Cathedral Sermons
Pentecost, Sunday May 23, 2010
Readings: Acts 2: 1-21; Romans 8: 14-17; John 14: 8-17
Stephen and I have just spent 7 days in Adelaide- South Australia. Various excursions- walking to markets! And driving. 2nd day, Adelaide Hills, passed a yellow diamond shaped sign: koalas, next 14 km.
Encouraged us to have an expectation… or at least encouraged me. So I spent quite a lot of time looking at the tops of trees for lumps. This happened quite a lot over the next 5 days. Gradually everyone in the car was looking for lumps too. ( I love the idea that if one looks carefully, one can see a koala.)
Now Stephen’s mother grew up in Adelaide and although she has lived here in Auckland since he was born, she has regularly visited Adelaide, and was with us there for this trip. She travelled with us on these outings. Eventually she caused Stephen to laugh by saying:
“You know, I think that Caroline really expects to see a koala. I never have expected to see one, so I have never looked.”
In our time in Australia we didn’t actually see any Koala shaped lumps in the trees. But Stephen’s cousin produced a photo taken last year, of a koala in a tree at the end of her road in suburban Adelaide. Sprawled in a fork- legs outstretched, toes visible.
I have just told you a story- the truth as I saw it. I saw no koalas, I saw a sign…I expected to see them.
Someone else told me about the koala they saw, they produced evidence. Stories are like that, the older I get and the more adult life experience I have, the more I have become aware of how many points of view that there can be of the same events. However despite myself, I still believe, I still look, and I still tell you the story.
As you listen to my story you are naturally making some assessments:
Does the storyteller interest me? Why is she telling me this story about koalas? Can I believe her?
Do I think that koalas exist? Do koalas exist outside zoos? Do I know enough to recognise one?
Do I care?
As Christians we tell stories, and we not only tell stories, we behave as though we believe that when we tell them, we bring these experiences into the present reality.
We tell the story of the Last Supper that Jesus had with his friends each week. We repeat the things that he did because we hope and we believe that we will be there with him, and he will be here with us… and we will be his friends too.
So today the story we tell is about Jesus’ friends and believers receiving the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit. A spirit of love, and a spirit of truth, and a spirit expressive of God’s power. Each of us as we hear this story have to ask ourselves:
Does the storyteller interest me? Why is this storyteller telling this story about the Holy Spirit? Can I believe the storyteller? Do I think that the Holy Spirit exists? Do I think that this experience is available anywhere, anytime? Do I know enough to recognise this Holy Spirit experience when it happens?
Do I care?
I wonder where you got to with these questions, because that is what we are invited to consider today.
I have already revealed enough about myself over the past months for many of you to realise where I am with some of these questions:
I do believe the storytellers, I do think that we can receive the Spirit- a Spirit of truth and love anywhere, anytime. I do expect that God responds when we ask (although the response may be different than we expect), and I do know that we can be Jesus’ friends.
But how would we recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit?...and for many of us appearing to be drunk or overwhelmed does not appeal.
Well there are plenty of other passages in Scripture which remind us that God waits for an invitation… and can come in a still, small voice, rather than as a rushing wind… So firstly, when we listen to this story perhaps it helps to remember that the disciples were bereft, and had spent days praying together before this event. It was probably a “highly charged” experience. As some of us would know, many “retreat” experiences can assist any one of us to encounter God in a new and fresh way.
(There is lots that could be said about the theological implications of this story, at this point as the Son joins the Father and the Spirit is broadcast on all Creation.)
But what about any one of us engaged in daily life this week in Auckland? How can we recognise this Holy Spirit experience when it happens? How can we be aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit? Sure, there can be signs and wonders… and sometimes we are priveleged to be part of a massive and mysterious process where God’s justice and healing and transformational love become evident. But also, there are times when we find that somehow the Spirit of God causes us to behave in a way that is somehow bigger than our own normal self. It is as if our normal personality characteristics are expanded or enhanced, and we do in fact express ourselves in ways that have a Godly potential to make a difference. Cf Galatians 5:22,23.
So whether our experiences of the Holy Spirit working in and through us are of heightened, ecstatic experiences, or still, small voice encounters… each of us can still believe in Jesus’ promise: John 14: 14-17.