Grace and Peace to you, From God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.
I am a Christian, raised in the Lutheran Church. That means a lot of things to different people. It means that I have a strong faith in the saving grace given to me by Christ through his life, death, and resurrection. Christ died on the cross to save me from my sin. As a Lutheran, I have an understanding that Jesus is present in the bread and wine when we celebrate the eucharist. I understand that daily I am called to remember and live out my baptism.
It also means that I am part of a tradition that is, at least here in North America, not very good at talking about the role and person of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity.
It is a rather interesting problem. When we say the creeds, we recognize and confess our belief in the Holy Spirit, but we don’t often talk about the Spirit working in the world, unless we are pressed to do so in a confirmation class or some sort of education program where we need to talk about the Triune God.
So, today, when I saw that our text is from Jesus’ farewell discourse from the Gospel of John, and particularly the part where Jesus promises the paraclete, the advocate, the helper, the companion, the Spirit of Truth, I was a bit nervous. What could I say about this person of the Trinity that I don’t entirely understand? One of the questions our Confirmation students are asked to write about in their faith statements is “What do you believe about the Holy Spirit?” I saw that and thought, oh boy, I thought I would write a faith statement in solidarity with the youth, but can’t I just avoid that question. Or, how do I answer that question?
But here is the reality, the Spirit works in the world. The Spirit guides us. I trust weekly that the Holy Spirit will direct my words, sometimes I would prefer that the Spirit worked a little quicker and louder though.
The first thing is that the Holy Spirit is described through the actions and the Spirit’s work in the world. We don’t hear things like the Spirit is Just or righteous, or love. There isn’t any statements of the Spirit is the way or the truth, or that the Spirit is our shepherd. Instead we hear things like the Spirit speaks, the Spirit prays, the Spirit gives life, the Spirit grants the gift of grace and faith. We know the Spirit because the Spirit acts in our lives through relationship.
The Greek and Hebrew words for Spirit are interesting because they can also mean wind and breath. Both wind and breath are things that are invisible, but are made known through their action, just like the Spirit.
I turn to Luther when there is something about the faith that I do know understand clearly, so I turn to Luther here in talking about the Holy Spirit. In the Small catechism, Luther in talking about the third article of the Apostle’s creed says this. “The Third Article:On Being Made Holy
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
What is this?
I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith. Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins—mine and those of all believers. On the last day the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.”
Then, again in the Large Catechism, Luther writes
“God’s Spirit alone is called a Holy Spirit, that is, the who has made us holy and still makes us holy. As the Father is called a Creator and the Son is called a Redeemer, so on account of his work the Holy Spirit must be called a Sanctifier, or one who makes us holy.
How does such sanctifying take place?
Answer: Just as the Son obtains dominion by purchasing us through his birth, death, and resurrection, so the Holy Spirit effects our being made holy through the following: the community of Saints or the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. That is, he first leads us into his holy community, placing us in the church’s lap, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.
Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in him and receive him as Lord, unless there were offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit. The work is finished and completed; Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his sufferings, death, and resurrection. But if the work remained hidden so that no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that this treasure might not remain buried but be put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure, this redemption. Therefore being made holy is nothing else than bringing us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing, to which we could not have come by ourselves.”
One of my professors was apt to tell us, God alone is the sole source of life, healing, and salvation. It is through the Spirit that we are made holy. It is through the Spirit that we can see God in Jesus, even where we least expect to find God, alone, dying on the cross. Theologians talk about God as the hidden God. (they use Latin of course, Deus absconditus it sounds much better in Latin). God is hidden in the cross, that is why it is considered a folly to humans, we think of the greatness of God, but our God instead chose to reveal God’s self on the cross. Without the Spirit revealing Jesus as the Son of God, we wouldn’t see Christ there, God would not be revealed (Deus revelatus).
Naturally we do not turn to God, instead we seek to rely on ourselves and our own devices, but God through the Spirit makes God known. The Spirit directs us and points us to Christ, through the Church and preaching, the gospel, and our relationships. The Spirit brings us faith, and it is through this faith that the grace of God, God’s mercy and love for us is made known.
This past Friday, I participated in an online talk/lecture put on by the Western Iowa Synod for pastors, in which the worship professor from Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Ben Steward, talked about worship in this time of separation and quarantine.
In this conversation, Ben talked about the role of a pastor and the role of the church to make visible the crucified body of Christ in the world. (These are roles that are given to the church and pastors through the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit which aids the church in seeing and seeking this out.) The clearest way that the Church has done this is through the assembly, through worship together, through the proclamation of the Word of God (reading the bible and preaching) and the sacraments, particularly communion.
In this time of separation from each other, we try to continue the proclamation of the Word through these digital services, but the worship doesn’t necessarily feel like we are worshiping together, we are not assembled in the usual way. The reality is that you might not be viewing this service and hearing this sermon at the same time as any other member of the congregation or the Church universal. We also are separated from embodying the Word of God through our participation in the communion.
So, where do we see the crucified body of Christ here in the world. Where does the Spirit point?
The Church, that is the community of all believers, is one place. While we cannot assemble, we can recognize that we are the body of Christ, broken for the world. Particularly in this time, when we choose to not meet, we are manifesting Christ to the world. We are saying that our love of our neighbor is more important than the comfort we receive through worshiping together, through taking the communion. The Church is being broken to preserve and protect our neighbors.
We also see the broken body of Christ when we see the exhausted, stressed, and gaunt faces of the healthcare workers, direct care professionals, and first responders who continue to work in life saving and life giving professions even when the risk is so high personally. It is startling to see the number of cases of infection and death among nurses and doctors, who are fighting to keep others well.
So, while we continue to be together, apart. Remember that Christ and the Holy Spirit are with you, supporting, strengthening, guiding, teaching, and comforting you. The Holy Spirit who binds you in the Love of Christ also unites us even when we must be separate.
The Love, Grace, and Mercy of our Triune God sustain you in this week ahead, my dear members of this beautiful, broken body of Christ.