“Spirit Life”
Pentecost C –
Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17[25-27]
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Grace and Peace to you from the Triune God: Father Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are fascinated by the Holy Spirit. It is so, well, so spiritual. But the same thing that fascinates us about the Holy Spirit also troubles us. Have you ever heard someone speak in tongues? It is certainly fascinating. Yet also unsettling. We don’t quite know what to make of it, even though it is scriptural.
Did you know we have been doing small group spiritual direction here at Christ Lutheran for over three years? It’s in the calendar in the bulletin every week. We’ve advertised and invited and explained what it is about. And people do participate, but not a lot.
And though this very ancient tradition that we use every Tuesday morning consists of simple listening and reflecting on one of the bible passages that are read the following Sunday in worship, people are reluctant to come because it is called small group spiritual direction. The fact is that whatever spiritual direction occurs happens primarily through the hearing of God’s word, doesn’t seem to make a difference. It’s still explicitly spiritual, still risky, possibly un-Lutheran. Because when the Holy Spirit is attended to, who knows what could happen -- just look at our Scripture readings for today.
But one thing these readings from Acts and Romans and John share is the proclamation, the revelation that the Holy Spirit is concrete, embodied or enfleshed. It is real. It is among us. It is within us. You want the Holy Spirit? Touch the person next to you.
It is not, despite our best efforts some abstract, ghostly, hard to see, or understand manifestation of God. You don’t have to be a mystic or seer or some specially gifted person to feel or know the Holy Spirit.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit we hear about today is as real and concrete as the Incarnation of Jesus, the Cross, the death and Resurrection. The coming of the Holy Spirit is a mighty act of God in which each of you participates. It happens in time, in this world, within and without each of us.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurs today in baptism, through elements as simple and everyday as water and word. But the movement of the Holy Spirit does not stop when the Pastor carries the newly baptized baby around the congregation or introduces the young person or adult who has just come up wet from the baptismal font. The Spirit continues to move in us as long as we live.
The action of the Holy Spirit in us is not the echo of our baptism. It is not the effect of an event from our past. It is the present pealing of a bell that rings with every beat of your heart. Every breath you take. Every move you make. The Holy Spirit is part of your identity.
That’s how concrete and real the Holy Spirit is. When you receive the Holy Spirit you become a child of God. God has claimed you through your baptism and by His Spirit dwelling within you. It cannot be undone. It can only be denied.
So Paul uses the language of adoption to talk about the coming of the Spirit. “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
Those of you who have children remember their births. And no matter how hard the labor, how difficult the delivery, even when medical problems occurred, the all-pervasive emotion was love. Followed quickly by awe and humility that God had entrusted that little one to your care.
There was a relationship there, with your baby, from the moment it appeared in the light. But the event of the birth was only the beginning. The first of long string of moments that quickly became a relationship that continues right up to this moment. And over time, that birth event unfolds and into a relationship of the deepest meaning and mystery.
Think of the coming of the Holy Spirit that way. The in-breaking of the loving presence within us that shapes our relationship with God, moment by moment. It is the continuing event of God’s claim on us as his children, heirs, even joint heirs with his son Jesus Christ.
That is why we talk about baptism as being born again. The Holy Spirit sustains and nurtures your relationship with God throughout your life. You can’t get more concrete and personal than that! Or can you?
Martin Luther has this to say concerning what it means to receive the Holy Spirit:
“It is not enough to have the Spirit poured in. Indeed, this benefits you alone. But you must show and openly give evidence of that manifestation and outpouring of the Spirit in order that all flesh may see it.”
Not that Luther says the exhortation to give evidence of the Spirit in our lives is not for us -- our personal salvation or sanctification -- because that occurred in baptism. No the command is to LIVE as one saved and sanctified for the good of the neighbor (all flesh) that they might see Christ and hear his word as you live out your life.
And this exhortation to live in the Spirit is not law. We are not required to do it. We have been freed from that requirement by the very coming of the Spirit. We are people of gospel, not law. You are, as Luther says, “a voluntary people who need not be compelled by laws and traditions, but are moved to do good voluntarily by the power of the Holy Spirit, for you are led by the Spirit of God.”
So what does this look like? This being led by the Spirit to work for the good of the neighbor in this world, in this time and place? And could I possibly be called by the Holy Spirit to actually do it? Tony Campolo1 tells a story that suggest the answer just may be “you betcha!”
A friend of Campolo’s had deacon in his church. He tried to get the deacon to really open up and let the Spirit of God lead him. Finally the deacon concluded that there was one thing he could do. He could take the youth group to the old folks home. Once a month the your group of this church went to the old folks home and put on a little church service for the people who were there.
One time the deacon went with the youth group and he stood in the back of the room. As the deacon stood there, an old man in a wheel chair rolled over to him, took hold of the deacon’s hand and held on to it through the whole service. That was repeated the next month and the next and the next until, several months later, the deacon went one Sunday and discovered the man wasn’t there. The deacon asked the nurse in charge, “What happened to that man in the wheel chair?” “Oh,” she said, “He’s near death. He’s just down the hall, third room on the right. Maybe you should go in and visit him. He’s unconscious, though.”
The deacon walked down and entered the room. There were IVs and tubes. Not a pleasant scene. But the deacon persevered, went over and took hold the hand of the gentleman as he lay in his bed. Just instinctively -- led by the Spirit? -- the deacon said a prayer. And when he said, “Amen,” the old man squeezed the deacon’s hand. The deacon was so moved by that squeeze that he began to weep. He even shook a little. He struggled to get out of the room he bumped into a woman coming in. She told the deacon, “He’s been waiting for you. He said he did not want to die until Jesus came and held his hand. I tried to tell him that after death he would have a chance to meet Jesus and talk to Jesus and hold Jesus’ hand. But he said, “No. Once a month Jesus comes and holds my hand and I don’t want to leave until I have a chance to hold the hand of Jesus once more.”
The work of the Holy Spirit in you can be as simple as holding an old, dying man’s hand. In fact, I defy you name an act that would be more deeply spiritual than what that deacon did. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, alive within you, calls you to be, like Christ, a son or daughter to God the Father. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, alive within you, calls you to be Christ to the people in your world.
Now that is THE spiritual life. Nothing more. Nothing less. Amen.
1. “Being Upbeat in a Downbeat World” by Tony Campolo
Radio broadcast by the
http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/campolo_4519.htm
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