As Preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church
Joel
2:23,3:5 Acts1:11, Jn 7;37-52,8:12
A question I
have had since my youth is why does Scripture in most translations state there
was no Spirit? We know the Spirit is referred to often in the Hebrew
Scriptures. I have found only one older translation that was -no Spirit given
or, as in this mornings reading, no Spirit as yet-which makes more sense. Jesus needing to be glorified by being taken
up to join the Father first before the Spirit could be given still leaves me wondering what these words all
meant.
However, the important thing to understand from
this morning’s gospel is that the Spirit
was given to Christ’s followers and caused them to be fearless and
courageous in spreading the Good News that Christ had been teaching them.
We too, have
been given this same Spirit. I t is the living water Jesus promised us.
The words of
the prophet Ezekiel; A new heart I will
give you and a new Spirit I will put within you … “I will sprinkle clean water
on you and you shall be clean from all your idols. The prophet’s words are very
powerful as they remind us of the continuous temptations to worship idols and
false gods even in our own day if we can but recognize them.
It is so
easy to have vengeance in our hearts and acid in our souls. A new heart can
save us from any desire to hurt as we have been hurt. To punish another if we
have been punished or to terrorize if we have been terrorized. The living water
Christ is giving us is the strength it takes to listen rather than to judge, to
trust rather than to fear, to try again to make peace even if peace seems to
elude us.
An ancient
elder taught that the first task of the spiritual life is learning to see our
own reactions clearly. When angry, how quickly do we justify it? When fearful,
we like to think it is being wise. Do we truly know our motivations for what we
do and don’t do? Some of us live in this world as if we are already in the next.
We remove ourselves from things that are
so called worldly in order to aspire to heavenly things, rather than seeking justice
for all people or care for the oppressed or confronting evil. There is a
tension between what is considered profane and what is spiritual. The holy
life, if Jesus is our model, means pursuing spiritual fulfillment in the midst
of the sacred secular.
This living
water of Christ enables us to be builders of the human community rather than
destroyers. This living water helps us understand the Joyful Sorrow of the
Cross. The cross teaches us how to celebrate without arrogance, how to hope
without cruelty, how to speak of victory without being triumphalist. This
living water centers us in God. It does not mean we have no other interests but
God but all other interests are meant to bring us closer to God. They do not
take God’s place in our lives but enables the Spirit to enhance the meaning of
everything.
When we
reach the point where we can look beyond ourselves, we find God in the rest of
creation. Life spills over with the wonder and awesomeness of God. We find the fullness of the Spirit for which
we have been looking and searching.
Once we
begin to recognize God at work in us, everything becomes holy, becomes life
-giving. God is a sense of life now and of life to come.
Christ is in
our midst!
