DISTURBING THE COMFORTABLE

TERRIBLE JOKE

Three clergy go fishing together in a small boat: a Pentecostal, Roman Catholic and Anglican. After a while the Anglican runs out of bait, so stands up, stretches, steps out of the boat, walks across the water to the bank where he digs up some worms, carries them back to the boat and carries on fishing. The Pentecostal minister tries to hide his incredulity. After a while the Roman runs out of bait. He too walks across the water and gets some more worms. The Pentecostal is both amazed and horrified. When he runs of of bait he stands up, steps out of the boat and sinks like a stone. As the other two haul him back in the Roman says “Do you think we should have told him about the stepping stones?” To which the Anglican says “What stepping stones?”...

Are you sitting comfortably? You may not be soon...!

PENTECOST: THE END OF EASTER

Pentecost is the end of the Easter season. It is the third element of Easter: the first was the resurrection, when death was swallowed up in life; when light triumphed over darkness; the second experience was the Ascension when the risen Jesus physically removed himself from the disciples, so that they might grow and develop and learn to stand on their own two feet... and the final part of the Easter experience is the sending of the Holy Spirit - so that every Christians might be able to live the Easter experience; to know Christ living in our hearts, to be set on fire with love for Jesus, to be energised, gifted and empowered to live for Christ.

Two important things to note about the coming of the Holy Spirit in the bible:

NOT JUST ONCE BUT TWICE...

The first is that there are two accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The one we know much better than the other. The best known one is Luke’s account which we heard in the first reading: there are tongues of fire, a mighty rushing wind, the disciples speak in other languages, the fearful disciples are made bold and rush out to tell the world and 3,000 people become followers of Jesus that morning.

But John’s version is a little different and perhaps less well known. It’s worth reading to you:

19 When it was evening on that [Easter] day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." [John 21]

There are some similarities and differences between Luke’s account and John’s...

SIMILARITIES...

On the similar side, all the disciples are together, reminding us that the Holy Spirit is given to the gathered Church, not to individuals for their own indulgence.

The Holy Spirit is linked with mission, with going out - in Luke they literally rush out into the streets, in John, Jesus commissions them - “as the Father send me so I send you”.

Both experiences are post-resurrection - the Holy Spirit is the earthing of the resurrection experience.

There is a link with forgiveness: in John Jesus makes direct link between the Holy Spirit and forgiveness - in Luke Peter’s sermon evokes the response “What shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) and Peter says

“Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

...AND DIFFERENCES.

In John the imagery is of breath; in Luke it’s wind, tongues of fire and new languages.

In John there is no direct illustration of what the coming of the Holy Spirit means: in Luke there is a very dramatic public preaching and proclamation and a huge result as 3,000 people join the approx. 120 believers (Acts 1.15) - that is some illustration of the power of the Holy Spirit!

NOT “ONE SIZE FITS ALL”!

But the important point to note is that there are TWO DIFFERENT experiences. One is dramatic and lively, the other is quiet and restrained... In other words there is no “one size fits all” experience of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes there are some Christians who will have you believe that unless you have experiences exactly the same as theirs, or have experiences in a particular way, then there is somehow something defective about your discipleship.

Ironically these are often the type of Christians who profess to have a very high regard for the bible, which is strange when we find in the scriptures that all sorts of experiences are there; and that God treats us as individuals... the experience of encounter with the risen Christ and conversion on the road to Damascus was different to that on the road to Emmaus...the encounter with Jesus was very different for the woman at the well than it was for the rich young ruler, and that was different again for Zaccheus and for the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus...
why should we be surprised that the scriptures record different experiences of the coming of the Holy Spirit?

NO HOLY SPIRIT: NO CHRISTIANITY

The second important point to note is the utter central importance of the Holy Spirit for Christian living.

We can say that the Holy Spirit is not some nice “add on extra” for the hyper keen Christian. The in dwelling power of the Holy Spirit is not something which marks out a first class from a second class believer. The Holy Spirit - the third part of the Trinity as we’ll be hearing next week - is the grounding experience of Christ made real in the lives of all believers. We are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit... St Paul reminds us that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.3).

The experience of the Holy Spirit is absolutely integral to what it means to be a Christian. We are those who are born again of water and the Spirit... (John 3)

Notice too, that in Luke’s version 120 disciples had tongues of flame, preaching skills and speaking in strange tongues: 3,000 experienced the Holy Spirit in their baptism...!

GOD MEETS US IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS

The Holy Spirit is God’s gift of himself and we know that God comes to us in many ways:

• through one another - the gathered Church, the community of the faithful;
• in scripture unfolded meditated on and entered into;
• and in the sacraments of the Church in particular - initially in baptism and repeatedly in the eucharist.

Our experience of the Holy Spirit will vary as our experiences of God differ, but there will be some common elements. As the Holy Spirit is at work the Church will grow in numbers and in depth of faith; the image of Christ within us will be polished and enhanced as we become more and more like Jesus - love will be pre-eminent.

If our experience of Church, or the faith seems to result in divisions, in disharmony or fear; in guilt or pride... then what we are experiencing is not the work of the sovereign Spirit of God.

SO WHAT?

So what might that mean for our lives as disciples today?

It has been said that the Holy Spirit was sent to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable... Are you sitting comfortably?

Our reading of scripture shows us that God deals with us as individuals - not a case of “one size fits all” - yes we are to expect similar kinds of treatment by God and similar results of that grace and love; but God’s call on our lives - the kind of people God wants us to be and the kind of role God has for us - will vary depending on the unique gifts and character God has gifted us with.

Or, to put it another way, our vocation is to work with the Holy Spirit to grow into the people God made us to be: I can’t become you and you can’t become me.

The Holy Spirit seems to have a habit of disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed... and our challenge as disciples is to allow God’s work of grace to perfect itself in our lives. We don’t know where that journey might take us, but we do know that we will be disturbed when we get too comfortable and complacent, and comforted when our world has been rocked.  

Fr. Andrew Perry
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea