Hungry for the Holy Spirit

 Second Sermon of Four on Holy Communion

Second Sunday in Lent / March 20, 2011

John 3:1-17

"Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me."

Who is this Spirit we sing about?  Do we really believe this Spirit has the power to melt us and mold us?  Are we open to letting the Spirit transform our lives? Or do we approach the Holy Spirit with caution and even skepticism?  Do we see this third person of the Trinity as filled with mystery?  Like Nicodemus, are we well schooled in the matters of God, and yet we do not understand these things? 

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is certainly the least understood aspect of God.  We recognize God as a loving Father, Creator of heaven and earth.  We see Jesus, the Son, who was born in a manger, healed the sick, ate with strangers, told lots of stories, and gave his very life for us.  But the Holy Spirit is hard to capture.  Both the Hebrew word for spirit, ruah, and the Greek word, pneuma, point to the elusiveness of the Spirit; both can also be translated as spirit or wind.  “The [pneuma] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the [pneuma]” (John 3:8). 

Wind. Spirit.  In the beginning when the earth was a formless void, a wind from God swept over the face of the waters (Gen 1:2).  The Spirit was there, in the beginning, already touching the face of the waters.  And then God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen 2:7).  The Spirit gave life to Adam – the Spirit gives life to each one of us.  Without the Spirit we are dust.  The Psalmist understands the power of the Holy Spirit to give life: “Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit” (Ps 51:11-12).  Later the Psalmist cries, “Where can I go from your spirit?” He continues, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” (Ps 139:7-8).  The Holy Spirit is present throughout time and across space.

And yet sometimes the Spirit is profoundly present in one place.  On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, when all the disciples had gathered together in one place, “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them... [and] they were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2-4).  In that moment, the church of Jesus Christ was born.  Jesus had promised he would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who would teach the disciples everything and remind them of everything Jesus had said to them (John 14:26).  Sometimes the book of Acts, which is actually called the Acts of the Apostles, is nick named the Acts of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was all over the young church.  And then, in the book of Revelation, the Spirit and the [church] invite everyone who is thirsty to come and take the water of life as a gift (Rev 22:17).  The Spirit invites us, the Spirit gives life; the Spirit gives wisdom, the Spirit unites us, and the Spirit guides us in the ways of all truth.  Like Nicodemus, we are hungry for this truth – for this Spirit.  And yet, many of us do not understand these things.

We do not understand how the Spirit works – it truly blows where it wills.  Why is it that Christianity is spreading like wildfire in Africa and South America and places like China, and yet more and more churches in Europe and North America are closing their doors?  There are almost a half a billion Christians in Africa alone – more than twice the number in the United States – and this gap is growing larger every day.  And here in the United States, why is it that so many people who once called themselves Christian are more likely to describe themselves as spiritual today? 

In think the answer lies in our deep hunger – people around the world are hungry for the Holy Spirit.  People are hungry for the life – and the new life – the Spirit gives.  People are hungry for the guidance of the Spirit.  People are hungry for the truth the Spirit embodies.  But many of us are like Nicodemus.  We aren’t quite ready to be born anew; we want signs – evidence – before we are willing to embrace the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Notice that Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night.  He is a Pharisee – one of the leaders of the Jews.  He is part of the leadership that will eventually arrest and condemn Jesus.  And yet he recognizes that Jesus has come from God.  Nicodemus knows the signs that Jesus does cannot be done apart from the very presence of God.  He comes by night to talk with Jesus so that he will not be seen by others.  He is curious, eager to know more about Jesus.  And yet, he does not understand Jesus’ teaching.  “How can these things be?”  Nicodemus could have been a disciple – but he wanted evidence – he needed understanding.  Nicodemus was hungry for the Holy Spirit, but afraid to take a bite; Jesus was asking for a leap of faith, and Nicodemus wasn’t ready.

“The wind blows where it chooses, and [we] hear the sound of it, but [we] do not know where it comes from or where it goes.”  I think that this is because we are often too self-sufficient to pay much attention to the wind.  Perhaps, like Nicodemus, we are comfortable where we are; we like choosing the direction our life goes; perhaps we don’t even want to go in the direction the wind leads us.  I imagine us being like motorboats or speedboats.  We get out on the water and go wherever we choose, more or less ignoring the wind.  We don’t know where the wind comes from or where it goes. 

Jesus is inviting us to listen to the wind – to pay attention to where it comes from and where it goes.  Jesus is inviting us to be more like sail boats.  A sail boat may still choose the direction it wants to go, but it uses the wind to get there.  It is easiest to travel with the wind – the sails are then filled with wind, propelling the boat forward.  Going against the wind is possible, but requires a lot of work.  Sailors have to be much more in touch with their environments than motor boaters, paying attention to the signs and, whenever possible, choosing paths that take full advantage of the winds.

How do we learn to put our motors away and put our sails up?  How do we begin to let go of our desire to go our own direction and instead follow the leading of the Holy Spirit?  How are we born anew?  The answer is so simple we often miss it: Worship God.  Through our regular patterns of prayer and praise, through our confession and thanksgiving, and through hearing God’s word read and proclaimed we submit our wills to God’s will.  We learn to pay attention to the Spirit.  But sometimes these patterns are not enough.  Like Nicodemus, we want understanding – we want a clear sign from heaven. 

That clear sign was given to us through Jesus: God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.  That clear sign was given to us when Jesus was lifted up on the cross so that the world might be saved.  And that clear sign is given to us each time we gather at this Table, sharing the bread and the wine. 

I love praying the Great Thanksgiving before Communion.  Last year I was at a youth gathering with a couple youth from my last church.  The gathering concluded with worship and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  As the presiding minister prayed aloud the words of the Great Thanksgiving, I realized my youth also spoke the words quietly.  Through our weekly celebration, this prayer had become as much a part of their vocabulary – of their prayer life – of their genetic makeup – as the Lord’s Prayer.  The words mattered to them.

The last part of the prayer, called the epiclesis, is where the Holy Spirit is invoked.  While we believe that it is through the entire prayer that the bread and wine become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, it is through the epiclesis that the consecration is completed.  These words invite us to both listen for the sound of the wind and feel its presence: “Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.”  These words help us to set our sails, so as to be guided by the Holy Spirit: “Let them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.”  These words – this prayer – align us with God’s will – empowering us to follow the Holy Spirit:  “By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.”  This prayer makes that which is born of the flesh more than flesh alone.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, the common is made holy.  Both the bread and the gathered community become the body of Christ.  And then, as we share the bread and drink the cup we embrace – yes, and even rejoice in – this holy mystery in which Christ has given himself to us. 

Many people experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit through a powerful conversion moment – a time of being born again and truly believing that Jesus Christ is Lord.  For others, this transformation happens slowly and incrementally, over a lifetime of faithful worship and service.  Each time we receive the bread of heaven we are born anew and able to see the kingdom of God more clearly.  Each time we sip the cup of salvation we are born of water and the Spirit – recreated in God’s image – and able to enter the kingdom of God.  The wind blows where it chooses, but through the body and blood of Jesus Christ we are able to encounter the power of that wind.  Through repetition, that power gradually melts us and molds us into the image of God.  Through the very presence of the Spirit of Christ we are filled – our deep hunger for the Spirit is satisfied – and we are open to being used by God for God’s purposes.  It is a mystery.  It is a gift.  It is a blessing.

Are you hungry for the Spirit, but looking for a sign? 

Then look no further than the bread and the wine. 

The Spirit is here, and longing for you. 

Embrace God’s presence and power, and be born anew.