1 Sam 17:32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Cor 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41
Preached by The Rev. Ellen Francis, OSH, at Saint Augustine's Episcopal Church, Augusta GA
When I was about 12 years old, my family owned a summer cottage on the Connecticut shore and I had my own 14’ sailboat. I spent many hours and days sailing that boat, and I was comfortable sailing it in almost any weather conditions. I even went far out into Long Island sound – farther than I ever admitted to my parents.
There was only one thing on the ocean that I feared. We kept this boat in a large cove, and at the mouth of the cove was a reef. The reef was almost always submerged below the surface, but it was still pretty easy to tell where it was because the water was usually churning and waves were usually breaking just above it.
One time I sailed fairly close to this reef, and I could just make out the jagged rocks, covered with seaweed, just below the surface. I could imagine the danger that this reef posed: if anyone sailed too close, our small boats could be smashed to pieces and the waves could pummel those on board against the rough edges. For some reason, I’m not really sure why, I was greatly afraid of this reef. I knew where it was; I knew very well how to avoid it, and yet I was greatly afraid. Logically, I knew that I need not be afraid, and yet I was and my mind continually created disaster scenarios of shipwreck and destruction.
Ancient peoples learned how to navigate the seas and rivers and even oceans, but they also had much fear of the power of the water and storms at sea. In the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, there is a description of the “formless void” and of the “darkness [that] covered the face of the deep”. We can imagine that this description of the beginning of creation was influenced by the mysterious and awesome power that ancient people saw in the great seas and strange sea creatures.
But God created safe space. In creating the earth and the heavens, God defined the boundaries of the chaos of the “deep”. The land was separated from the waters, and was held back so that life and order could thrive on earth. Still, ancient peoples were always just a little afraid that the chaos of the deep could once again overtake the order and safety that God had provided.
In today’s Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus also brought order and quiet to the raging sea. We can be sure that at least some of the disciples were experienced fishermen and sailors, and knew how to manage their boats in a storm. Yet they turn to Jesus, saying “Hey, wake up! Don’t you care that we’re going to sink and drown?” Jesus does wake up and “rebukes” the wind and commands the sea to be peaceful and still. Jesus brings order to the wildness of the storm, just as God brought order at the beginning of creation. No wonder the disciples are filled with awe and say to one another: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41)
Today, there are still many things that we fear. I no longer worry very much about rocks and reefs, but sometimes I’m still afraid in my heart, even when I know I need not be. And my mind still enjoys creating disaster scenarios of everything that could possibly go wrong. We know that too much fear and anxiety can be paralyzing and inhibiting. Fear can drain away the energy we need to move forward. And yet, still, we are sometimes afraid of all the worst things that could possibly or even improbably happen.
David surely felt fear in challenging the great Philistine warrior, but he had the experience of God’s faithfulness to him. God had kept him safe from the lion and the bear, and so David had confidence that God would continue to protect him. David trusted in God.
That’s not always so easy to do. We are so often convinced that it is our own power, our own smarts, and our own efforts that will get us through and save us. Yet the scriptures tell us over and over again that it is only when we strip away the reliance on the modern day equivalents of “sword and spear and javelin” that we can come to face our fears in the Name of the living and almighty God. And it is an awesome thing indeed to realize that in letting go, we may gain the greatest courage and strength.
Paul wrote that the disciples of Jesus endured all hardships to reach the greatest joy. He wrote that they were “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything”. (2 Cor 6:12?)
Surrender to God is the intention of a prayer attributed to St. Ignatius of Lyola:
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess you have given me.
I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will.
Give me only your love and your grace. With these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
What a brave thing it would be to offer over to God all of our gifts and all of our being, trusting that God will cherish all that we are and give us the love and grace to fulfill His will for us in this life. We are not promised complete freedom from all fear and anxiety and hardship, but we are promised the grace to carry us through.
Jesus said, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus offers another way of being -- beyond fear and anxiety. The way of Jesus is through faith and prayer and surrender to God. The way of Jesus is to let go of worry about tomorrow and our favorite disaster scenarios for the future, for the worries of today are more than enough. The disciples themselves eventually overcame their fear, and they went bravely out into the world to tell the Good News, at great personal risk and sacrifice.
In Vacation Bible School this past week, the children said pledges each day: God is with me; God guides me; God teaches me; God loves me; God sends me. What a great reminder to us, as well, that we start with God’s loving presence, guidance, and teaching. We can face each fear with confidence in the faithfulness and protection of God. In prayer, we can dare to ask for grace and blessing. We can have the courage to expect miracles. We can receive the peace and freedom from fear that will make all things possible. And because God loves us, as the children learned this week, we will stay close to God.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Trinity Sunday, Year B, Sunday June 7, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8; Canticle 13; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Preached by The Rev. Ellen Francis, OSH at Saint Augustine's Episcopal Church, Augusta GA
I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe. How can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? (John 3:12)
Indeed, how can we talk about heavenly things? The ancient Hebrews found “heavenly things” so awesome that they avoided saying the name of God at all. In the Hebrew scriptures the name of God is written with four letters YHWH, and in the place of this awesome word they said “Adoni” or “Lord”. The Muslims on the other hand have 99 names for God, including Merciful, Compassionate, King, Holy.
Today we celebrate the Christian name for and experience of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is Trinity Sunday, and on this day we are led to examine some of the deepest questions of the nature of God and our relationship with God.
Even though the Trinity is so central to Christian belief, it isn’t explained in the Bible. There are many passages that talk in some ways about God the Creator, of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit. There are even some precursors to the Trinity in the Old Testament. For example, when Abraham and Sarah receive the prophecy that Sarah will bear a child, we are told that there are three men (or angels) and then that there is only one. Three in one, one in three? Maybe.
The three persons of the Trinity are mentioned at the conclusion of 2 Corinthians when Paul signs off with the words: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13) Paul names all three but doesn’t explain how we know them, how they relate to each other, or how all three can be one God.
What is very clear is that the earliest Christians experienced God in these three ways. They knew of the creator God, YHWH, whom Jesus called “Father”. They knew of the miracles and the resurrection and the saving grace of Jesus. They knew of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
During the first several centuries of the Church, there was a growing debate about these three ways of knowing God. Did Christians believe in one God or three? This became an increasingly hot topic. One ancient theologian wrote that he couldn’t even go to the bakery without getting drawn into an argument about whether the Father was greater than the Son. People actually came to blows over whether Jesus was more human or more divine. Eventually all this got worked out at the great councils of the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the results have been handed down to us in the Creeds.
The Trinity continues to be at the very center of our faith, and continues to baffle most non-Christians and even many faithful Christians as well. One of the most distinguished Anglican theologians, John Macquarrie, wrote: “We may be completely puzzled to know what is meant by the idea of a God who is one in three and three in one, one substance and three persons.” (Principles of Christian Theology, 190)
So, we may well be standing right alongside Nicodemus, saying “How can these things be?” Part of the problem is in the limitation of language that we have available to talk about God. We can use symbols and metaphors and analogies, but they always fall short of the entire dimension and experience of God. A scientist (a psychopharmaologist, I think) once said something like: If our brains were simple enough for us to understand, we would be too simple to understand them. The words and understanding that we have of the Holy are an incomplete expression of our limited understanding of the great mystery of God. Jesus says, “How can I tell you of heavenly things?” Yes, indeed, how can you, and how can we of little brain understand?
I love the story that we heard today about Nicodemus. He’s so precise and concrete in his thinking. He tries to flatter Jesus a little with the affirmation, “We know you are a teacher in Israel….” But Jesus says, in effect, no, you really don’t know. You will need to learn how to be comfortable with not knowing. You are treading on holy ground, and for you, as for Moses, that is an awesome and unfamiliar place. As you stand on holy ground, you will be blown about by the Spirit of God, you will be born again, from above, and you will be transformed forever.
And so here we are on Trinity Sunday, and we are also standing on this very ancient and perplexing holy ground. The Trinity is a powerful reminder of God’s intimate connection with us and the infinite complexity of our relationship with God. The Trinity reminds us also that within God’s own self there must be intimate and balanced and generous relationship.
The Trinity has become the most accessible to me when I pray aloud with others. Extemporaneous prayer doesn’t come naturally to me, and I’m still learning to say out loud what’s in my heart. It’s an awesome and intimidating thing to do, and it helps me to draw on the traditional and ancient experiences of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.
The most effective (and humbling) way to start a prayer is to go straight to the top, so to speak: “Almighty God…” There’s no one else interceding – we are speaking directly to the source of all that is, and praying to the fullness of God in adoration and worship, in praise and thanksgiving. Once the prayer is started and the line of communication is open, it’s a bit easier to continue.
When I pray for guidance, and the loving presence of God, and the grace of God, I pray to Jesus, the one who knows first-hand all of the joys and sorrows of human existence. When I pray for healing power and relief from pain and anxiety, I pray for the Holy Spirit to support and to give comfort.
In the Trinity, God is in relationship with God’s own self. God is diversity and God is unity. God is distant mystery and God is intimately present. In the Trinity, we may experience all the richness and complexity of God, as the disciples did, as we are sustained by the Spirit, washed by the love of Jesus, and blessed with life from the Creator. How can this be? As with all God’s gifts, the blessings of the love of the Triune God are at the last beyond our comprehension.
Still, in confidence, we may pray that “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit [will] be with” us and remain with us forever.
Preached by The Rev. Ellen Francis, OSH at Saint Augustine's Episcopal Church, Augusta GA
I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe. How can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? (John 3:12)
Indeed, how can we talk about heavenly things? The ancient Hebrews found “heavenly things” so awesome that they avoided saying the name of God at all. In the Hebrew scriptures the name of God is written with four letters YHWH, and in the place of this awesome word they said “Adoni” or “Lord”. The Muslims on the other hand have 99 names for God, including Merciful, Compassionate, King, Holy.
Today we celebrate the Christian name for and experience of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is Trinity Sunday, and on this day we are led to examine some of the deepest questions of the nature of God and our relationship with God.
Even though the Trinity is so central to Christian belief, it isn’t explained in the Bible. There are many passages that talk in some ways about God the Creator, of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit. There are even some precursors to the Trinity in the Old Testament. For example, when Abraham and Sarah receive the prophecy that Sarah will bear a child, we are told that there are three men (or angels) and then that there is only one. Three in one, one in three? Maybe.
The three persons of the Trinity are mentioned at the conclusion of 2 Corinthians when Paul signs off with the words: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13) Paul names all three but doesn’t explain how we know them, how they relate to each other, or how all three can be one God.
What is very clear is that the earliest Christians experienced God in these three ways. They knew of the creator God, YHWH, whom Jesus called “Father”. They knew of the miracles and the resurrection and the saving grace of Jesus. They knew of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
During the first several centuries of the Church, there was a growing debate about these three ways of knowing God. Did Christians believe in one God or three? This became an increasingly hot topic. One ancient theologian wrote that he couldn’t even go to the bakery without getting drawn into an argument about whether the Father was greater than the Son. People actually came to blows over whether Jesus was more human or more divine. Eventually all this got worked out at the great councils of the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the results have been handed down to us in the Creeds.
The Trinity continues to be at the very center of our faith, and continues to baffle most non-Christians and even many faithful Christians as well. One of the most distinguished Anglican theologians, John Macquarrie, wrote: “We may be completely puzzled to know what is meant by the idea of a God who is one in three and three in one, one substance and three persons.” (Principles of Christian Theology, 190)
So, we may well be standing right alongside Nicodemus, saying “How can these things be?” Part of the problem is in the limitation of language that we have available to talk about God. We can use symbols and metaphors and analogies, but they always fall short of the entire dimension and experience of God. A scientist (a psychopharmaologist, I think) once said something like: If our brains were simple enough for us to understand, we would be too simple to understand them. The words and understanding that we have of the Holy are an incomplete expression of our limited understanding of the great mystery of God. Jesus says, “How can I tell you of heavenly things?” Yes, indeed, how can you, and how can we of little brain understand?
I love the story that we heard today about Nicodemus. He’s so precise and concrete in his thinking. He tries to flatter Jesus a little with the affirmation, “We know you are a teacher in Israel….” But Jesus says, in effect, no, you really don’t know. You will need to learn how to be comfortable with not knowing. You are treading on holy ground, and for you, as for Moses, that is an awesome and unfamiliar place. As you stand on holy ground, you will be blown about by the Spirit of God, you will be born again, from above, and you will be transformed forever.
And so here we are on Trinity Sunday, and we are also standing on this very ancient and perplexing holy ground. The Trinity is a powerful reminder of God’s intimate connection with us and the infinite complexity of our relationship with God. The Trinity reminds us also that within God’s own self there must be intimate and balanced and generous relationship.
The Trinity has become the most accessible to me when I pray aloud with others. Extemporaneous prayer doesn’t come naturally to me, and I’m still learning to say out loud what’s in my heart. It’s an awesome and intimidating thing to do, and it helps me to draw on the traditional and ancient experiences of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.
The most effective (and humbling) way to start a prayer is to go straight to the top, so to speak: “Almighty God…” There’s no one else interceding – we are speaking directly to the source of all that is, and praying to the fullness of God in adoration and worship, in praise and thanksgiving. Once the prayer is started and the line of communication is open, it’s a bit easier to continue.
When I pray for guidance, and the loving presence of God, and the grace of God, I pray to Jesus, the one who knows first-hand all of the joys and sorrows of human existence. When I pray for healing power and relief from pain and anxiety, I pray for the Holy Spirit to support and to give comfort.
In the Trinity, God is in relationship with God’s own self. God is diversity and God is unity. God is distant mystery and God is intimately present. In the Trinity, we may experience all the richness and complexity of God, as the disciples did, as we are sustained by the Spirit, washed by the love of Jesus, and blessed with life from the Creator. How can this be? As with all God’s gifts, the blessings of the love of the Triune God are at the last beyond our comprehension.
Still, in confidence, we may pray that “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit [will] be with” us and remain with us forever.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Pentecost, Year B, Sunday May 31, 2009
Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
Preached by The Rev. Ellen Francis, OSH at Saint Augustine's Episcopal Church, Augusta GA
Imagine that a new movie is coming out, with great fanfare and much publicity. We are promised amazing animation effects, exciting action, a dramatic plot, and a surprise ending. Bring on the popcorn. It would be a sure hit. Now, here’s the biggest surprise of all: the plot of this film --- could be the story of Pentecost! It’s amazing to me that with all the other Biblical stories and themes that have been represented in literature and cinema, I don’t know of any that tell the story of Pentecost.
The feast of Pentecost is as important as the other two great feasts in the Church calendar: Christmas and Easter. Those other two feasts are observed in style! At Christmas we fittingly re-enact and celebrate of the birth of the Savior of the world and God incarnate. We love to celebrate with flowers, and family dinners, as well as our most beautiful music and Christmas liturgy. We also celebrate Easter with even more beautiful music, flowers, and the drama of the liturgies of Holy Week and the Easter Vigil.
Pentecost on the other hand sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of spring graduations, Memorial Day, and just a good day to go to the beach. This is too bad, because story of Pentecost is one of the most dramatic and important stories in all of Christianity. It brings full circle the story of Jesus’ birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection. Just think – without Pentecost, there would be no celebrations of Christmas and Easter. There would be no Church. Not to mention – it’s a marvelous and miraculous story in itself.
The Pentecost story as told in the Book of Acts is an event of great dramatic action: the disciples were gathered in an upper room and were still reeling from the events of the past several weeks. They were still trying to understand what had happened and were still trying to figure out – now what?? They were probably still afraid.
Then, suddenly, a violent wind swept into the room and “filled the entire house”, and a tongue of fire rested on each one of the disciples. (What could one of the animation studios do with that!) As the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke not gibberish but in words of greatest clarity, we are told, in all the languages of the world. They were in-spired as they received the Holy Spirit. They were empowered and impassioned to walk in the way of Jesus and to tell the story of Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave them courage to overcome their fear and propelled them out of that little upper room into all corners of the known world.
In the ancient world at that time, there were many, many cults and sects and religions, and it was also enormously difficult to travel from one region to another. The chances were very small that any one of those cults would make a lasting impact. There was little chance that the words and ministry of a Jewish carpenter from the backwater town of Nazareth would resonate with people in the great intellectual centers of the age. It was highly unlikely that this new faith would prevail against the massive power of the Roman Empire and the religious authorities of the day.
There was small chance that the earliest Christians could withstand and endure the brutal persecution that they faced for nearly 300 years. Yet in 313, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. All over the world, people listened and heard the message, in their own language, and it resonated and spoke true to them. They heard the words of God’s faithfulness and compassion, and saw the fire that enflamed the believers. They heard and saw the power of the Holy Spirit working through the disciples, they saw the joy and commitment of the faithful, and they saw how Christians loved and cared for one another. They said, “Whatever this is, I want to learn more; I want what they’ve got; I want to be part of this; I want to live in love as they do.”
That was then, at the time of the first Pentecost. What about now? Where is the flame of inspiration and fire of passion for the Good News today? At a parish where I used to serve in New York, there is a stained glass window that shows the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The disciples are seated in a circle, and there is a little flame coming out of each of their heads. They look a bit like bunch of little birthday candles on a cake, with a tiny flame on top of each candle. This seems a parody of the story in Acts. Have the violent wind and flames of fire turned into tiny flickering birthday candles?
The Holy Spirit is with us today, as we celebrate the “birthday” of the Church, as we wear liturgical red, and as we prepare to receive, once again, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reminds us to dream, to pray, to hope, and to believe that miracles are all around us and are possible and are even to be expected. The celebration of Pentecost reminds us that the Spirit isn’t just a tiny flickering candle, which could be blown out with a puff, but instead the Spirit comes to us as powerful as a forest fire that carries the miracle of God’s passion and love for us.
Today we will witness such a miracle in the baptism of William Brady. There is no greater miracle than the gift of life, and today we celebrate William’s new life in Christ. Today he will become a full member of the Church and we will promise boldly and confidently, as a community, to assist his family and godparents in bringing him up in the Christian faith. And we will also re-commit ourselves in the renewal of our own baptismal vows, to turn away from evil, to turn again and again to Christ, and to love and respect the dignity of every human being.
As we celebrate and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our midst, this is also an occasion for us as a community of faith to dream, to hope and to have patience for what is promised, for what we do not see or understand now, and for the miracles that are to come. The miracles that we receive are not necessarily what we ask for or exactly what we think we need and want right now, but in God’s own time our prayers and dreams are to be fulfilled in the powerful gift of God’s grace. The Spirit is both the powerful presence of God, and at the same time a gentle presence that will support us in times of greatest need, “with sighs too deep for words”.
Christ promised the gift of the Spirit to the disciples so that God’s presence would be with them to sustain them and guide them, and so that they could become Christ’s hands and heart in this world. As Theresa of Avila wrote: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which to look out on Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now.”
We are blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we are, like the disciples, commissioned in the Spirit to follow Jesus and to walk in love, and to spread this love to everyone we meet. I know of no greater story than this.
Preached by The Rev. Ellen Francis, OSH at Saint Augustine's Episcopal Church, Augusta GA
Imagine that a new movie is coming out, with great fanfare and much publicity. We are promised amazing animation effects, exciting action, a dramatic plot, and a surprise ending. Bring on the popcorn. It would be a sure hit. Now, here’s the biggest surprise of all: the plot of this film --- could be the story of Pentecost! It’s amazing to me that with all the other Biblical stories and themes that have been represented in literature and cinema, I don’t know of any that tell the story of Pentecost.
The feast of Pentecost is as important as the other two great feasts in the Church calendar: Christmas and Easter. Those other two feasts are observed in style! At Christmas we fittingly re-enact and celebrate of the birth of the Savior of the world and God incarnate. We love to celebrate with flowers, and family dinners, as well as our most beautiful music and Christmas liturgy. We also celebrate Easter with even more beautiful music, flowers, and the drama of the liturgies of Holy Week and the Easter Vigil.
Pentecost on the other hand sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of spring graduations, Memorial Day, and just a good day to go to the beach. This is too bad, because story of Pentecost is one of the most dramatic and important stories in all of Christianity. It brings full circle the story of Jesus’ birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection. Just think – without Pentecost, there would be no celebrations of Christmas and Easter. There would be no Church. Not to mention – it’s a marvelous and miraculous story in itself.
The Pentecost story as told in the Book of Acts is an event of great dramatic action: the disciples were gathered in an upper room and were still reeling from the events of the past several weeks. They were still trying to understand what had happened and were still trying to figure out – now what?? They were probably still afraid.
Then, suddenly, a violent wind swept into the room and “filled the entire house”, and a tongue of fire rested on each one of the disciples. (What could one of the animation studios do with that!) As the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke not gibberish but in words of greatest clarity, we are told, in all the languages of the world. They were in-spired as they received the Holy Spirit. They were empowered and impassioned to walk in the way of Jesus and to tell the story of Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave them courage to overcome their fear and propelled them out of that little upper room into all corners of the known world.
In the ancient world at that time, there were many, many cults and sects and religions, and it was also enormously difficult to travel from one region to another. The chances were very small that any one of those cults would make a lasting impact. There was little chance that the words and ministry of a Jewish carpenter from the backwater town of Nazareth would resonate with people in the great intellectual centers of the age. It was highly unlikely that this new faith would prevail against the massive power of the Roman Empire and the religious authorities of the day.
There was small chance that the earliest Christians could withstand and endure the brutal persecution that they faced for nearly 300 years. Yet in 313, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. All over the world, people listened and heard the message, in their own language, and it resonated and spoke true to them. They heard the words of God’s faithfulness and compassion, and saw the fire that enflamed the believers. They heard and saw the power of the Holy Spirit working through the disciples, they saw the joy and commitment of the faithful, and they saw how Christians loved and cared for one another. They said, “Whatever this is, I want to learn more; I want what they’ve got; I want to be part of this; I want to live in love as they do.”
That was then, at the time of the first Pentecost. What about now? Where is the flame of inspiration and fire of passion for the Good News today? At a parish where I used to serve in New York, there is a stained glass window that shows the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The disciples are seated in a circle, and there is a little flame coming out of each of their heads. They look a bit like bunch of little birthday candles on a cake, with a tiny flame on top of each candle. This seems a parody of the story in Acts. Have the violent wind and flames of fire turned into tiny flickering birthday candles?
The Holy Spirit is with us today, as we celebrate the “birthday” of the Church, as we wear liturgical red, and as we prepare to receive, once again, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reminds us to dream, to pray, to hope, and to believe that miracles are all around us and are possible and are even to be expected. The celebration of Pentecost reminds us that the Spirit isn’t just a tiny flickering candle, which could be blown out with a puff, but instead the Spirit comes to us as powerful as a forest fire that carries the miracle of God’s passion and love for us.
Today we will witness such a miracle in the baptism of William Brady. There is no greater miracle than the gift of life, and today we celebrate William’s new life in Christ. Today he will become a full member of the Church and we will promise boldly and confidently, as a community, to assist his family and godparents in bringing him up in the Christian faith. And we will also re-commit ourselves in the renewal of our own baptismal vows, to turn away from evil, to turn again and again to Christ, and to love and respect the dignity of every human being.
As we celebrate and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our midst, this is also an occasion for us as a community of faith to dream, to hope and to have patience for what is promised, for what we do not see or understand now, and for the miracles that are to come. The miracles that we receive are not necessarily what we ask for or exactly what we think we need and want right now, but in God’s own time our prayers and dreams are to be fulfilled in the powerful gift of God’s grace. The Spirit is both the powerful presence of God, and at the same time a gentle presence that will support us in times of greatest need, “with sighs too deep for words”.
Christ promised the gift of the Spirit to the disciples so that God’s presence would be with them to sustain them and guide them, and so that they could become Christ’s hands and heart in this world. As Theresa of Avila wrote: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which to look out on Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now.”
We are blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we are, like the disciples, commissioned in the Spirit to follow Jesus and to walk in love, and to spread this love to everyone we meet. I know of no greater story than this.
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