On the seventh Sunday after Easter, the church celebrates
Pentecost. The verses we read today are particularly appropriate for this
celebration. We join the disciples in the Upper Room, when they were filled
with the Holy Spirit:
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.....they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit....(Acts 2:2-4a).
Don't
you wish you had been there? What an amazing experience it must have
been!
And yet, each
time a new believer gives her life to Jesus, she is filled with the Holy
Spirit. Take a look at I Corinthians 12:13:
So 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 Holy
Spirit is described in many ways in the Bible: a strong wind.....a
blazing fire.....a comforter....a dove....cleansing water...anointing
oil....but the most important thing to remember is that the Holy Spirit is an
equal part of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a
person. He longs to bring us into a deeper relationship with God.
He corrects us, consoles us, and keeps us on a straight path. And when we
sin - which is often - he is there, waiting for us to repent.
The early
church had the direct experience of seeing the Holy Spirit in action. We have
access to that same Holy Spirit.
Please take 2
minutes and 20 seconds to listen to this song. I sang it in college
(which is many, many years ago now) and I am often drawn back to those years
when I find myself humming this tune. Perhaps these words will have
special meaning for these pandemic times as well. The Holy Spirit has not left
us in these times of crisis and uncertainty. He hears our cries, and he longs
to bless us. In the end, as we have heard from our pastors and from scripture,
God wins.
Thank you for
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment