Day 78: The Promised Gift of Your Holy Spirit

DAY 78

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Twelve – Sunday 31 May 2020

PENTECOST SUNDAY

The Promised Gift of Your Holy Spirit

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - Prayer for Pentecost Sunday, The Book of Common Prayer.

The Father we somewhat understand because it is a matter of nomenclature: we all have had one and many of us are one. The Son we understand at least a tad more because he “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,” as the creeds remind us, “and became man.” We know – we’ve seen pictures of him in our childhood Sunday School books. But the Holy Spirit – nothing in our system of existence is remotely comparable. No templates, no metrics, no controlled laboratory pursuit will enable us to pin down this third person of the Trinity, no matter how hard we try, in our doctrinal statements. Jesus likened the Spirit’s movements to the wind in John 3:8: “The wind blows wherever it pleases.” In our theological and doctrinal controlling of the Holy Spirit we miss His sole mission on planet earth: “He will bring glory to me,” said Jesus in John 16:14. Everything the Holy Spirit does, without exception, has this as its ultimate purpose.  

Some provocative challenges regarding the Holy Spirit.

1.      “… (we) call on the Church to undertake a new and creative exploration concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit … We believe the Church needs to pray for a sensitivity to see the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the world today.” - The Work of the Holy Spirit, approved by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1970.    

2.      “As a foolish church presupposes his presence and action in its own existence, in its offices and sacraments, ordinations, consecrations, and absolutions, so a foolish theology presupposes the Holy Spirit … only where the Spirit is sighed, cried, and prayed for does he become present and newly active.” - Karl Barth (1886-1968) Swiss Reformed theologian in his 1962 lectures on evangelical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Reflective question: Are you open to seeking, embracing ‘the promised gift of the Holy Spirit?’

Reflective Scripture: Ephesians 5:18 – “… be filled with the Spirit, …”

Reflective hymn:

“Spirit of the Living God” – Daniel Iverson (1890-1977)

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.