1st SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 2010
January 10, 2010
the Rev. Ken Kroohs
(Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17 & 21-22)
OPEN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC
MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN
Today’s lessons made me think about how we separate people .. and churches. Certainly the “fundamentalist”, “moderate”, “liberal” divisions are used a lot — frequently used inaccurately since so many attitudes overlap.
We also sometimes divide churches by their worship style ... the “liturgical” churches like the Roman Catholics and us who tend to do a similar service each week verses those whose leader does what feels right that week.
This week’s readings suggested another division ... to use the words from Acts ... people who had been baptized only in the name of Jesus Christ verses those who have received the Holy Spirit.
.... I just stopped walking on very thin ice and jumped into the hot water. (Talk about a mixed metaphor!)
The tendency when we talk about the Holy Spirit is to focus only on the extremes. Such extremes can be helpful in describing the differences but also can confuse the issue since few people actually live on the extreme edges.
So let me react to the Acts reading from a perspective that is not theologically accurate. What I will do is use the Acts reading as a metaphor for what happens so often in our lives.
I suggest the people described as not yet having the Spirit come upon them are similar to people I call “inactive Christians”. That’s my terminology for people who may have been baptized, who probably would say they are Christian, may attend church, but are not really affected by Christianity.
I am eliminating as any indication of Christianity the crosses worn as jewelry since that has become simply a form of jewelry and frequently not a religious symbol.
And I do not want to limit the “proof” of Christianity only to church attendance. That said, I have found few people who keep a close relationship with God who do not go to church. I have found MANY people who CLAIM to do so but it is more a plan or desire than a life style.
We will come back to them but let’s flip over to the people who have “received the Holy Spirit”. ... And I know how that phrase can raise hackles! It is mis-used to insult and demean other people. It is often used as some kind of test of your Christianity – and I don’t mean it like that.
I don’t believe NOT raising hands during a prayer, or shouting, or speaking in some unknown language indicates a person has not received the Holy Spirit. In fact I have often found those activities to be more about calling attention to the person than about any spiritual life. Those are not the proofs Paul mentioned in his lists of gifts and fruits of the spirit.
At the same time, people who truly have such a deep relationship with God that it manifests itself in such ways are fascinating. In other words, none of those activities proves or disproves anything.
I said that church attendance and behavior during worship services are not accurate tests of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So what would be? St. Paul’s lists are great and helpful, but not necessarily complete. In mathematical terms those characteristics may be necessary but not sufficient to demonstrate the Spirit’s role in a person’s life.
I suggest a more basic question ... one only an individual .. you, we, can answer for ourselves. How is our life different because of Jesus Christ? How do we live? Work? Play? Differently because of Jesus Christ? If I could prove to you that Jesus never existed, what would change in your life?
If the answer ... the honest, sincere, never to be shared with anyone answer is “not much” — then no matter what the person does on Sunday I would put them in the “inactive Christian” ... “Holy Spirit is not with them category” .... MAYBE that is too extreme a characterization but consider it.
Understand, none of us can speak about radical changes in all aspects of our lives. None of us can speak of complete change in any aspect of our life. So it is not about perfection it is about the journey .. the attempt .. the goal.
If that is accurate, then the better question might be: “How am I working with the Holy Spirit to make my life different because of Jesus Christ?” ... that one is even harder than the first! If I stick with the “How is my life different?” question I might be able to cite a mission trip or financial donation.
BUT if the question is how am I striving to be more completely aligned with Jesus? Striving for a deeper and richer relationship with God? That question is about what I am doing now, during this stretch of my life to follow Jesus more closely and deepen my relationship with God. To work with the Holy Spirit.
So what could those things be? .... I have always found helpful the tripod of: learning about God, communicating with God, and serving God.
“Learning about God” — That can and should include both private study and community study. It would be extremely arrogant of me, as well as pretty stupid, to assume I already know everything about God or can understand everything without help for anyone!
Fortunately we now have lots of ways to study. Unfortunately we now have lots of ways to study! Some of the junk on the internet is amazing. And I am not just talking about religion. “Did you know Barak Obama is a demon because he has 7 toes on his right foot???” I don’t know if that fabrication is going around the internet but it would not shock me at all if it is!
And the number of people who “quote” the Bible without ever having read it!! Examples: “Spare the rod and spoil the child” – Ben Franklin not the gospels.
There is no final earthly battle in the book of Revelation.
Sodom and Gomorrah only talks about rape – no other sexual activity is ever mentioned.
Those examples make two points. First, don’t assume it! Find it and read it for yourself. But second, using the Bible as our guide is both more difficult and much, much easier than we think. Jesus says that the heart of all instructions is to love God and love your neighbor. I would suggest that be used as the beginning point for all reflections.
“Communicate more with God” – good relationships of any kind depend on good communication.
Please hear this ... everyone’s methods of communicating with God are different. None are inherently right, or wrong. So I am suggesting you hear what I am saying much as you might go to a wine sampler. Try things and see if they are right for you. Reject what isn’t and keep what is.
Communicating with God may be one place the pentecostals have something to teach us. ... Told you I was heading for trouble! .... I am not talking about any physical movements or specific sounds, but the sense of joy and enthusiasm.
I love our Prayer Book. After all, it would again be arrogant for me to claim I can say things as well as everyone who has lived for 2,000 years! The beauty and depth of the words cannot be matched by any one person.
BUT. ... the danger is that it is easy for us to equate repeating the words with communicating with God. Sometimes repeating the familiar and comfortable words is the best way to communicate with God. Many times I find that to be true.
BUT — sometimes repeating the familiar and comfortable words is a cop out. We do that rather than communicating with God.
‘Communication’ is not us telling God what we want. We usually don’t like to admit it but the most important part of communication is not what we say but what we hear.
God can speak to us in lots of ways. The Bible is God speaking to us. If we are reading the Bible and something jumps out at us, that might be just the question we have been struggling with.
Other GOOD books, tapes, speakers can be God speaking to us. We can be confident the Bible is not in error, our understanding may be in error but the Bible is not. But we cannot be confident another author or speaker is not in error so caution is important.
Quiet time – not necessarily physically quiet but emotionally quiet time, time when we are not filling it with thoughts ... can be a time to hear God.
I frequently have conversations with God. Wow, that does sound arrogant!! But what I do is start talking about the question with a clear intention that God join in. And I often “hear” new thoughts.
Workshops, seminars, retreats all can be good ways to both learn about God and communicate with God.
Then there is serving God. This is the one many people jump into because it is so much more tangible. Go to the food bank twice a month seems more important than reading the Bible or praying.
BUT, funny thing, people who do not have the foundational knowledge of and relationship with God frequently lose some of the energy to serve God.
And people who do not serve God frequently become bored with learning and talk about how they cannot communicate. It all fits together.
Assuming we want to improve our relationship with God, what do we do? Notice activities already on our calendar. Over the next couple weeks you will hear about a couple opportunities to learn during Lent. After Easter there is a Cursillo weekend I will tell you more about later. Speak to me about a personal plan. Any plan should include an accountability aspect .... like diets work best when we weigh ourselves, we need to keep account of how we are doing.
But the single most important step .... is doing something! Begin with something and grow from there! What will you start with?
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CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)