Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Sometimes, it can feel like the third article of the Apostles' Creed is like a grab bag of Sunday School topics – a sort of junk drawer of Christian beliefs. The Holy Christian Church, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, the life everlasting. And we stick the Holy Spirit in there, too, right at the top of the junk drawer.

If rattled off without thinking, it can sound as if those 3rd-century bishops maybe wanted to include them earlier in the creed, in a more sophisticated way, but opted to append a few completely unrelated things to the end.

But, I believe there’s a deeper connection between those things. Might I suggest we think of that whole section as a powerful, but brief, description of the Holy Spirit and his mission. As in, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, who enlivens the church, by gathering the saints and feeding us communion, which provides for us the forgiveness of sins, and will sustain us until we are resurrected, and ultimately granted eternal life. And all this–ALL THIS, the work of the Spirit of God.”

You see, Jesus promised to send us a Helper, to be with us forever. He promised that this “Spirit of Truth” would be with us and dwell in us, and on this day, this Pentecost, we celebrate that Jesus made good on that promise to send us a Helper, who is the Holy Spirit.

It might’ve seemed more logical for God the Father and Son to send us the Holy Spirit sooner, maybe right after Jesus ascended to the Father.

If I were one of those early Christains, I would likely have been worried for the past 10 or so days since Jesus ascended wondering when Jesus was gonna send us his Spirit? Or wondering if he had forgotten about us….But, you see, everything happens on God’s timetable.

Pentecost just means “fiftieth” in Greek, and for us Christians it comes 50 days after Easter, well 49. (I guess for us on Saturday 48.) But, Pentecost or “Festival of Weeks” as it’s referred to in Scripture was a holiday well before there the tongues of fire descended and those present were able to miraculously speak in other languages. It was enshrined in the books of Moses, and was a celebration which came 50 days after Passover.

Pentecost was essentially a harvest festival and in Exodus is referred to as the “day of first fruits.” And that’s why everyone was gathered on that day, that’s why there were a bunch of travelers in town. They were there to celebrate the “Festival of Weeks.” The were gathered by God, to give praise to God for the harvest of wheat, and to make promises to him, and thank him for the promises he has given to us.

But, you see, since everything happens on God’s timetable, maybe it’s better to look at this the other way around.

It must be true that God had in eternity past planned to send his Church the Spirit. And so, to make way for the Spirit’s arrival, he created wheat, and determined when it’s planting season would be, and when it would be harvested. He gave to his people a festival to celebrate the new wheat. For centuries, his people celebrated the day without knowing it would come to have a deeper significance, that it would extend beyond the mere agricultural purpose and be a day when the very firstfruits of God’s own harvest were gathered in, and given back to God.

Maybe this is an up-side-down way to think about it. But, from the perspective of a God who exists outside of time and created everything, maybe not.

The Spirit has a gathering sort of power, he undoes the scattering power of the Devil. The Devil seeks to divide, to disperse, and confuse. The Holy Spirit connects, brings together, and illuminates. And just as the grains of wheat are scattered over the hills, but are gathered together and become one loaf of bread, so too were the people of God gathered. In that moment when everyone could speak one another's language, the Holy Spirit undid the scattering that started at the Tower of Babel, and he brought together a new people. A new people not defined by their differences.

After centuries of celebrating Pentecost, those who gathered on that day, would have understood what is easy for us to miss, that this was a day of new beginnings, of new life. The helper had arrived to gather us back to God, to bring Christ to us, and to guide us into all truth.

Perhaps you are one of those people who can see the Spirit at work everywhere around you, and have dozens of stories about how he has worked in your life. Maybe you have stories about how he has brought about improbable or even impossible healings, or brought people in your life at just the right time who said just the right thing and brought chills to your spine. Maybe you regularly feel the Spirit moving in worship or in times of prayer. Thanks be to God!

Or maybe you are one of those who have a hard time pinning him down. He is a spirit after all, but the Holy Spirit can be difficult in that way. J.I. Paker, a Reformed theologian, liked to say that the Holy Spirit was “shy.” By that he didn’t mean to describe the actual temperament of the Holy Spirit, but just to describe how he works. See, the Holy Spirit is always seeking to bring honor and glory to Jesus rather than seeking personal acclaim. He operates in a humble manner highlighting the supremacy of Christ, and he works within the believer creating faith and sustaining us. I think that’s another reason why it can be harder for us to spot the Holy Spirit, because he’s so close to us.

We see with the eyes of the Spirit and he causes us to look upon Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the animating force of the church. And just as Jesus secured for us life on his cross, the Holy Spirit delivers that life to us. He sustains us, renews us, heals us. He brought you to church, he brings to you the forgiveness of sins, and he sends you out to live out our vocations, as mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, employees, employers, as citizens, and friends. And what’s more, is that he goes with us!

And in that way, our whole life, as Christians, is in and by the Spirit. Our whole way of being. Whether you regularly notice his work, or not, he is at work in you.

Everywhere you go you have within you the most powerful presence in the universe, the very Spirit of God. We might as well make ourselves available to that power, and pray that he works mightily within us.

So, Come, Holy Spirit, come! Come that same Spirit who moved over the water to bring about creation. Come Spirit, who moved in the water of our baptism to bring about a new creation in us.

Come, Holy Spirit, come and make us alive and gather us in.