples such that they need not be afraid of being left alone, of being at risk of harm, or of being ill-prepared to continue to share Jesus’ message with the world.

 Unfortunately, the way in which the lectionary presents these chapters means that the promises are spread over two years and not in the order in which they occur. Today’s gospel for example, is concerned with the third, fourth and fifth promises and we have to wait until next year to read the first and second promises. (John’s account of the giving of the Holy Spirit was read this year on the second Sunday after Easter and will be the reading for Pentecost during year A of the Lectionary.)

If read in one piece, the Farewell Discourse of the gospel of John provides a detailed description of the role of the Holy Spirit in the on-going life of the disciples and in the emerging church. 

After Jesus’ final meal and after he washes the feet of the disciples Jesus tries to prepare the disciples for his imminent departure. In so doing he recognises and addresses their anxieties and fears, in particular that they will be without him and that they will be ill-equipped to continue his work. First of all, he assures the disciples that they will not be left alone. He tells them that he will ask the Father and the Father will send another Advocate (the Spirit of Truth) to be with them forever (Promise 1, 14:16).  That same Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in Jesus’ name, will teach the disciples everything and remind them of all that Jesus has taught (Promise 2, 14:26).  

If the first two promises address the disciples’ concern about being left alone and unprepared to continue Jesus’ ministry, the last three follow provide assurance that, supported by the Spirit, the disciples will be able to face anything that comes their way. So, having warned the disciples that they will be hated by and even persecuted by the world, Jesus reassures the disciples that they need not worry unduly, because the Advocate (the Spirt of truth) will testify on Jesus’ behalf, indeed they will be able to testify with the support of the Spirit.  Further, the work of the disciples will be facilitated by the Spirit who will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement. (Without any effort on the part of the disciples, the world will see itself as it really is.) Finally, Jesus insists that the disciples -who are uncomprehending and uneducated – will be able to teach, because the Spirit of truth will teach them. 

Jesus knows that his confused and frightened disciples cannot, at this time, absorb all that he has to tell them instead he leaves it to the Holy Spirit to continue his work of teaching them and he assures the disciples that the Spirit will guide them into all the truth.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ continuing presence in the world, a presence that will continue to support, encourage and inform the disciples (and the generations who will follow on) and will enable them to discern sin, righteousness and judgement and to continue to grow in faith and knowledge (to know the truth).

At first glance, John’s picture of the Holy Spirit is very different from the sudden and dramatic appearance of the Spirit at Pentecost depicted in Acts. A closer inspection however reveals more similarities than are at first obvious. In both accounts the role of the Spirit is to transform a group of lost, frightened and uncomprehending disciples into confident, courageous and informed proclaimers of the gospel. If there is more theatre in Acts, there is more detail in John. If in John, Jesus prepares the disciples in advance of his death, in Acts the resurrected Jesus assures the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come. If in John’s gospel Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit will equip them to testify, in Acts Jesus assures the disciples that the Holy Spirit will empower them to be his witnesses.

Whether through a dramatic experience, or through quiet assurance, the Holy Spirit empowers all who proclaim Jesus as Lord. 

How do you experience the continuing presence of Jesus in the world? In what ways does the Holy Spirit empower and inform you? Do you allow the Holy Spirit to work through you in the world? 

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Come, Holy Spirit, Come

June 4, 2022

Pentecost Sunday – 2022
John 14:8-17
Marian Free

Spirit of wind and fire, inflame our hearts with love for you. Amen.

Tom Tilly is a reporter for the television programme The Project. Recently, Tom released his memoir Speaking in Tongues – an account of growing up in (and leaving) a Pentecostal church . For many of us, Pentecostal churches bring up images of Hillsong (one of the biggest and most successful) or the mega-churches that started to spring up during the late 1970’s at the peak of the charismatic movement. There is however as great a variety among Pentecostal churches as there is among mainstream churches. The one to which Tom’s family belonged goes under the name Revival Centres. It is a relatively small church established in Melbourne in the 1950’s which, at its peak in the 1990’s boasted a modest 5,000 members.

Apart from the hand-waving and fervent singing, a feature of Pentecostal churches is speaking in tongues which occurs when members of the congregation – sometimes whipped into an emotional frenzy – begin to make unintelligible sounds which are believed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

In the case of the Revival Centres speaking in tongues was not simply an exuberant expression of being caught up in the act of worship. It was a pre-requisite for membership and indication that one was saved. Not being able to speak in tongues was considered such a serious deficit that it would lead to expulsion from the church and, subsequently, to external damnation. For converts this did not present a major challenge because conversion usually coincided with a spiritual experience that included speaking in tongues. For those who had been born into church it was however a different matter. These children, members of the church by virtue of the faith of their parents, already believed and so were unlikely to have the equivalent of a conversion experience. How were they to receive the gift of tongues? And if they did not exhibit the gift, how was the church to know that their faith was sincere, that they had the gift of the Holy Spirit and that they were truly saved by God?

If they were to be saved then, these children needed help. This help came in the form of teaching them techniques that would, it was hoped, facilitate their speaking in tongues. These included getting down on their knees and repeating an expression such as “Hallelujah”, while at the same time asking God to give them the gift of tongues . The constant repetition would, it was hoped, loosen their tongues and disrupt their thoughts sufficiently to allow other, uncontrolled sounds to emerge.

It is impossible to imagine the pressure that these children felt and their sense of inadequacy when they could not make it happen.

The Revival Centres are not the only church to believe that speaking in tongues is a prerequisite for salvation or that it is possible to employ techniques that will induce the same. I have known members of mainstream Anglican churches to feel themselves under considerable pressure to speak in tongues and whose faith has been questioned when they could not. Their sense of inadequacy and alienation was profound.

There are a number of problems with this narrow approach to salvation not least of which is a very poor and limited understanding of the Holy Spirit, and of the way in which the Holy Spirit empowers believers to speak. Glossolalia (or unintelligible inspired speech) is only one of the ways that the Spirit is said to speak in and through us. Scripture mentions several other ways of “speaking in tongues”. At Pentecost for example, the Holy Spirit burst in on a group of frightened and dispirited disciples and enabled them to speak in a variety of languages such that pilgrims from all over the Empire were able to understand what was being said. Romans 8 mentions yet another way of “speaking in tongues”. Paul tells us that: “When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Further in that same chapter Paul writes: “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.”

Jesus also refers to “speaking in tongues” when he warns the disciples of the persecution that will result from following him. He assures them that they will not have to worry about what to say because it will not be they who speak, but the Holy Spirit who speaks through them (Mk 13:11 etc).

The Holy Spirit works in a myriad of different ways according to our situations, our needs and our personalities and “speaking in tongues” is only one of the many ways in which we might experience the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We do ourselves and the Holy Spirit a great disservice if we reduce the actions of the Spirit to one means of expression or another. It is the greatest form of arrogance or of self-absorption if we believe that the Spirit can be manipulated or induced at will. By her very nature, the Spirit is unable to be contained or controlled but must as Jesus says: “blow where it chooses” (John 3).

We who have received the Holy Spirit by virtue of our baptism, should not be surprised if the Holy Spirit inspires us to speak in tongues – in worship, in prayer, in moments of necessity – but neither should we feel unspiritual or deficient if the Holy Spirit choses to work in and with us in different ways – ways which, as often as not, will be mundane and ordinary rather than spiritual and extraordinary.

We cannot control the Spirit, but we can allow the Spirit to control us by being open to the Spirit’s gifts, attentive to the movement of the Spirit within us and willing to be led wherever it is that the Spirit might lead us.

May we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us, empower us and guide us and may the Holy Spirit be visible in our lives – in all that we do and say. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, Come.

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No words needed

May 22, 2021

Pentecost – 2021

John 15.26-27; 16.4b-15 (Acts 2:1-21)

Marian Free

In the name of God in whom we live and breathe and have our being. Amen.

On Wednesday I listened to an interview with the Rev’d Bill Crews (whom you might know in connection to the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross). Bill has just released a memoir entitled: ‘Twelve ways to a better life”. As you might expect the interview covered a vast array of topics, but what captured me was the transformational experience that he described at the very beginning of the interview. Bill was in Calais where he was seeing first-hand the crowded camp full of refugees who had been hoping to reach England. One day he saw an advertisement for an NA meeting (which I took to be what we would know as an AA meeting). On a freezing cold night, he made his way to a square of carpet that was covered in plastic and other rubbish. Needless to say, he was the only English speaker there and the only Christian. Everyone else was of the Muslim faith and had come from a variety of countries – there was no common language. As is the case for AA meetings, each person told their story in their own language which was then translated into French. Bill understood nothing of what was said, but as person after person told their stories he realised that all he needed to know was written in the suffering on their faces.

When his turn came, Bill spoke in English and the translator turned it into French. For him it was if a dam had been unstopped, the account of his whole life came flooding out. When he had finished, tears streaming down his face, everyone in the group came and held him in their embrace. No words were needed – he was in pain as they were in pain, and they understood.

That was Wednesday. On Friday, I saw a short video of a young Spanish woman hugging a Senegalese refugee who had made it from Morocco to Ceuta. “She hadn’t caught the man’s name but had seen he was battling exhaustion and had given him water. “He was crying, I held out my hand and he hugged me,” she said. “He clung to me. That embrace was his lifeline.” The video is very moving, the woman held the man as he released emotions of fatigue, relief and fear. 

What struck me in both stories was that language is so much more than words, that sometimes we don’t even need words and that so often our non-verbal communication is more important than what we actually say. Suffering and loss, love and compassion are universal languages. Bill did not need to know what the refugees were saying about their experiences, because their anguish was clearly written on their faces. They didn’t need to understand what he was saying because his tears told a story that they could identify with.  The young Red Cross worker in Ceuta did not need language to understand that the refugee was thirsty, exhausted and overwhelmed and the Senegalese man did not need to understand Spanish to feel the empathy and concern of the young woman.

Both stories spoke to me of the experience of the first Christian Pentecost when the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak in other languages such that they were understood by “devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.” It occurs to me that whatever language was spoken by the first disciples, their wonder and excitement about the coming of the Holy Spirit would have been obvious to all. 

In saying this, I am not trying to minimise, to explain away or to rationalise the miracle of Pentecost but rather to see it from another point of view – one that need not be bound by time or place and one that doesn’t lead us all to expect that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit people of other nations will literally be able to understand the words that we say. 

The rushing wind and tongues of fire are important because they liberated a frightened group of people to leave their hiding place and to share the gospel with the world, but so too are the non-verbals of conviction, passion and joy. When we reflect on spreading the gospel in our time, it is important to realise that our non-verbal language is as important if not more so than what we actually say. People know when we are forcing a smile or giving and insincere compliment. They are sensitive to body language that belies the words that are coming out of our mouths. They will be suspicious if they think we don’t truly believe what we say. On a personal level people can be hurt and confused by an apparent lack of sincerity. On an institutional level, the church as a whole is hurt when its members non-verbally express disapproval, judgmentalism, racism, or any other “ism” that implies that another human being is somehow of less value than ourselves. Hypocrisy on the part of any of us, reflects on all of us.

On the other hand, if we, empowered by the Holy Spirit, consistently demonstrate love and compassion for our fellow human beings the world might find Christ in us. If we were energised and enthused by what we believe, if our faces showed the joy and peace that we find in Christ, if we allowed the Holy Spirit to work in and through us what power might be released? If our passion for the gospel and our love for all humankind was written on our faces and demonstrated in our lives, the world would want to know what it was that set us apart and they would want it too. The church, instead of dwindling, might be filled to overflowing and the world, instead of being torn apart by suspicion and hatred, might be as one.

We might never experience the rushing wind or the tongues of fire, but each of us by virtue of our baptism have been given the Holy Spirit. I wonder what would happen if we really had the courage to release it?

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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 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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Mutual indwelling – the Spirit in us

June 7, 2019

Pentecost – 2019

John 14:8-17

Marian Free

In the name of God whose Spirit of truth informs and enlightens every generation anew. Amen.

I’d like to begin a little differently this morning. I invite you to spend a minute thinking about the times when you have known or felt the Holy Spirit acting in your life. Perhaps it was a warmth that you felt when speaking with a fellow-Christian, maybe an “aha” moment or an insight into something that had previously puzzled you or even a quiet assurance that God was with you. The experience may have been a dramatic revelation or a quiet certitude. Maybe nothing comes to mind, in which case you might like to think about your expectations about the Spirit and how you might come to recognize the presence of the Spirit in your lives.

 

It may not surprise you to know that I love to teach. Whether I am teaching Religious Education to School children (Primary or Secondary) or the Letters of Paul to University students or the Book of Acts in a Parish Bible Study I believe that it is a privilege to be allowed to teach. Not only do I gain new insights from my research and preparation, but I also am given new and exciting insights from those whom I presume to teach. People of all ages have come up with angles on the bible, on prayer and on other topics that sometimes had not even crossed my mind. This past six months have been particularly exciting. The students in my class at the College were so engaged with the Letters of Paul that they kept interrupting to share with the class an idea that had occurred to them based on what they had already learned. The Parish Bible Study has been similarly stimulating. Participants are not afraid to offer their own perceptions or analysis of the passage that we are studying, shedding a light on the reading that the commentary had not offered. This, I believe, is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work. Our faith, and the interpretation of that faith is not static as if God, having sent Jesus, decided that God’s work was done! The Word of God is the Living Word and through the Spirit, it speaks anew to every generation who must make sense of it in their own time and in their own place.

It is tempting, on Pentecost Sunday, to focus on the reading from Acts and the very dramatic visual and aural appearance of the Spirit. However, that is only one account of the presence of the Spirit in the early church. The author of John’s gospel gives us a much more subtle, but perhaps more relatable description of the Holy Spirit and its presence in the disciples. The intimate connection between Jesus and the Father, is extended to us through the Holy Spirit, who with them dwells in us.

This morning’s passage is part of Jesus’ farewell speech in which Jesus is preparing the disciples for his absence. Jesus responds to Philip’s request to be shown the Father by reminding Philip that if Philip has seen Jesus, he has seen the Father. (It’s an interesting choice of reading for a Sunday on which we focus on the Holy Spirit, but an important one as we will see). This intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father is one that absorbs the attention of the writer of the fourth gospel. The word “Father” appears 125 times in John’s gospel, 11 of which are found in these verses. If we look closely, we can see that John spells out the relationship between the Father and Jesus in a number of different ways. In today’s gospel seeing the Father is the same as seeing Jesus (8-9). The Father and Jesus dwell reciprocally in each other (10-11). This reciprocal in-dwelling is the reason why Jesus’ words carry so much authority: they are the Father’s works (10-11). Jesus will do whatever the disciples ask, because that will give glory to the Father (13). Jesus will ask the Father to send the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to the disciples (15). (Osvaldo Vena, workingpreacher.org June, 9, 2019)

This intimacy between the Father and Jesus is expressed by the language of in-dwelling or being in the other. Jesus says: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” and “The Father dwells in me.”

The word abide in or dwell in translates the Greek word μενω(menō) which is used in this sense twelve times in the gospel. John uses it to describe a relationship in which the two (or more) members become as one with each other. It is the language used in Jesus’ parable of the vine in which we are to picture such a deep connection between the branches (us) and the vine (Jesus) such that unless the branches dwell in the vine they will wither and die. Cut off from the source of life they cannot survive. The word μενω refers to “an inward, enduring personal communion” and is used by John to describe a variety of relationships – primarily that between the Father and the Son but also the relationship between the disciples and Christ (14:4) and between the Spirit and the disciples. “This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you(14:17).

In other words, through the Spirit the deep connection between the Father and Jesus is extended to the disciples including ourselves! Verse 23 expresses this sentiment even more forcefully: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Jesus assures the disciples, and therefore us, that God the Father, the Son and the Spirit of Truth will abide with us forever!

What this means is expanded in the remainder of Jesus’ farewell speech. Jesus tells us that Holy Spirit will teach us everything (14:26) especially those things that Jesus was unable to say when he was still with us (16:12) and that through us the Holy Spirit will testify on Jesus’ behalf (15:26,27). The Spirit of truth will guide us into all truth (16:13). Jesus’ teaching did not end with him. Through the Spirit in us Jesus’ word is made real to and for every generation. The Living Word is not fossilised or imprisoned in time and space, but through the Spirit that lives in us is revealed in new and exciting ways speaking the truth to a world that is vastly different.

 

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Don’t send me!

May 19, 2018

St Augustine – Pentecost, 2018

John 15:26-27

 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.  You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Marian Free

In the name of God who will empower and direct us and who has already gone before us into the world. Amen.

The English Historian the Venerable Bede has provided us with a history of the English church from about 100 BCE to 731 CE. Even though he himself did not travel he was able to get others to bring him relevant information and documents. Among these were the letters from Pope Gregory to Augustine that give us a reasonably comprehensive idea of Augustine’s mission and of the concerns that Augustine raised. Those of us who regularly worship at St Augustine’s are familiar with the story. Pope Gregory (the Great) was intrigued by some blonde slaves whom he saw in the market. On learning that they were Angles (he heard the words as angels) he determined to send someone to the British Isles to convert them.

To that end Augustine and several other Benedictine monks were commissioned with the task. On reaching England they received a welcome from the King of Kent Ethelbert whose wife was already a Christian. Ethelbert gave the monks land on which to build their church and allowed them liberty to preach the gospel in his kingdom. The site on which the church was built became Canterbury Cathedral, the center of the Anglican Communion to this day.

There are a number of interesting facets to the story but my favorite is this – after the team set out they got cold feet, to quote Bede: “Having undertaken this task in obedience to the Pope’s command and progressed a short distance on their journey, they became afraid, and began to consider returning home. For they were appalled at the idea of going to a barbarous, fierce, and pagan nation of whose very language they were ignorant. They unanimously agreed that this was the safest course, and sent back Augustine … that he might humbly request the holy Gregory to recall them from so dangerous, arduous and uncertain a journey.”[1]Gregory refused this request and so they continued.

Their anxiety is not uncommon among those called to serve God. Moses at first refused God’s call (even though God appears in a burning bush!). The reasons – he was certain that Pharaoh would not listen to him and that the Israelites would not believe that God had sent him. When these excuses did not dissuade God, Moses argued that he could not do the task because he was not eloquent enough[2]. Jeremiah likewise argued that he could not speak well and he added to that that he was only a boy.[3]Gideon made the point that his tribe was the weakest in Israel and when God insisted that Gideon wasthe one whom he had chosen, Gideon asked for a sign. When God gave him a sign, Gideon, still refusing to believe that God could use him, asked God to repeat the sign![4]Jonah’s reaction to God’s call was the most dramatic and the most selfish of all. Jonah was so reluctant to respond to God’s call that he ran away, presumably believing that he could escape God.  Worse, when he finally did what God had asked and God spared Nineveh, Jonah sat under a tree and sulked.

If we are anxious or lacking in confidence when it comes to sharing the gospel, we are in good company. However, that does not let us off the hook. In today’s gospel Jesus commissions us to testify on his behalf. Through our baptism we are all called and commissioned as disciples to be God’s presence in the world. And still we hesitate. The reasons for our hesitation may be as many and varied as those of us who are present. Like Jeremiah we might think that we are too young (or even too old). Like Moses and Jeremiah we might be afraid that we will be unable to find the right words to say or that people won’t believe what we do say. Like Gideon we might need to be convinced that God really canuse us. Like Jonah we might simply think that God can do it all on his own and that God doesn’t need us or, like Augustine and his fellow monks, we might be terrified of the reception that we imagine awaits us.

The worst fears of Augustine’s monks were not realised. The reality was quite different from that which they had expected. Instead of a hostile reception, they received a warm welcome and were given freedom to pursue their mission and the resources to establish themselves and their community. Their obedience to the call of God resulted in blessings far more than they could have imagined because God had not asked them to do the impossible. God had gone before them to prepare the way, remained with them as their help and support and empowered them with the Holy Spirit so that they could do what needed to be done.

Almost certainly, wewill not be called to lead a company of people out of slavery to the Promised Land. Wewill not be asked to lead an army in battle or to call an entire city to repentance. We won’t be asked to go to an unknown land to people whose language we do not know. All that we are asked to do is to testify to the risen Christ and to Christ’s presence in the world, to share with others the comfort, strength and assurance that we experience because Christ is present in our lives. We are to trust that the Holy Spirit will equip us for that task and to remember that God will not ask us to do more than we can do, nor will God send us out on a mission that has no chance of success.

The examples of Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, Jonah and Augustine assure us that it doesn’t matter how old (or how young we are), how articulate we are, how wise and clever or how strong or brave we are. God can and will use us to make known God’s presence in the world.

[1]The Venerable Bede, Chapter 23.

[2]Exodus 3,4

[3]Jeremiah 1:4

[4]Read the story for yourself (Judges 6)

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Pay attention

May 14, 2016

Pentecost – 2016

John 14.8-17

Marian Free

May the Spirit of God flow through us, enliven us, empower us and equip us for our mission in the world. Amen.

 

If we were traditionalists, next week on Trinity Sunday we would recite the Athanasian Creed. Together we would affirm such things as:

“The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost uncreate.

The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible: and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal.”

We are not going to be using that Creed on Trinity Sunday, and today, being Pentecost, we are not going to preach on the Trinity. “And yet there are not three eternals: but one eternal.” Instead, our focus is on just one member of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. It is interesting isn’t it, that while we proclaim a Trinitarian faith – Father, Son and Spirit – the last of these sometimes seems to be the poor cousin. God the Father is invoked in prayer and is always a part of our consciousness, Jesus is front and centre through our proclamation week by week of the gospel, but the Spirit is given only one day each year on which to shine. Only one Sunday out of fifty-two is set aside to pay attention to the third person of the Trinity.

To be fair, this doesn’t mean that preachers necessarily need to ignore the Spirit on the remaining fifty-one Sundays, but it does mean that it is easy to overlook. Unless we or our Parish have been influenced by the charismatic movement, or unless we belong to a church with a more Pentecostal bent, we are unlikely to name the Spirit on a regular basis and less likely to attribute a role to the Spirit in our daily lives.

There are a number of reasons for this. One is our English heritage. Anglicans tend to be reserved and non emotive. We keep ourselves to ourselves and by and large consider our faith to be a private matter – not something that we need to be constantly putting on show. (It is taken as a given that others hold the same or similar beliefs to ourselves.) Another reason is the Spirit itself. Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Spirit is the most illusive, the hardest to pin down. It is relatively easy to comprehend and to speak about God – the creator of the universe. Most of us have some conception of God as a force for life and love that is beyond description, but which has become so much of human experience that everyone knows what we mean.

Jesus is made real by the gospels and the fact that we have concrete stories of his life and examples of his teaching on which to base our understanding and build our relationship with the second person of the Trinity.

Karoline Lewis[1] speaking for Lutherans says: “the Spirit is the ‘shy member of the Trinity’”. Apparently, Lutherans too, can allow the Spirit to fade into the background of their awareness. Lewis suggests that like anything else in our lives – playing an instrument, running a race, we have to practice if we want to achieve a level of competence or excellence. When it comes to the Spirit, she says, we have to practice paying attention. If we are expecting to see/feel/experience the work of the Spirit, then we have to practice being conscious of the Spirit’s role in the world and in our lives. We have to teach ourselves where and how to look for it.

So where and how do you experience the Spirit in your life? When were you last actively conscious of a Spirit-event, a Spirit-idea or a Spirit-emotion? How did you recognise the moment? What caused you to label it as inspired?

If we are awake to it, we will discover the Spirit in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of moments in our lives. Think for example of those moments when an answer to a problem came to you “out of the blue”, those times when you were moved deeply by a piece of music, a stunning view, an act of love, or those times when someone said just the right thing at the right time. Call to mind those occasions when things just “fell into place” or when you knew for certain that you were making the right decision for yourself or for your family. Remember those times when you were sure that you were not strong enough to face a difficult decision or situation only to discover that your fear was unfounded and that you had all the courage that you required.

Sometimes, the action of the Spirit is public and dramatic such as it was on the first Pentecost after the resurrection. People from all traditions are moved to speak in tongues, find that they have the power to heal or are raised to great heights during worship. But for a great many of us the Spirit works quietly and subtly – nudging us forward, revealing new truths, drawing us into a deeper relationship with God, opening our eyes to the wonder of the world around us and giving us a strength that we never imagined that we could have.

To neglect the Spirit is to overlook the way in which God is a constant presence and guide in our lives and to deny ourselves the wonder and privilege of seeing God in both the extraordinary and ordinary moments of our days.

The Spirit is God’s gift to us. That gift can remain dormant, unopened, or it can unleash wisdom, wonder, courage, joy and so much more if only we would learn to pay attention and to recognise something that we already have.

[1] Working Preacher

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Gospel Truth?

May 23, 2015

Pentecost – 2015

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Marian Free

 In the name of God who has entrusted us with God’s very word. Amen.

Occasionally I watch an Australian crime drama set in the 1920’s: “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries”. If you are unfamiliar with the programme, Miss Fisher is apparently an independently wealthy woman turned private detective. Phryne (yes, that is her name) has a personal assistant named Dotty. Dotty, under Phryne’s tutelage, assists her employer in the art of detection. Both women are unusually independent and intrepid for their time and place and both take risks that even today some of us would consider foolish. One of the on-going sub-plots is a growing affection between Dotty and a junior Police Officer, Hugh. Like most men, then and now, Hugh is protective of Dotty and would prefer that she keep herself out of danger.

When I caught up with the show last week I discovered that Dotty and Hugh are engaged. Dotty is a practicing Roman Catholic so Hugh needs to adopt Catholicism before they can be married in the Catholic Church. At first, Hugh is hesitant, but his enthusiasm grows when he discovers that a Catholic wife must obey her husband. (Remember it is the 1920’s!) Having clarified with the priest that he has understood this aspect of the faith correctly, Hugh becomes much more engaged in the process. An obedient wife, he thinks, will have to take his concerns and his cautions seriously, an obedient Dotty will stop taking risks and stop engaging in amateur sleuthing.

Unfortunately for Hugh, Dotty is not to be so easily restrained. In a private conversation with the priest, she happens to mention that Protestantism has a lot to offer – implying that if the priest insists on her obedience, she will leave his congregation for another. Poor Hugh is completely nonplussed when, at their next meeting, the priest points out that of course, times have changed, and that in the modern world one needn’t take the obedience clause absolutely literally!

I don’t have to tell you that in the Anglican tradition many things that were once held to be sacrosanct have been softened or even abandoned. It is almost impossible to believe that only fifty years ago people who were divorced could not be remarried in an Anglican church, children of parents who were unmarried were refused baptism and women were not admitted to holy orders. The debates that accompanied these changes were often fierce and uncompromising because those who opposed change found support for their position in the Bible and were unable to see things any other way.

It is tempting to think that there is such a thing as “gospel truth” but the reality is vastly different. What was “true” four thousand years ago for a nomadic Middle Eastern tribe cannot always be applied in a digital, technological twenty first century world. No one today would take all of the Old Testament literally. Medical science has come to the conclusion that circumcision can be detrimental rather than beneficial. The development of refrigeration means that the health risks of eating shellfish have been significantly reduced and I think that I am safe in saying that none of us believes that a woman caught in adultery should be stoned to death.

Even Jesus did not seem to think that the rules and regulations of the Old Testament were immutable. Where the Old Testament counselled: “love your neighbour and hate your enemy” Jesus taught “love your enemy”. Where teh Old Testament demanded “an eye for an eye”, Jesus said: “Do not resist an evildoer”. Where the Old Testament allowed divorce and remarriage Jesus claimed this to be adultery[1]. Just as Jesus did not feel utterly bound by the Old Testament, later New Testament writers did not feel obliged to follow absolutely the teaching of earlier writers. Colossians and Ephesians, then the Pastoral letters seriously altered Jesus’ and Paul’s inclusive view of the role of women. And over time societal values change. Both Jesus and Paul took slavery for granted, something that we find abhorrent today.

It is impossible (when human writers are concerned) to be completely dispassionate and not to allow one’s own views to permeate what is written. It is equally impossible to imagine that someone writing four or even two thousand years ago could envisage and therefore write comprehensively for a situation so far removed from their times as ours. Our scriptures – Old and New – have a great deal to say about love, forgiveness and compassion and about the care for the weak and vulnerable, but they have nothing to say about climate change, genetic modification or IVF. On many of the issues of our time, we are left to our own devices. Rightly or wrongly God expects us to work through the ethical issues of such things as stem cell research and to come up with answers that are right and just. Rightly or wrongly God has given us responsibility to determine how far we should take genetic engineering and other medical advances.

Because nothing stays the same and few things are true for all time, God has given us minds to use and hearts to feel. Far more importantly God has blessed us with the Holy Spirit. Three years were not nearly enough for Jesus to prepare the disciples and thus the church for every possible eventuality. He does not leave them/us unresourced but promises to send the Spirit who then, as now will guide them/us in all truth.

God who sent Jesus, Jesus the sent one, and the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent empower us (the church) to think and act as God the Trinity would act. It is an awesome responsibility and one that requires of us a union with God – Father, Son and Spirit – such that their mind is our mind and that decisions that we make are in accord with decisions that they would have us make. In a complex and ever-changing environment, God has entrusted us not only with God’s word, but also with the power and the resources to interpret that word across time and space.

History has shown that time and again we have abused that trust, yet God has not withdrawn it. In our time and place let us demonstrate that we are worthy of God’s confidence and whatever the cost, let us give ourselves entirely to God, Creator, Redeemer and Holy Spirit so that all our decisions are wise, compassionate and just and consistent with God’s desires for us and for the world.

[1] Albeit to protect women from arbitrary abandonment.

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