Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
The birth of the church, the Spirit's work is what we celebrate today and today we have four scriptures that try to give us a picture of the Spirit's power on and in our lives and they are all different. The Spirit is not something we can identify narrowly, it has to be in broad brushstrokes.
So today we usually focus on one aspect, one scripture, toady let's walk through all of them and try and see where the Spirit might be working in us.
In the Acts story the Spirit arrives in a violent and disturbing way, so disturbing the disciples are forced out of the upper room and into the street to share the joy of it. It is an outward manifestation from the get go. A wind, not soft, a mighty wind, then tongues of flame, like a burning desire which can't be contained and they are pushed out of the upper room they have been hiding in since Jesus death and resurrection. Pushed put into the street, pushed out to witness quoting the prophet Joel to prove they are not drunk. This is the Holy Spirit at it's most powerful.
Have you ever been filled with a burning desire. Something which takes you out of your normal comfort zone and you just do it. It feels so good! You did it! You can accomplish great things and it spills out from you to others all around you. For those who watched the royal wedding yesterday that was Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. The message of love was just spilling out if him. It didn't matter how the room was receiving it, he was full of the Spirit. Doesn't matter if you can feel it too, it's there, right in the midst of them all. As a matter of fact the Archbishop caught it too and was spilling over with it in the interview they had with both men after the service. This is the Spirit of Acts. Spilling out all over the place, uncontrollable, and uncomfortable for those who witness it.
In the Psalms we have the Spirit spilling out of the created world. The Pianist is praising all which God has created. They have looked out on creation and the joy of a poem, a song comes to them. They write it down and thousands of years later here we are reading it. There are songs hundreds of years old which we sing which capture how the Spirit spills into writing. One is our hymn Slane, more commonly known by the words, "Be thou my vision". It has been turned into a popular hymn by a contemporary group. It has lasted through the years because the words spill out and fill you. A way the Spirit works through the creation of art and music and literature.
In Romans Paul is communicating with us the times in our lives when everything is so heavy and weighing us down it is too hard to even pray. Even when we don't know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us because it is all known, with "sighs too deep for words." In our own grief, in our own troubles, when we feel we are the most isolated the Spirit shows up. Praying for us. The unknown prayer of our own soul. One we may not hear, one we may only get out in tears and heartache, but God knows because the Spirit is even there. After all, later in this chapter we will be reminded nothing on earth separates us from the love of Christ.
We don't have to be inspired, we don't have to be upbeat, even here the Spirit is. When we can't even see straight, when we feel we are all alone the Spirit is there also. It doesn't mean we have lightning conversions or are pushed out of ourselves, we can even be pushed into ourselves and the Spirit comes with us. We are not alone. What a message is this for a hurting world.
Last is John today and we are reading from the last instructions Jesus is giving the disciples before he is arrested. This piece is about the Paraclete which will come when he is gone. Now we try to put this Greek word into imaginable terms, but they really fall short of everything it means. Paraclete means one who comes alongside. We put it as comforter or advocate, but having someone come alongside you is exactly what the disciples will need when they loose Jesus who is walking with them. They will need this warmth of friendship, a haven of not being alone, a Spirit to be beside and draw from so they might go on to receive Christ when he comes to them in an upper room and on the beach. This Spirit will get them moving forward and not become frozen in their grief. They are not alone. Christ hasn't left them orphaned, they still remain abiding in love. It is this soft presence which helps them move forward to the rest of the story.
So here we have the Spirit in its many forms today. A mighty power, confusing and pushing us out. An inspiration to the created world and to create. A source of prayer when we can't. A Spirit which comes alongside us in our faith journey when we fear or when we are lost. The Spirit's workings are many, can we stay attuned to the presence of the Spirit in our lives?
The birth of the church, the Spirit's work is what we celebrate today and today we have four scriptures that try to give us a picture of the Spirit's power on and in our lives and they are all different. The Spirit is not something we can identify narrowly, it has to be in broad brushstrokes.
So today we usually focus on one aspect, one scripture, toady let's walk through all of them and try and see where the Spirit might be working in us.
In the Acts story the Spirit arrives in a violent and disturbing way, so disturbing the disciples are forced out of the upper room and into the street to share the joy of it. It is an outward manifestation from the get go. A wind, not soft, a mighty wind, then tongues of flame, like a burning desire which can't be contained and they are pushed out of the upper room they have been hiding in since Jesus death and resurrection. Pushed put into the street, pushed out to witness quoting the prophet Joel to prove they are not drunk. This is the Holy Spirit at it's most powerful.
Have you ever been filled with a burning desire. Something which takes you out of your normal comfort zone and you just do it. It feels so good! You did it! You can accomplish great things and it spills out from you to others all around you. For those who watched the royal wedding yesterday that was Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. The message of love was just spilling out if him. It didn't matter how the room was receiving it, he was full of the Spirit. Doesn't matter if you can feel it too, it's there, right in the midst of them all. As a matter of fact the Archbishop caught it too and was spilling over with it in the interview they had with both men after the service. This is the Spirit of Acts. Spilling out all over the place, uncontrollable, and uncomfortable for those who witness it.
In the Psalms we have the Spirit spilling out of the created world. The Pianist is praising all which God has created. They have looked out on creation and the joy of a poem, a song comes to them. They write it down and thousands of years later here we are reading it. There are songs hundreds of years old which we sing which capture how the Spirit spills into writing. One is our hymn Slane, more commonly known by the words, "Be thou my vision". It has been turned into a popular hymn by a contemporary group. It has lasted through the years because the words spill out and fill you. A way the Spirit works through the creation of art and music and literature.
In Romans Paul is communicating with us the times in our lives when everything is so heavy and weighing us down it is too hard to even pray. Even when we don't know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us because it is all known, with "sighs too deep for words." In our own grief, in our own troubles, when we feel we are the most isolated the Spirit shows up. Praying for us. The unknown prayer of our own soul. One we may not hear, one we may only get out in tears and heartache, but God knows because the Spirit is even there. After all, later in this chapter we will be reminded nothing on earth separates us from the love of Christ.
We don't have to be inspired, we don't have to be upbeat, even here the Spirit is. When we can't even see straight, when we feel we are all alone the Spirit is there also. It doesn't mean we have lightning conversions or are pushed out of ourselves, we can even be pushed into ourselves and the Spirit comes with us. We are not alone. What a message is this for a hurting world.
Last is John today and we are reading from the last instructions Jesus is giving the disciples before he is arrested. This piece is about the Paraclete which will come when he is gone. Now we try to put this Greek word into imaginable terms, but they really fall short of everything it means. Paraclete means one who comes alongside. We put it as comforter or advocate, but having someone come alongside you is exactly what the disciples will need when they loose Jesus who is walking with them. They will need this warmth of friendship, a haven of not being alone, a Spirit to be beside and draw from so they might go on to receive Christ when he comes to them in an upper room and on the beach. This Spirit will get them moving forward and not become frozen in their grief. They are not alone. Christ hasn't left them orphaned, they still remain abiding in love. It is this soft presence which helps them move forward to the rest of the story.
So here we have the Spirit in its many forms today. A mighty power, confusing and pushing us out. An inspiration to the created world and to create. A source of prayer when we can't. A Spirit which comes alongside us in our faith journey when we fear or when we are lost. The Spirit's workings are many, can we stay attuned to the presence of the Spirit in our lives?
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