Our readings today are a lead up to Ascension Day and Pentecost which we celebrate on the next 2 Sundays. In our gospel today, Jesus speaks of his leaving to his disciples but also of the coming of the Holy Spirit who will teach the disciples and remind them of all that Jesus told them. In our reading from Acts, Paul talks of how they are always listening for the leading of the spirit and in Revelation John speaks of all that the Spirit reveals to him. How much time to you spend discerning the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?
The Holy Spirit has been part of creation from its very beginning, she is the breath of God filling all beings with life including us today.
When a friends face pops into your mind and you think ‘it’s been a while since we chatted’ and you call only to discover something has happened and your friend so needed your call, do you think that is the nudging of the Holy Spirit? When you’re struggling with an issue or a relationship and you open a magazine which has an article which helps you to see the situation or relationship from a new angle or helps you to work through an issue, do you see that as the work of the Holy Spirit? When you come to church on Sunday and a song you sing raises your spirits and renews your relationship with God and fills your spirit with joy, do you see that as the movement of the Holy Spirit?
When Jesus tells the disciples that God is sending the Holy Spirit it was not just to those people at that time and when we speak of the Holy Spirit being the ‘breath of life’ for the church it is not just for congregational purposes. The Holy Spirit has been part of creation from its very beginning, she is the breath of God filling all beings with life including us today. The Holy Spirit continues to teach and lead and remind us of Jesus’s message, she fills our lungs with air and our lives with meaning and truth.
Being open to the Holy Spirit are what trust and faith are about. Paul and his companions were open to where the Spirit was leading them, and she led them to Lydia a woman ready to hear about Jesus and devote her life to telling the good news of the love of Jesus. Lydia becomes an important person not only for Paul’s ministry but for the church in Macedonia. Trust the Holy Spirit, where she is leading you, to whom she is leading you, what she has to teach you, the truth she shows and tells. Rely on her to be an important part of your prayer life, expressing your joy and pain, your longings, and fears when you can’t even articulate them yourself.
When you experience a prayer being answered when you had not even spoken the prayer, that is the Holy Spirit interceding for you, connecting you to Jesus and God the Creator in deeper ways that you could imagine and giving to you what you need when you need it. Amen.