By David R. Tullock
To participate in what God is doing, we must understand that the Holy
Spirit is personal. The Spirit is a “who” not a “what.” Jesus refers to the
Spirit as one who relates like a “He.” The Holy Spirit is the living, personal
Spirit of Jesus. The way we know Jesus and his way of life is through the Holy
Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also the living presence of God with His people wherever
they are. It is the Holy Spirit of God who draws us together each Sunday for
worship. It is the Spirit that teaches us to “love one another as He has loved
us.” It is the Spirit which draws us to him in Holy Communion. It is the Spirit
of God who girds himself to serve us at the table. It is the Holy Spirit who
makes the mysterious transaction that occurs to make it possible for us to experience
the Presence at the table.
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So on this big
word Sunday called Pentecost, let me remind you that the giving of the Holy
Spirit to us is not an end but a means. Like water on a tiered fountain this
Spirit flows from God, to Jesus, to the Apostles, to us and splashes on the
entire world. This also means that your gifts, whatever they are, are part
of the indispensable whole that the Spirit is bringing into being. Maybe you
never thought about it that way before. Paul doesn’t say “to some;” he says,
“to each.” That means that every one of us has a gift from the Spirit to offer
to all the others “for the common good.” “If you don’t know what your gifts
are you can confidently expect to find out. But I warn you. It will mean that
God will call you out of your “house of homely, close-hugged truths.” That’s
what He does.
Prayer: In a moment of madness, O God, we
gave ourselves to you. It was a moment of divine madness, that changed our
lives. Now we spend all of our days looking for such moments, hoping to confirm
what we felt before or to discover new creations of what it means to follow
you. Therefore we pray for a special feeling of your presence now in our midst
as we worship, that when we go from this place it will be with new courage,
and with hope that our experience for you does order life and give it meaning
beyond the momentary pleasures and sorrows of daily existence. Convert our
gift — and us — into living sacrifices that will make the poor rejoice, the
wounded heal, the lonely discover love. And let all our moments become moments
of such madness. Through the One who died on a cross and was raised to newness
of life, Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sermon brief provided by: David R. Tullock, pastor of Parson’s Porch, a
ministry in Cleveland, TN