by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Jesus said to his disciples, ”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Good morning. Today is Pentecost. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Christian church. As we consider the Holy Spirit we commonly about how we communicate with her. In that vein I have a couple quick stories about communication you might enjoy to get us started.

A woman went to the doctor looking fantastic: hair and makeup done by a professional, Gucci heels, Versace dress and Prada purse.

"I've been stung by a nasty insect of some kind," she told the doctor, “but I'm ashamed to tell you where."

"It's okay," said the doctor. "Our communication is privileged; I won't tell anyone."

"Okay," said the woman. "It was at Walmart."

Ok another quickly.

A man was locked out of his apartment. He started talking calmly but firmly to the lock...

Because at the end of the day, communication is the key.

Today I would like to think in some depth about the Holy Spirit. I wonder how much time we normally devote to her, understanding her. We talk about God and Jesus all the time but not nearly as much about the Holy Spirit.

Now as we begin, please notice I call the Spirit She. I do that because it makes sense to me. In the Hebrew Scriptures the Spirit of Wisdom is a she. And she balances things in terms of the Trinity. And frankly for me the feminine gender just makes more sense. Now, if you are uncomfortable with that it’s ok. Think about the Spirit as you will. I would hate for my idea about the Spirit’s gender to get in the way of your most comfortable understanding.

Ok let’s start. Let’s listen to what is said about the Spirit in the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

Yep, that’s all that is said about the spirit. I don’t know if the creators of the creed took her for granted or they just didn’t know what to say. It was the start of the second century at the time.

Now let’s listen to what is said in the Nicene Creed, written a couple hundred years later in 325 CE.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

You can tell they were attempting to understand and explain her a little bit more as time passed, but frankly neither creed is terribly helpful it seems to me. The Nicene Creed says she is the giver of life (God breathes life into us) and has given the words to be spoken to the prophets. That’s about it.

So, let’s think about the images used to describe the Spirit. Fire, wind, and language is used. Fire represents the Spirit’s ability to form each of us internally. The wind is used to describe the Spirit’s impact in our lives with each other. Language is used to explain how we may communicate more effectively with each other.

Ok, now let’s turn to specific scriptures for additional understanding. I think with the images we just talked about and the scriptures we are about to visit much can be learned. I understand this may bore some of you to death and I apologize if it does. I will wake you up when it’s over. It won’t take long. And for those interested there are copies of what I am sharing in the Narthex to be picked up later as you leave if you wish.

Creation

Genesis 1.1-2: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Baptism

1 Corinthians 12.13: For in the one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Guidance

John 14.26: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Romans 8.26: Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

Wisdom

Isaiah 11.2: The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Gift Giver

1 Corinthians 12.7-11: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

The Spirit within Us

1 Corinthians 3.16-17: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 6.19: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?

The Spirit’s Love for Us

Romans 15.30: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5.22-23: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Ok. I am sure I may have overwhelmed you at this point. I hope however, I have made evident the importance of the Holy Spirit to each of us as individuals and to all of us as a group.

For me it works like this. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God and is manifest in the world and in our lives. Everything one might conceive to be true of God is evident in the Holy Spirit. We are unable to understand God as we might like to. We study Jesus Christ but he lived two thousand years ago in a different culture altogether. But the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the living God, is within us and surrounding us. Everything we will ever know about God in this life is encapsulated in the reality of the Holy Spirit. She deserves attention and credit, more than we give her.

So here is our invitation. Give the Spirit of God some serious consideration. Understand that she hears our prayers. She comforts us, advises us, advocates for us, loves us, and is the source of God’s grace. God and Jesus may get most of the attention, but the Spirit is currently doing most of the work.