Sermon, May 27, 2012, "Holy Spirit Stuff"

Good Morning! Let’s Pray.  O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Opening Comments:  It’s Pentecost Sunday!  Pentecost brings the Easter season to its stupendous conclusion! It was 50 days after the Resurrection of Jesus – on that first Pentecost Sunday – that the Holy Spirit fell from heaven to the earth with power as never before. 

At Pentecost all understood each other.  People from the 4 corners of the earth who usually couldn’t understand one another because they spoke different dialects or languages suddenly could understand each other.  The curse of Babel when confusion fell upon the face of the earth because they could no longer understand one another was reversed! 

The disunity that came with the curse of Babel was broken and now all spoke with one voice as it were! 

The unity that marks the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven was begun in earnest on that first Sunday of Pentecost and with this unity the world was given a scent of the unified body of Christ; the Church! 

So on every Pentecost Sunday following that first Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the fullness of the Spirit and the great gathering of Christ’s Church on earth!.

God’s plan of salvation had been brought to its conclusion.  The Risen Lord was exalted in His rightful place next to His Father and had now sent His own Spirit to fill the earth with God’s power.

The world was now “charged” with divine energy as never before! 

An Australian Bible commentator by the name of Fr. Michael Tate likened it to Australia during bushfire season.  

In the Australian bushfire season millions of eucalypt trees breathe their oils which hang as a potent haze over the hills. The prevailing conditions are just right. One spark and all that potential energy would be ignited and fire would sweep through with great intensity. . .

The state of the world after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension was much like Australia in summer. There was a great air of expectation—Our Lord had promised that he would send the Holy Spirit.

The earth had quaked at his death, but death had been conquered and the world was supercharged with divine energy and vitality. And then, with the Divine potency hovering over humanity, into all this the Risen Lord sent his Holy Spirit.

This was like a flaming spark, a lightning strike. Divine energy was unleashed and St Luke portrays this event in our bushfire terms. The Holy Spirit, he says, was “like tongues of fire” and “like the sound of a mighty wind.” That was as close as the early church could get to describing the phenomena accompanying the descent of the Holy Spirit on a gathering of a fearful group of followers of Our Lord.

At times like this in Australia it simply takes a spark to ignite a broiling multi-million acre bushfire!

And so it was on that first Pentecost Sunday. 

Great and mysterious things were observed and great expectations were born and things changed in Jerusalem after that. 

The disciples and many converts were no longer terrified by the fear of reprisals from the reigning religious and political establishment. 

Truly the coming of the Holy Spirit brought an unusual boldness and noble courage to the new Christians.

The spark was lit and the bushfire of Pentecost blazed over the face of the earth bringing entire nations under the Christian banner.

Truly our Psalmist Response:

Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

Is our prayer today and forever!

For 2,000 years now the Kingdom of God has been burning across the face of the earth.

But it’s 2,000 years later and secularism – that sorry progeny of overweening affluence and puffed up intellectualism - seem to be carrying the day!

Truly the dampening mists of secularism seem to have reduced the blazing bushfire of Pentecost to a sad and dreary smoundering.

What has happened?

The fact is that Pentecost did happen and the Holy Spirit was poured out over the face of the earth but it will only burn bright and freely in human hearts that are open to its promptings.

What this means is that the Holy Spirit won’t force Himself upon us but He will respond with infinite power to the available spirit who seeks to do the Lord’s work.

Please listen once again to the reading of the Gospel for it tells us more about who can access the infinite power of the Holy Spirit.

Please turn with me to our Second Reading from the first Letter to the Corinthian Christians verse12 beginning at verse 3b:

Brother’s and sisters: no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

What Paul is saying here is that no one can say and actually mean “Jesus is Lord” except if he is under the authority and guidance of the Spirit of Jesus Christ – the Holy Spirit.

Oh, anyone can say “Jesus is Lord” but only the true believer can actually mean it.  Paul goes on to accentuate this point:

1Cor. 12:4  There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives to the true believer different kinds of gifts but at the end of the day they are all gifts enabled and focused by the same Spirit.  In other words, the Holy Spirit gives all sorts of powers but at the end of the day there is really on one Being focusing and enabling these powers – these gifts.   They can only work when they are driven and enabled by Him!

Paul goes on to make the same point from a different perspective:

1Cor. 12:5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

1Cor. 12:6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

1Cor. 12:7  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Did you hear that – all of these gifts or powers are given by the one Spirit of Jesus; the Holy Spirit, for one purpose and one purpose only for the common good – for the good of all believers – they are not for our good only!

They aren’t given to bless us only!  They aren’t given to make only us rich for instance.  No!  The gifts – the powers - are given for benefit all believers!

Reading on:

1Cor. 12:12  The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

1Cor. 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

The clear point being made here is that Jesus Christ is going to continue His work here on earth through the Holy Spirit which our Gospel reading tells us:

John 15:26  “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.

John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Ah it comes back to Jesus once again.  The Holy Spirit will not speak on His own; he will speak only what he hears from Jesus!

It all comes back to Jesus and His ongoing ministry in this world through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

If you and I ever wonder why we have no power to do what we believe God wants us to do the problem is clear – we’re more than likely wrong about what we think God wants us to do but WHEN and only WHEN WE ARE DOING WHAT JESUS WANTS US TO DO THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL GUIDE AND EMPOWER US TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT JESUS WANTS US TO DO!

NOT WHAT WE WANT TO DO – BUT WHAT HE WANTS TO DO!

Let me share a recent incident which confirms this point to me rather dramatically.  Remember now what I’m trying to illustrate here is the fact that when we’re authentically in God’s will things just seem to happen . . . . rather amazing things that seem to defy probabilities.

Anyway this is what happened.  Incidentally Jim Esser was with me so Jim please feel free to jump in if I get any of this a little wrong – OK?

Jim Esser and I just returned from a trip to Canada to attend the funeral of a fellow priest.  He was my age - 63 – and died of a heart attack.  He gave his Sunday sermon last Sunday - came home for lunch - went out to water the garden after lunch and simply died. He died last Sunday - Resurrection Sunday - a great Sunday to die on.

Now the day before we left for the funeral I had just decided to proceed to see if the little book I’ve been working on is publishable.  Keep that in mind.

Pastor's came from all over Canada and the States to attend his funeral.  We came back to our motel with plans to return home early the next morning.  As I was sitting in the dining are with our Bishop and some fellow priests shooting the breeze a woman and man came up to our group.  The woman was carrying a laptop computer and was smiling at me.  She was a tall elegant sort of woman with a broad smile.  She said, "Your Robert aren't you?"  I was caught off guard by her knowing smile and was wondering do I know this woman?  

I responded, "I'm sorry, do I know you?"  And then she explained that she had discovered that my computer in the motel room was "online" and not only online but I had left my "Apple Sharing" on and she was able to go into my ITunes Library . . . when she did and noticed something that interested her and her husband.  It was a 56 minute Garage Band recording of the first few chapters of my book.  They apparently listened to it and wanted to get a copy of it to share with their freinds.  She did try to contact me by calling my room to ask permission but since I wasn’t in (I was at the funeral) she just decided to listen in anyway.  Ha!

What was more amazing was the fact that she and her husband were just coming off a week long conference on "Spiritual Direction" which was the last of a two year series of conferences culminating in a Diploma in Spiritual Direction and what they had been listening was exciting to them.  

So we talked on into the night - Ha!  Amazing.  What are the chances of this happening?  God is amazing isn't He?  This sort of thing happens to all of us - if we're attentive.  But when it happens I'm always caught a bit off guard.  In other words, God always always amazes me.  

It turns out that what I had written was somehow interesting and informative to them.  It apparently filled out some of what they had been learning.  The woman - Veronica - asked me for a copy of that recording and I also sent her the first 4 chapters of the small book I've been working on.  

Now I don’t know about you but I sensed God’s sovereign hand in this event.  This sort of thing doesn’t happen to me ever day but it has happened enough times to me to confirm my suspicion that there is a benevolent Being making things happen.

C.G. Jung dubbed this “Synchronicity” but we call it “Holy Spirit stuff!”  It’s just to coincidental! 

As I try to understand what God might be saying to me in all of this I have one overriding feeling and that is of heightened expectation and gratitude.  What is going to happen next? 

The challenge now is not to write God’s script for Him but rather to allow Him, in His good timing to work it out His way.

Application:  Now as I was sharing this with you did you think of anything in your own life in which you would love our Lord get involced?

You see if He is already involved and had actually inspired what you’re thinking about then you can rest assured that He will bring it to pass – as long as you don’t make it your own and as long as you don’t try to write the script for it!

Remember - The Holy Spirit gives to the true believer different kinds of gifts but at the end of the day they are all gifts enabled and focused by the same Spirit.  In other words, the Holy Spirit gives all sorts of powers but at the end of the day there is really only one Being focusing and enabling these powers – these gifts.   They can only work when they are driven and enabled by Him!

God’s message for us today is to get real!  To discover who God made you to be and be it and as you “be it” He, God, will arrange your history to accomplish it!

Let us pray . . .

Sermon, May 13, 2012, "Remain In My - In My Love!"

1.  Good Morning.  Let’s pray.  O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

2.  Opening Comments:  There are just two Sundays remaining before Pentecost Sunday.  Today is the 6^th Sunday of the 50 day Easter Season.  Can anybody tell me what next Sunday is all about?  Yes, it’s Ascension Sunday – the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday.

The clear focus of today’s Scripture readings was “love.”  Let’s face it - our readings were really honing in on the theme of love weren’t they?

Ask yourself these question:  “Do any of us know what love really is?”

When I attempt to answer that question two images come immediately to mind.  The first is Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross at Calvary.  This, for me and many, is the most perfect image of love there is. 

I wonder if anyone can tell me what other the image begins to approach that iconic image of love?

Yes it’s the love of a mother for his child.

So this morning I’m going to begin with a story of a mother’s love for her son to focus our reflections. 

Some of you will have heard this story but it bears repeating once in a while.

“A young missionary man and his wife had been sent to mountains of south Korea to serve a series of small villages in that region.  Their mission compound was situated in the middle of this cluster of small villages.  The missionary wife was concerned about an expectant mother in one of the villages who was overdue to give birth.  The child was expected to come at any moment.  Unfortunately a frigid front had settled in and everyone had been forced to retreat to their homes for shelter now for the past few days. 

The missionary wife couldn’t wait any longer and had decided to brave the frigid and treacherous conditions to make sure the young mother was OK.  She was heading out to the Four wheel drive when her husband stopped her and insisted that it was far too dangerous and that she would have to wait out the blizzard.  She sadly relented but fretted for her young mother.

At that very moment, about a kilometer away, the young mother in question awoke suddenly certain that the time for the birth of her baby had come.  She knew only one thing she had to get to that kind missionary man and woman for they would know what to do.  She dressed hurriedly between contractions and ran out into the blizzard towards the missionary compound. 

Every time her contactions came she had to stop but then when they had passed she moved on.  It took quite a while and she was terribly cold but she came the small bridge that signelled that she was very very close to her destination.  It was then that her water broke and the baby was about to be born.  The young woman crawled under the small bridge and gave birth to her son.  She took off most of her warm clothes and swaddled him them and then rested her head back to rest for a moment.

The next morning at the break of dawn the missionary woman awoke to silence and knew that the blizzard had passed.  He let up, dressed very quickly and ran to her four wheel car.  It roared into live and jerked forward but when it reached the small bridge just a few hundred meters ahead it mysteriously stopped.  The missionary woman tried to restart it but couldn’t get it going.   Frustrated she got out of the car and was about the head back to the compound to get her husband’s help when she heard the whimper of a baby.  She followed the sound to it’s source – a baby wrapped in warm clothes held securely in the frozen arms of his mother under the small bridge.

The missionary couple saw this as a sign from God and happily adopted the boy child.  They never let him forget his mother’s great sacrifice on his behalf.  He grew in stature and maturity and on his fifteenth birthday came to his adoptive parents and asked if he could visit his mother’s grave.

The missionary couple had been moved to another compound a few hundred kilometers away from their original posting but they wholeheartedly agreed to his request and prepared for the journey.

It was at the same time of the year as she he was born and the weather was threatening but travel was manageable.

It took them almost all day to reach the small village cemetery where his mother was buried.  The sun was just beginning to set.  The boy asked gently if he could visit her grave site alone.  They agreed and watched at a distance as their son approached the resting place of his mother.

As the boy drew near the grave site they noticed him taking off his large padded jacket and it was if he were saying something.  When he came to his mother’s head stone he knelt and appeared to be praying and then he took off another piece of his clothing.  He appeared to pray again and then the proceeded to take off another piece of his clothing.

Concerned the missionary couple quietly began to approach their son.  The temperature was well below zero and yet their son had stripped himself down to his out shirt.  They drew even close until they could hear his prayer and this is what they heard,

“Mother were you as cold as I am now.”  And then he took off his shirt and then said again, “Mother were you as cold as I am now.”  His voice was heavy with emotion.

The missionary couple immediately grasped what was happening – their son was trying to get in touch with his mother’s love for him.  He was trying to find her through this magnificent act of identification with his love for him. 

And so they joined him and embraced him in their warmth.”

How much do you and I really understand what love is all about?

The boy’s mother loved him beyond her own death.  St. John put it this way:

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Those who know how to love act in love – they give themselves away for the other.

Please turn with me now to our Second Reading for today from John’s first letter chapter 4 beginning at verse 11 and concluding with verse 16.

Remember John is speaking:

1John 4:11 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.

1John 4:12 No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

1John 4:13 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit.

1John 4:14 Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world.

1John 4:15 Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God.

1John 4:16 We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.  God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.

Those last three sentences will be our primary focus for this reflection.  Let me read them once again but this time from the NIV:

1John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Listen now to how the New Jerusalem Bible translates that sixteenth verse:

1John 4:16 We have recognized for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

God loves us!  In fact God is love! And whoever lives in love – makes his or home in love – abides in love – lingers in love – whoever does this abides in God and God is in him!

Now that verse – the sixteenth verse of chapter 4 of First John is arguably one of the most sublime verses in all of Scripture!

It tells us unequivocally who God is – God is love!

It also tells us how to remain very very close to God: “whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” (NIV)

The Message puts it this way:

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. (The Message).

God is love – what does that mean?  God is love!  God is not an abstract idea of what love is – God IS love!  What is love?  It’s God!

The reality of God and of love are synonymous.  They’re identical.  They’re the same!

When we approach God we’re approaching the fountainhead of all love!

When we remain in love we remain in God and God remains in us!

Draw close to God and you and I are drawing closer and closer to love.

We can’t remain in the presence of love and not be transformed by it into loving beings!

When we love God is there!  Where love is there is God! 

At the very core of God’s being is love.  God cannot not love.  Even his anger, it seems the, is in some sense an expression of his love.  Perhaps it’s what could be referred to as his hot love.

Now, with this in mind, it’s time to look at ourselves!

·      Do you know how to love?

·      Would anyone who really knows you well say about you that you were a great lover of souls?

Can you see the implications of YOUR answers to these questions?

They go like this – If you are a great lover of souls you are very close to God – God is in you and you are in God.

But if you’re not a great lover of souls then you’re not close to God.  God is not strong within you!

Jesus put is this way:

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

Do you really know how to love? 

This morning you and I are being reminded that if we want to become greater and greater lovers then we must remain in God where love is!

Let me close now with a brief reading from the little devotional which Randi and I read from daily. 

God is talking to us:

Seek to live in My love, which covers a multitude of sins: both yours and others’. Wear My Love like a cloak of Light, covering you from head to toe. Have no fear, for perfect Love decimates fear – it casts it out!  Look at other people through lenses of Love; see them from My perspective. This is how you walk in the Light, and it pleases Me.

I want My Body of believers to be radiant with the Light of My Presence. How I grieve when pockets of darkness increasingly dim the Love-Light. Return to Me, your First Love! Gaze at Me in the splendor of holiness, and My Love will once again envelop you in Light.

Let us pray . . . Amen!