St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – Day of Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday – May 23, 2010
“Come, Holy Spirit, Come!”
Text: John 14:23-26
A word with some interesting uses; a word that shows up in both secular and sacred places is the word . . holy!
In a secular setting, when people are astonished at something, or surprised by something, or they want to emphasize the incredible size of something, sometimes they used the word, “holy”, as in “ho-ly mackerel! ho-ly Moses! ho-ly smoke!” Anyone who remembers the late, former Chicago Cubs baseball sportscaster, Harry Cary, knows his favorite exclamation was “ho-ly cow!”
In a religious setting like the Roman Catholic Church where they don’t believe in “holy smoke or holy cows, they do believe in “holy water”, (meaning water blessed by a priest). Also, in the Roman Catholic Church “Holy Father” means the pope, “Holy Mother” means Mary. Terms, titles of respect & honor.
There are also a few minor religious sects (s-e-c-t-s) where members who express strong religious emotions by shouting & moving about during their worship services are called “Holy Rollers”.
My point is, if all this sounds a little strange, for many Christians & for us as Lutherans there was a time not too long ago when the proper designation and the most familiar title for the Third Person of the Trinity, was Holy Ghost, Ghost; “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.” “Ghost?!”
Going back to the middle ages when everything in Christianity was in Latin, Holy Spirit was “Spiritus sanctus” which when translated into German became“Heilige Geist” and when translated into English could have been “Holy Spirit” but instead was “Holy Ghost.” Not that there was/is a problem with “Holy Ghost”which for centuries was used for invocations, Christian baptisms, Christian weddings, Christian funerals & burials. But as the world continues to change & words like “ghost” carry images or meanings hard to change, Holy Ghost does create a little confusion or at least a lack of clarity as to exactly who & what the Third Person of the Trinity is all about.
Some children were playing in a parsonage backyard where they found a dead bird and decided it would be nice to give it a proper Christian burial. So they dug a little grave, sang the one hymn they all knew, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know,” and lowering the deceased bird into the grave the children had dug, the pastor’s boy said with a solemn voice In the name of the Father, the Son, and into the hole he goes.
That makes me smile a little if for no other reason than that --for a lot of adults, even given how common the term Holy Spirit has become, there is still some confusion or at least some uncertainty as to exactly who & what the Holy Spirit is all about & where the Holy Spirit goes or does not go.
Who or what is the Holy Spirit & where does the Holy Spirit go/not go?
The point of the Gospel reading for this Pentecost Sunday from Jn 14 is that who & what the Holy Spirit is all about & where the Spirit goes has to do with Jesus, with Jesus being present with us, with be-lieving in Jesus, believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in Jesus - we may have life in His name. (20:31)
In a book titled, “Spirit, Son, Father,” the claim is made by author Dr. Henry Van Dusen, that an early New Testament invocation used by followers of Jesus was the reverse of the Trinitarian invoca-tion most Christians are familiar with today. Instead of “In the name of Father, Son, and Spirit,” early Christians prayed in the name of “Spirit, Son and Father.”
Says another author in his explanation of this unique invocation, what’s happened is that “we have reversed the New Testament strategy in approaching people. We come to people first of all with the doc-trine of God the Father, which is the most difficult of the Christian doctrines to comprehend. We then talk about the doctrine of the Son, which is more understandable, and finally, we save the Holy Spirit for those inside the church who are the most mature.”
Dr. Van Dusen’s point is that when it comes to bearing witness to the Good News of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world around us, when it comes to bringing people to know & trust the Lord Jesus Christ; we should start with the Holy Spirit.
“Outsiders can understand the Spirit of God coming, entering, emptying, melting, molding, moving, filling, enlightening, changing, dwelling in people . . As people respond to the warmth & working of the Holy Spirit in other people, they can then be taught about the Son, and finally, as the seed of believing in the Son, believing in Jesus takes root & begins to grow then people can start to grapple with the doctrine of God the Father.”
So in these verses from John 14, we read that with Jesus a promise is a promise, and given Jesus departure when He withdrew His visible presence from His disciples and ascended back to His Father in heaven, Jesus tells His disciples the Holy Spirit will be poured out on them and the Holy Spirit will be very much responsible for who & where Jesus is in this world, and who & what Jesus means to all God’s people who are called by God to be in the world but not of the world.
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you, Jesus says to his disciples. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Broken & imperfect world we live in; sinners, self-serving, self –oriented people that we are by nature, how do we live a life of integrity in a world where moral values are crumbling? How do we keep our commitments; keep our balance; keep in touch with what really matters most? How do we as Christians welcome & practice the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our daily lives in a world that glorifies greed & materialism & immediate gratification & everyone can be a face who gets in someone else’s face
Only one way, and the way to practice the presence of Jesus daily is to pray “Come, Holy Spirit, Come.” Jesus promises His Spirit, His Presence, His peace to give us courage & conviction & compassion to be people who know & honor Christ in our daily lives, in all we say & do.
Some of you who know me better than others, know when I first arrive at my desk pretty early in the morning after a time of reflection & prayer, after looking at e-mails, one of the other things I like to do is check in on the comic strip world of Funky Winkerbean, like early this morning. And what I saw struck me as a pretty helpful illustration appropriate to this Pentecost Sunday and Christ’s promise of His Spirit, His Presence, His Peace through coming, the working, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
High school English teacher, Les Moore, who is a widower, raising his high school daughter, Summer, sees his daughter at her computer.
“You look busy!” he says to her.
“I am” she says,” and she continues, “I’ve decided to bail on my ‘facespace’ page . . so I’m taking things down. Everything that’s been posted there, keeping up with it has become all consuming, and I’m kind of ‘facespaced’ out . . so I’m taking a break. I guess I just sort of needed my own space.”
In this busy world, it’s not a bad idea that we all need our own space; not that we all need to retreat and crawl into our own holes; not that we need to disconnect from friends, family, jobs, coffee, reading, learning, staying abreast of the news, keeping in touch with those we love & loving to hear from them near & far away.
But in this busy world, we all need a little more space for Christ & His Spirit, His face, His Presence, His peace in our lives.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” says Jesus, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
So may we pray this Sunday and every Sunday: “Holy Spirit, bring to our remembrance the words of Jesus that we may not be without grace as we follow him, nor without patience and knowledge as we speak of Him; nor without His peace that passes all human understanding as we trust in Him. Amen
