Where is the Spirit - gone or here?

Today marks the day of Pentecost. A day that we all wear red to Church services and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in Jerusalem following the events of the Resurrection and ascension (Acts 2:1-4). During the following years the work of the Spirit is well catalogued within Acts and other early writings in Scripture. Since then there has been an apparent loss of the Holy Spirit within the ordinary lives of people with a few extraordinary exceptions the most recent being the Charismatic movement. Not all of course would agree with this as many Pentecostals would say that the Spirit is active amongst them. Others on a more individual basis are very aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and often proclaim it from the pulpit. However, the Holy Spirit is not often spoken about and quite often relegated to this one Sunday of the year. So has the Spirit left the world bereft or is the Spirit working as the advocate and guide that Christ promised?

In the first letter to the Corinthians (12:1-13) Paul highlights that there is one Spirit who gives a multitude of gifts to the people of Christ. In referring to the Spirit nowadays we concentrate on those things that we think as being signifiers of the Spirit's impact, Speaking in glossia, preaching, healing, prophecy, etc. These all appear to be the glamorous side of things, those things that impact and are easily recognisable. We can point and say "look he/she is gifted by the Spirit" and we praise and glorify God often following the "possessed", thinking that if they have the Spirit then perhaps that is a better church, denomination, etc. A trap that we put in place for ourselves each time. We actually need to look beyond the glamorous to find out whether the Spirit is indeed moving amongst us in today's world. Paul quite clearly states that the Spirit works in each of us according to the purpose of God (1 Cor. 12:6). The understanding here is that it is we who are not sufficiently discerning enough to realise that the Spirit is present. We quietly go about in the world not recognising and not realising that the Spirit is working ever present ever silently as advocate and guide.

May we discern God's Spirit in the smallest action and not the flamboyant gesture

Take a simple example or maybe not a simple example. A person who is in a relatively successful career suddenly finds pathways to a brighter future blocked, continually and consistently. Not a happy puppy the person speaks with an acquaintance on the other side of the world who suggests that perhaps there is need to discern a call into ministry. After an unsuccessful attempt the person finds a suitable mentor and moves forward. Seems happy and then the mentor disappears and the person learns that their name has not been forwarded for discernment. Process begins again and is moved into a quick progress stream. Life happens and person is unable to do what is asked unless conditions for assistance from the community of faith is met just prior to their call being recognised officially.  However, new mentor steps in and states belief of calling and conditions are laid down which allows process to move forward. At no time does the actual Spirit become visible but works in the background bringing things to light and smoothing the path to where God wants the person. It appears to be a traumatic process but in the end it is a process that answers to God and we sometimes have to acknowledge God's presence without actually seeing the significant presence of God's Spirit.

This is the reality of God's presence the Spirit smooths the path through advocacy and prompting others to work towards the goal that God has in mind for each person. We as human need to be very careful in our discernment of the call of God of a person into ministry whether it is ordained or the simple ministry of putting together a pew sheet. We cannot say that a person is not affected by the Spirit because we cannot see or hear those wonderful things like prophecy or glossia. We need to be mindful of God's call upon us and respond accordingly even if it seems to be the most stupid thing in the world. We also need to be discerning when we are asked to undertake ministry or follow God's prompting without denigrating or criticising. The Spirit moves in our lives more often then we think in ways which may not necessarily be ways we want. In order to be faithful to the Spirit we need to be open like the Spirit. We are given a choice on how we decide; too often we decide on our own and we do not listen to God or to God's Spirit. In this coming post-COVID world let our choices be moved by the Spirit as we listen with a discerning ear to the Spirit who is constant in our lives. This means learning to listen to the voice of love in our hearts and not the voice of gain.