It took me a long while in life and in ministry to appreciate the Holy Spirit, or even to understand the Holy Spirit.
It's easy enough to put some words around who God is and what God does: God as Creator, God as the divine one who hears our prayers, God the Father (of Jesus). And it's perhaps even easier to put some words around who Jesus is and what Jesus does: Jesus as Savior, Jesus the crucified and resurrected one, Jesus as God-made-flesh, Jesus as Immanuel, God-with-us.
But I struggled for a long time with what to say about the Holy Spirit. I could tell you about the Spirit descending like a dove at Jesus' baptism. I could tell you about Jesus telling Nicodemus to be born of water and Spirit. I could tell you about Jesus promising the disciples a Spirit (an Advocate, a Comforter) in John's gospel. I could tell you about the Spirit descending like tongues of fire on Pentecost. I could tell you the fruits of the Spirit that Paul describes (and even sing you a Sunday School song about them). But I was hard-pressed to say anything useful about who the Spirit is or what the Spirit does, that wasn't just a repeat of things that I ascribed to God or Jesus.
Once I was ordained, however, and had opportunities to preach from the book of Acts throughout the lectionary rotation, I became more interested in what the Spirit was doing in that book, and what I could learn about the Spirit in my life and in the life of the world.
What does the Holy Spirit do? Well, if we take our cues from the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit stirs hearts to faith. The Holy Spirit blows like the wind and leads us to new and unexpected places as we do our best to chase it around. The Holy Spirit anoints us in baptism to live out the calling of our faith. The Holy Spirit is that dancing, active, always-moving presence of God among us. I guess, in other words, the Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead that gets stuff done.
These days, I tend to see the Holy Spirit as a pretty darn optimistic side of God's involvement in the world. It is the Spirit who prods us and says, "let's set the world on fire with faith and love!" And it is the Spirit who gets us fired up (no pun intended) and who empowers us to make this world into a closer and closer vision of God's kingdom.
This month, we have many opportunities to remember and celebrate the Spirit in worship. We will hear Jesus promise us the Spirit and peace, we will celebrate the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, we will celebrate the Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will celebrate our graduating seniors in high school and pray for the Spirit to be with them and to lead them in all of their new ventures. We will celebrate the inspiration and stirring of the Spirit in those who are mothers or who provide mothering care, and in those who felt called by the Spirit to give their very lives for the sake of others and our nation.
As you flip through this month's newsletter and read about Project Care and our Clean Water project, youth ministries and the work of our church council, education opportunities and serving opportunities, words of gratitude and pleas for volunteers: Consider that all of this is evidence, too, of the work of the Holy Spirit. Consider that all of this is an invitation by the Holy Spirit to be a part of God's work in this place, for the sake of the world.
The Holy Spirit is real. She is alive and moving. She blows where she chooses and we are blessed and called to tag along. May this congregation be a place where the Spirit can move freely in and among us, and may we join together in answering the call of this unpredictable and hopelessly joyous Spirit of God's presence among us.
It's easy enough to put some words around who God is and what God does: God as Creator, God as the divine one who hears our prayers, God the Father (of Jesus). And it's perhaps even easier to put some words around who Jesus is and what Jesus does: Jesus as Savior, Jesus the crucified and resurrected one, Jesus as God-made-flesh, Jesus as Immanuel, God-with-us.
But I struggled for a long time with what to say about the Holy Spirit. I could tell you about the Spirit descending like a dove at Jesus' baptism. I could tell you about Jesus telling Nicodemus to be born of water and Spirit. I could tell you about Jesus promising the disciples a Spirit (an Advocate, a Comforter) in John's gospel. I could tell you about the Spirit descending like tongues of fire on Pentecost. I could tell you the fruits of the Spirit that Paul describes (and even sing you a Sunday School song about them). But I was hard-pressed to say anything useful about who the Spirit is or what the Spirit does, that wasn't just a repeat of things that I ascribed to God or Jesus.
Once I was ordained, however, and had opportunities to preach from the book of Acts throughout the lectionary rotation, I became more interested in what the Spirit was doing in that book, and what I could learn about the Spirit in my life and in the life of the world.
What does the Holy Spirit do? Well, if we take our cues from the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit stirs hearts to faith. The Holy Spirit blows like the wind and leads us to new and unexpected places as we do our best to chase it around. The Holy Spirit anoints us in baptism to live out the calling of our faith. The Holy Spirit is that dancing, active, always-moving presence of God among us. I guess, in other words, the Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead that gets stuff done.
These days, I tend to see the Holy Spirit as a pretty darn optimistic side of God's involvement in the world. It is the Spirit who prods us and says, "let's set the world on fire with faith and love!" And it is the Spirit who gets us fired up (no pun intended) and who empowers us to make this world into a closer and closer vision of God's kingdom.
This month, we have many opportunities to remember and celebrate the Spirit in worship. We will hear Jesus promise us the Spirit and peace, we will celebrate the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, we will celebrate the Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will celebrate our graduating seniors in high school and pray for the Spirit to be with them and to lead them in all of their new ventures. We will celebrate the inspiration and stirring of the Spirit in those who are mothers or who provide mothering care, and in those who felt called by the Spirit to give their very lives for the sake of others and our nation.
As you flip through this month's newsletter and read about Project Care and our Clean Water project, youth ministries and the work of our church council, education opportunities and serving opportunities, words of gratitude and pleas for volunteers: Consider that all of this is evidence, too, of the work of the Holy Spirit. Consider that all of this is an invitation by the Holy Spirit to be a part of God's work in this place, for the sake of the world.
The Holy Spirit is real. She is alive and moving. She blows where she chooses and we are blessed and called to tag along. May this congregation be a place where the Spirit can move freely in and among us, and may we join together in answering the call of this unpredictable and hopelessly joyous Spirit of God's presence among us.