We’re nearing the end of our sermon series about
the Communion liturgy. We’ve said a few times that Communion is one of
God’s means of grace. It’s one of the
ways God’s grace comes into our hearts and into our souls. We’ve also
said we don’t really quite understand how that happens.
That’s true. But the Communion liturgy does tell us
one thing about how it happens. It happens by the work of the Holy
Spirit. We pray for the Holy Spirit to
come and to act within us.
Here’s what we pray for near the end of the Communion
liturgy:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and
blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by
his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one
with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in
final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
We are preparing to take the elements, the bread and the
wine or, in our case, the grape juice. As we do that, we pray for the
Holy Spirit to be poured out on each of us.
We also pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on the bread and the
juice. We pray for the Holy Spirit to make that bread and juice the body
and blood of Christ for us. The reason
we pray for that is so that we can be the body of Christ for the world.
And that’s not all. We also pray
that the Holy Spirit will make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one
in ministry to all the world.
That’s what we’re praying for. But how much of that
do we really understand? How often have we even thought about it? Do we know what we’re really asking the Holy
Spirit to do? In fact, do we really even know who it is that we’re asking
to do this stuff? What is this Holy
Spirit, anyway?
Well, Jesus tells us a little bit about it in our reading
for today. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is an advocate. An advocate is someone who supports you.
An advocate is someone who represents you and works on your behalf. So that’s one thing to know about the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is for us.
The Holy Spirit is for you, and the Holy Spirit is for me. The Holy Spirit is supporting us and working
on our behalf.
The next thing Jesus says is that the Holy Spirit will be
with us forever. The Holy Spirit does not come and go. There may be times when we feel the Holy
Spirit more, and times we feel the Holy Spirit less, but that’s not because the
Holy Spirit leaves us. It’s because we sometimes leave the Holy
Spirit. We go our own way, trying to do
our will instead of focusing on God’s will.
But the Holy Spirit is always there for us. The Holy Spirit will be with us forever.
Jesus then says that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth.
You know, that’s an attribute of God that we probably don’t talk about
enough--truth. Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life.
The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth. Isaiah quotes God as
saying, “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” Truth is
incredibly important to God. So the Holy
Spirit is a Spirit of truth.
And I don’t think it’s an accident that right after saying
the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth, Jesus says, “The world cannot accept
him.” The truth can be very hard to accept sometimes. That can be especially the case when we’re
talking about God’s truth. There are any
number of Bible verses that make us very uncomfortable. Jesus said any
number of things that we wish he had never said.
In fact, just the claim that Jesus Christ is the Savior is
hard for the world to accept. Right after Jesus said “I am the way and
the truth and the life”, Jesus then said, “No one comes to the Father except
through me.” There’s a lot of the world that does not accept that. In fact, there are a lot of people who call
themselves Christians who don’t accept that. They want to believe that
there are many roads to heaven and that as long as we just try to be nice to
everyone it does not matter what we believe. But that’s not what Jesus
said. That’s one of the reasons the
world did not accept Jesus. And it’s one
of the reasons the world does not accept the Holy Spirit.
But Jesus goes on to say this of the Holy Spirit:
“But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
When we know the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not something separate
and apart from us. The Holy Spirit is with us and is in us. The Holy Spirit is part of us.
Now maybe that’s not a new thought to you, but really
realize what Jesus said. Because after all, the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons
of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God in three persons, as we sing in the old
hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”. The Holy Spirit is God.
So when Jesus says the Holy Spirit lives with us and will
be in us, that’s God. When we know the Holy Spirit, God lives with us and
God is in us. That’s an amazing thing.
God, the all-powerful, almighty, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise,
all-everything God. That God is in us.
God is in you. God is in me. If we know the Holy Spirit. What an incredible thing that is.
And that is what we’re praying for when we read the
Communion liturgy. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out
onto us and into us. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to make us the
body of Christ. If you think about it,
that a really awesome and incredible thing we’re praying for. And we
don’t stop there. We pray for the Holy
Spirit to make us one with Christ. We
pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one with each other. We pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one in
ministry to all the world.
What would it be like if that actually happened? What
would it be like if all Christians truly were one with Christ, one with each
other, and one in ministry to all the world? What would we be able to
accomplish if that actually happened?
Can you even imagine it? I don’t
think I can.
But you know, we don’t have to think that broadly.
The United Methodist church claims to have twelve million members.
What would it be like if all twelve million United Methodists truly were
one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world?
What would the United Methodist church be able to accomplish for the Lord
if that actually happened? It would be
incredible.
But we don’t have to think that broadly, either. What
would happen if the Holy Spirit was truly poured out on every person in the
three churches of the Wheatland Parish? What would happen if all of us
truly knew the Holy Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit would live with each of us
and would be in each of us? What would happen if, when we share Holy Communion,
the Holy Spirit was truly poured out on each of us? What would happen if, as a result of our next
Holy Communion, all of us who are associated with the churches of the Wheatland
Parish became one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all
the world? What would we be able to accomplish for the Lord if that
happened?
Now please don’t take this the wrong way. Our
churches do a lot of things right now. A
lot of you work very hard for the Lord and have been for quite a while.
I’m sure I don’t even know all the things you have done and continue to
do for this church and for God. A lot of
you have done more than I have. So please, don’t hear this as the pastor
complaining that people are not doing enough.
That’s not my point at all.
What I’m inviting you do, really, is imagine. Just
imagine what could happen. Imagine what
the Holy Spirit is capable of doing. Imagine what it would feel like to
feel the Holy Spirit being poured out on you.
Imagine what it would feel like to be part of a group of people--the
people of this parish--who all feel the Holy Spirit being poured out on them.
Imagine what it would feel like to truly feel one with Christ. Imagine what it would feel like if everyone
in this parish felt at one with each other.
Imagine what could happen if we were all working together and felt the
Holy Spirit working in and through us.
The next time we get together, we’ll be sharing in Holy
Communion. When we get to this part of the Communion liturgy, please
focus on it. Think about what we’re asking the Holy Spirit to do. And try to feel God’s Holy Spirit being
poured out on you. It could change your life. It could change our church. It could change our parish. It could change everything.
Imagine it. Then feel it. Then let it happen.
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