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Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit! Come and do your will!  Renew the face of the earth! Come set our hearts afire!  Come Holy Spirit!

It is Pentecost.  The day we celebrate the gift (and gifts) of the Holy Spirit. What an amazing and blessed day.

Last night my church celebrated Pentecost with a beautiful vigil.  To the outside world it may not have seemed that way.  The attendance was low.  The music quit working not once, not twice, but multiple times.  The wind blew the candles out in the candle-light procession, not once, not twice, but multiple times.  Rain began to fall during the celebratory bonfire.  To the outside world, perhaps not a success.  But what the outside world didn’t know — what the outside world never fully appreciates — is the true beauty of God’s presence.  And God was there.  The Holy Spirit was there.  I felt His presence almost immediately.

For several weeks, I have been struggling because I felt disconnected from God.  The world had become too busy.  Human events had dominated my life.  I had tried, and failed, on several occasions to welcome God back in, but quickly became distracted again by what the world deems important.

Last night, when the man-made speakers failed, and the flames from the man-made candles blew out, I felt the presence of God.  I felt His Spirit fall upon us.  And it was good.

Today the Bible opened up to the last verse in Matthew:

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16-20

This passage tells me a few things, all of which reinforced my experience last night.  First, the apostles who had spent three years with Jesus, doubted, even when He stood right before them.  This is comforting.  Because I too have doubted.  I have felt disconnected.  I have felt lost.  I have doubted.  Even when God is right there in front of me.

Second, of course, is the commission by Jesus to all of us to go and make disciples of all nations.  His name, His love and His commandments are not something we can keep to ourselves.

And third, and the one that I could use a reminder of every day, is the last line of Matthew’s gospel: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Sometimes I can feel God’s presence in a powerful way.  I become overwhelmed and am often brought to tears.  Other times, particularly when I am distracted by the world, I miss that feeling.  But He is there.  Behold, He is with us always.

And like last night, when things seem to be going wrong, or not in line with what we as humans have planned, God shows us that His plan is better and can not be judged by human standards.  He is with us.  As a Father who loves us, as the Son who carries our burdens and as the Holy Spirit who guides us.  He is with us and He will love us, carry us and guide us when we least expect it and in ways the human world cannot fully understand.

Come Holy Spirit! Come and do your will!  Renew the face of the earth! Come set our hearts afire!  Come Holy Spirit!

 

 

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Fireworks from the Holy Spirit

It’s time to get ready to go back to work after a 4 day weekend celebrating the birth of our country.   It seems like there have been fireworks for the last 4 nights, and I am sure, plenty of oohs and ahhs.  The Bible tonight opened to John the Baptist providing rebirth through baptism and foretelling of Jesus:

“I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:11-12

Matthew tells us that Jesus has His own fireworks for us — baptism through the Holy Spirit!  Imagine those fireworks, the oohs and the ahhs created by the fire from the Holy Spirit.  Close your eyes from the world before you, the computer or phone screen, the man made fireworks or electronic flashes of light and feel the Holy Spirit surrounding you.    Better than any lightshow on earth.

Now I know in this passage John talks about Jesus separating the good from the bad.  He will gather his wheat in  his barn and the chaff he will burn.  I quickly googled “chaff” and one of its definitions is “worthless things; trash”.  But as I read this passage tonight, I don’t know that Jesus separates out the trash to dispose of it, as I used to think when I read this passage.   Thank goodness — because I know I feel like chaff more often than I feel like wheat!  Are any of us really the wheat ready to be gathered?  So what becomes of us?  John says He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.  But John has just told us that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire.  So is it bad to be burned with fire?  Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to baptize us.  Even if we are just the chaff, if we go to Jesus, if we repent, if we ask for the Holy Spirit, then the fire that will burn is the fire of the Holy Spirit.  And for those of us who may be chaff, don’t we need the Holy Spirit more than those who are already the good wheat gathered in heaven (Jesus’ barn)?  Jesus sends us the right fire — even when we feel worthless, even when we feel like trash, even when our actions may have been trash — He offers us rebirth.  He offers us help through the Holy Spirit — we just need to accept it.

Dear Lord,

I am sorry for my sins.  I am sorry for the times I have not placed you first.  Help me to grow into the hearty wheat.  I am ready to be baptized by the Holy Spirit!   Send me your fireworks!

 

 

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Come Holy Spirit

I know today is Pentecost, but the Bible opened to the Ascension and Jesus’ words about the timing of when we will receive the Holy Spirit:

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them,  “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:6-8

As a control freak, it is hard to not know when the Holy Spirit will come.  I need a schedule, a date, a time.  I need to make plans… don’t I?  No — just one more reminder that it is not about my plans — I need to relinquish to God’s plans.  I need to trust and have patience.  I need to prepare myself for the Holy Spirit whenever the spirit comes.  I cannot procrastinate or put it off til tomorrow.  I need to be open and ready — and sometimes I just need to be quiet, so that I can listen.

Come Holy Spirit Come!  Renew my spirit!