Merry Christmas everyone. Even though I am wearing a very nice summer outfit today, I do really enjoy the winter season, although it has been too wintery yet. This season is a special one. Once you get past the frenzy of insanity that you find in the stores, everyone seems to be in a more giving spirit. Many call it the Christmas Spirit. However, I feel that the Christmas Spirit is in reality he Holy Sprit working through us.
In both of the New Testament and Gospel
reading today that Hattie and Carynn / Tanner and Harrison read for us, there
is a common theme that emerges, the Holy Spirit. In Galatians we were reminded
that God sent the Spirit of his son into our hearts. In Luke, we saw how the
Holy Spirit was guiding Simeon into the temple so that he might see the
Lord.
Now, unfortunately for many, the idea of
the Holy Spirit is a difficult one to wrap our minds around. It is by far the
most abstract portion of the Holy Trinity. God, as the Father, we understand.
We all have fathers and/or father figures in our lives. Jesus as the Son of God
and our savior is also fairly easy comprehended. However, the Holy Sprit is a
little harder for us wrap our minds around. When teaching Confirmation, I try
to use visuals and scripture for the Confirmands to better understand the Holy
Spirit. So, I am going to take everyone back to Confirmation this morning.
There are a multiple symbols and
elements that we use, given to us through scripture, to try and understand the
actions, desires, and idea of the Holy Spirit. While Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God, the
animal that is used to represent the Holy Spirit is the Dove.
A dove represents love, grace, and is an
emblem of purity and harmlessness. All four Gospels refer to the baptism
of Jesus by John at the Jordan. The Luke account reads “And the Holy Spirit
came down in a bodily shape, like a dove on Him.” The form of the dove was assumed on this
occasion to signify that the Spirit with which Jesus would be endowed would be
one of purity and innocence. This symbol
of the Holy Spirit is present in our sanctuary as well. The dove is carved into
the Alter. It is also prominently displayed on our baptismal font, referencing
Jesus’ baptism.
After talking about the significance of
the dove at Jesus’ baptism, I like to segue into the discussion of water. Water signifies birth and life. It represents
the cleansing and life giving action of the Holy Spirit at Baptism. In Matthew
Chapter 3, John the Baptist preaches stating, “I am baptizing you with water…
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. He will baptize you in
the Holy Spirit.”
The Spirit is the living water that comes from Christ,
cleansing us all.
The next element is fire and it is one
of the most popular representations of the Holy Spirit. We begin and end each
service with the flame. Fire is shown in
the Pentecost story in Acts Chapter 2, “Then there appeared to them tongues as
of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the
Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” The fiery presence of the Holy Spirit in our
hearts provides light and guidance. Fire calls attention to the strength and
force of the Holy Spirit.
The last symbols that I use for the
Confirmands is Wind. This is by far my
favorite representation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the breathe of
God that fills us with life. We see this in Genesis 2, when God breathes life
into Adam’s nostrils. It is like the wind, invisible but powerful, moving
things around as it will. John 3:8 reads, “The wind 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 Spirit.”
While none of these images fully
describes or explains the Holy Spirit, each image gives us a better idea of how
the Spirit works in the world.
Now for me, I struggled being able to be
cognitively aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence. And many of you know that
after I graduated from college I had a difficult time finding my place in the
church as a young adult. I wasn’t sure where I belonged, if anywhere. I felt
void of the Spirit. Little did I know that the Spirit was guiding me to my new
place in the church. During the fall of 2010 I was asked to be on the Staff
Parrish Relations committee. I wasn’t really sure who thought that it would be
a good idea for a 23 year old to serve on that committee but I was like…ok I
guess. Little did I know that was the first push I was given in finding my
place in then church. It guided me then to my Unbinding your Heart group that
has developed in to great friendships. It also, ultimately guided me to the
Youth Director Position.
When I look back on these last 4 years, I am able to see how the Spirit was blowing me down paths that I would not have be willing to venture by myself. When I was in those moments, I just didn’t have the ability to recognize the Holy Spirit’s presence.
When I look back on these last 4 years, I am able to see how the Spirit was blowing me down paths that I would not have be willing to venture by myself. When I was in those moments, I just didn’t have the ability to recognize the Holy Spirit’s presence.
It wasn’t until his past summer’s
mission trip that I became more truly in tune with the Holy Spirit’s presence.
I was incredibly lucky to capture this moment and would like to share it with
you all today.
This is the exact moment in my life when
I was able to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in real time. During the evening service one night on the
mission trip we were sitting with our work crews, so our youth group was
scattered all over the gymnasium. Towards the end of the service, at this
moment, we were asked to take a step closer to the cross if we wanted a deeper
relationship with Christ. As individuals were stepping closer the young man, to
the left of the cross, beneath the speaker, and with the baseball hat stepped
out into the light.
This is one of our youth. I had had a serious conversation with him the day before about his relationship with Christ. At that exact moment, I was cognitively aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence guiding him. This was the first time I was ever able to see the Holy Spirit working in real time.
This is one of our youth. I had had a serious conversation with him the day before about his relationship with Christ. At that exact moment, I was cognitively aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence guiding him. This was the first time I was ever able to see the Holy Spirit working in real time.
Since then, I have been more aware and
have been able to recognize the spirit working in other and me.
More recently, I saw the spirit in the eyes and words of a five year old. A couple of Friday’s ago, I was working out at Crossroads at the Nativity display when a young couple came in with their 2 children. After heading through the nativity and sending the kids on the animal scavenger hunt, the young girl, about 8 years of age, wanted to show me he favorite figurine. She took my hand and led me to this angel.
More recently, I saw the spirit in the eyes and words of a five year old. A couple of Friday’s ago, I was working out at Crossroads at the Nativity display when a young couple came in with their 2 children. After heading through the nativity and sending the kids on the animal scavenger hunt, the young girl, about 8 years of age, wanted to show me he favorite figurine. She took my hand and led me to this angel.
In reality, she has always been my
favorite as well. After hearing his sister’s words and mine of agreement, her 5-year-old
brother scoffed and said, verbatim, “That’s not right! Baby Jesus is my
favorite and he she be your favorite too!” Touché little boy touché. It was so
obvious that night that the Holy Spirit was with this young boy and was so
apparent with the way that he looked at the baby Jesus.
As a lot of you know, I made a Facebook
Christmas Photo-a-day challenge, inviting anyone to participate. Each day there
was a daily word for us to interpreter, like Share, Lights, Love, Tradition,
Joy, Family, Peace, and Spirit. You then were supposed to post a picture that you
feel best represented that word. Not only was it great to get to see a glimpse
of everyone’s lives, it was amazing to get to see how the Holy Spirit was
moving through our congregation.
And somehow, a certain couple felt that their Westie
best represented the word of the day, every day.
Each week during advent Pastor Robert
and Pastor Cheryl spoke of Reclaiming Christmas. We were challenged to reclaim
Christmas by allowing God to make a difference in the world, listening to the
guiding Spirit, so we can move accordingly helping those in need. We were
reminded to give up on having a perfect Christmas. We as humans are not perfect,
however, even in our own struggles, we are called to shine the Spirit’s light through
acts of kindness. We heard about God’s scandalous love that he has for us. A
love that we didn’t do anything to deserve but is also there for us. We were reminded that we can be part of
the miracle where people receive hope, the hungry are fed, and lives are saved
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we progressed through Advent, it
became more and more evident that the Holy Spirit was working through each and
everyone of us. That is why I love this season so much. It isn’t the Christmas
Spirit that grabs a hold of us. It is the Holy Spirit. This is the time of year
that the Holy Spirit is most palpable. This is the time of year that the Holy
Spirit is the most recognizable. Are you aware of its presence?
My Christmas wish for all of you is that
you are able to recognize the Holy Spirit working in your life and that you are
able react to where it is guiding you in your life this Christmas season and
throughout the year to come.
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