Who Are We to Close the Doors to the Holy Spirit?

Who Are We to Close the Doors to the Holy Spirit?

Good Morning Friends,

If your spiritual life is out of breath, maybe you need to open the windows and doors to let a fresh breeze clear the air. My experience is that too many people and even worshipping communities have closed doors to the Holy Spirit and have become accustomed to their own stink instead of seeking the aroma of Jesus that calls all of us to keep growing. The Jewish faith, in the actions of the Pharisees tried to close doors. The early church confronted it as well. Of course, pointing fingers and blaming others can be counterproductive. Still our faith practices…our fears can suffocate our lives. You see, some do not like the idea of the door of faith being opened to just anybody. You can call it prejudice if you like, but such lack of control raises anxiety and fear, and raises the question of just how much we are willing to love. Closing the doors of our lives and communities to the guidance of the Holy Spirit is of course just plain wrong. To overcome this challenge, the Spirit goes beyond the limits of our emotions nudging us ever forward. Interestingly this same line of reasoning and faith experience in God may have led the leader of Catholic Christians in his homily yesterday, to question what Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptist and all the denominations might equally question… “Who Are We to Close the Doors to the Holy Spirit?”

Scripture: But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 1:20-25 (NRSV)

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Acts 10:44-48 (NRSV)

Message: The Spirit blows where it wills, but one of the most common temptations of those who have faith is to bar its path and drive it in one direction or another. This was a temptation that was not alien even in the early days of the Church, as the experience of Simon Peter in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows. A community of pagans welcomes the announcement of the Gospel and Peter is an eyewitness to the descent of the Holy Spirit on them. At first he hesitates to make contact with what he had always considered “unclean” and then what happens next is that he suffers harsh criticism from the Christians of Jerusalem, shocked by the fact that their leader had eaten with the “uncircumcised” and had even baptized
them. It was a moment of internal crisis that is probably not foreign to us either.
Just as Peter and so too the Pope and you and me as well. Friends, if we do not submit to the Holy Spirit we die. Thankfully the Holy Spirit is continually nudging us with righteousness, peace and the joy in the Holy Spirit from the inside out. Here we might just realize that the Kingdom of God is about helping people be right with God through Jesus, not about personal preferences. Here we might just realize that being in the Holy Spirit means more than believing, it means telling the truth about Christ and the Church and our individual journeys of faith. Friends, if we are clothed in the Holy Spirit… if we confess our faults… if God covers us in His provision and protection… if we are indeed saved by His gift of grace, forgiven…then we need to act like it. We need to fulfill the law of love… We need to love as Christ loved and loves us. This act builds the Kingdom, strengthens the body of believers and engages us to do together what would be impossible alone. In the authority of Christ manifested in the unity of the body of believers in the Holy Spirit…with God we can be made whole. So take a deep breath of fresh air. There is work to be done.

Pray we avoid the temptation to drive the Holy Spirit. Pray that we live in the Holy Spirit that knows the will of God…that we live in the Holy Spirit that gives life to our mortal minds and bodies and bears witness that we our His. Pray that we trust in the Holy Spirit to lead us to obey God. Pray that we be unified in the power of the Holy Spirit as we give of our lives… as we collectively under His authority, in perfect unity with the joy, peace, love and forgiveness of Jesus reach out to the unconvinced, the oppressed, the obsessed… and even the possessed. Pray we give in to the Holy Spirit for the greater glory of God. Pray we not judge or condemn others for their opinions or motives. Pray we lean toward forgiveness and mercy. Pray we not store up wrath against ourselves by failing to forgive. Pray we not judge unbelievers. Pray we realize that God alone is ultimately the judge of people but that we need to discern our behavior with a loving responsibility to the fellowship of believers. Pray that love and restoration always be our goal. Pray that our hearts be made new in the Holy Spirit. Pray we have a home in the Holy Spirit. Pray we trust in the Holy Spirit’s presence. Pray love is revealed to us in the Holy Spirit and helps us to know Him, which in turn helps us to love Him. Pray we hear and act and love in the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us to Christ. Pray we share a love in the Holy Spirit that transforms us and others.
Pray we are baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Blessings,

John Lawson