As a pastor, I’ve
learned that the best way to get a group of Lutherans’ attention to
say the phrase, “The Lord be with you.” Good Lutherans always respond
with the phrase: and also with you. I have a good friend who is a
huge Star Wars fan and he also happens to be Lutheran. He likes to
mix his Lutheran heritage with that famous quote from Star Wars, “May
the force be with you.” And so he’s very fond of saying, “May the
force of God be with you.” And I always respond, “And also with
you.” Let’s try that once, “May the force of God be with you.” And
also with you.
It’s that force of God that we are
celebrating today, of course we call it the Holy Spirit. This force
of God is a really interesting person because on the one hand, she’s
incredibly easy to understand, but on the other hand, she is
incredibly complex and I’m not sure any of us really comprehend all
that she does.
Just as an aside, I’m going to use
“she” when talking about the Holy Spirit. It may seem weird at first,
but when you hear Jesus describing the work of the Holy Spirit as one
who comforts, counsels, advocates, and helps it really reminds us of
the work of what a mother does. Hopefully, using this different
language kind of helps you see God in a new way.
So, where do we begin in describing
the Holy Spirit, the Force of God? All three of our scripture
passages illuminate the work of the Holy Spirit beautifully, but
before we get there I thought I would offer up an illustration for the
Holy Spirit that many of you may relate to. Star Wars Episode III
comes out later this week and the Star Wars movies provide a very good
analogy to the Holy Spirit. As I show you this very brief clip from
the original Star Wars movie, imagine that OB1 Kenobi isn’t describing
some mythical “force” but rather the very force of God – the Holy
Spirit.
Play clip
The Holy Spirit is like what he describes – she
surrounds all things, she penetrates all things, she binds all of us
together, and she, like the Jedi seeks to bring peace to the world.
But before I go too far with this though, I should note the important
differences between the Holy Spirit and the force. First, everyone has
access to the Holy Spirit, we all have her in us, not just some
certain people like the Jedi knights or pastors. You have as much of
the Holy Spirit as I do or Pastor Jack does. Second, we can’t control
the Holy Spirit. We allow the Holy Spirit to control us. We don’t
manipulate her or use her for our own benefit like the Jedi do. Its
much better for us if the Holy Spirit uses us, guides us and leads us
than if it worked the other way around. And the most important
difference between the two is that the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a dark
side. There is no flip side or balance needed with God. There is
sin, yes, but it is nowhere close to equaling to the power of God.
God wins every time and God proved this when Jesus went to the cross.
That was as close as sin every got to taking control. Jesus didn’t
turn to the dark side like Annikan did. Jesus repelled sin, he
defeated sin, and he won the victory over sin and death. There is no
balance in God’s world, there is no dark side of God. The Holy
Spirit, unlike the force, is all good all the time.
We see two very good examples of this
force of God working in our lessons for today. First we read about
the day of Pentecost, when all the disciples were gathered together,
and they heard the sound like a rushing wind and then tongues of fire
came down and rested on each one of them. They began speaking in
different languages and each person there could hear them speaking in
their own language. That whole idea of tongues of fire resting on the
disciples is why we have the balloons here in the sanctuary. It was
an awesome display of power, creativity, and grace. We see in this
story the flashiness of God, the fireworks, the lights and sirens, the
big display of God’s magnificent power. Our God is a big God who
likes to work miracles in the world and does things like this that
can’t ever be fully understood. We see the Holy Spirit coming down
from heaven and resting on the disciples empowering them to do great
and marvelous things.
In our gospel reading for the day, we
see a different side of the Holy Spirit. Not only is she flashy,
creative, and powerful, but look how she comes to the disciples in
this instance. The disciples are behind locked doors, they are afraid
for their very lives, yet Jesus comes amongst them and offers them his
peace. And as he breathes on them with the very breath of God, they
receive the Holy Spirit, the force of God. In this case, the Holy
Spirit is much more intimate, much more personal, and she comes just
between Jesus and closest friends. Whereas in Acts, the Holy Spirit
is shouting for recognition – I’m here, I’m here – in this instance
the Holy Spirit is but a quiet whisper, “Peace be with you.”
The Bible is filled with examples of
the Holy Spirit working in the lives of the people, but what’s
important to remember is that the Holy Spirit is still alive, she is
with us, and she comes to us everyday. She was with you at your
baptism connected to the water that washed away your sins. She called
to you this morning and gathered you here for worship. She enlightens
your hearts and your minds anytime that you read Scriptures or learn
something new about God. She makes you holy before God and empowers
you for service in the world. Most importantly, she gives you faith.
As Paul says in our second lesson, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’
except by the Holy Spirit.”
And we see the Holy Spirit working in
a very special way this morning. We see 6 young people who are filled
with the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit will confirm in them the
faith that they have been taught. We see their confirmations as the
fruits of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of their parents, their
families, their confirmation sponsors, their godparents, and through
all of your – their congregation.
Last week I read an interview in Life
Magazine with Patricia Heaton, the mom on Everybody Loves Raymond.
Evidently, she is a very strong Christian and was asked, “Has faith
always been a part of your life?” She replied, “I was raised Catholic
and I’m Presbyterian now, but I’ve always been a Christian, regardless
of denomination. I believe that Jesus is the way. So, of course, I
pass that on to my kids.” The interviewer continued, “So how does
your faith influence your dreams for your kids?” She answered, “My
goal is not that they should achieve a certain amount of fame or
financial success or even worldly success. It’s not that I don’t
think that education is important, it’s just that you could be a very
educated person and be soulless. Whatever they end up choosing to do,
my goal for them is that they know God in their life. The only way to
know who you are is to know the one who made you. That is my hope.”
Not only is she obviously filled with the Holy Spirit, but she has
passed that faith onto her children, just like all of you have done
for these confirmands, and you continue to do for each other here at
Hope. The Holy Spirit is indeed alive in our world today and she is
very present here at Hope Lutheran Church.
A final illustration about the Holy
Spirit, borrowed from a Lutheran pastor in California named Brian
Stoffregen. The ushers should have given you each a red balloon as
you walked in the door. Please take that balloon out right now and
hold it in your hand. A dead balloon – it has no life. It continues
to lie wherever you put it. It doesn’t move. It has no power.
Take a dead balloon and do what Jesus
did – blow on it, blow in it. [Blow it up] What happens? It’s full
of air; but it is still dead, going nowhere until that power is
released. [release the balloon]
Under the Spirit’s power, the balloon
can move. It goes out. However when that power within the balloon is
released, you don’t know where the balloon is going to go, you just
know that its going to go somewhere.
Jesus did not give his disciples the
Spirit’s power so that they could stay behind locked doors in fear.
It is given as a power to move people out into the world – even if we
don’t always know exactly where we will end up. Ten years to the day
that I was confirmed, I was using my confirmation Bible in a seminary
class studying to be a pastor. We just don’t know where that Spirit
will take us.
But what happens to the balloon after
it has spent its power? It seems dead again. All out of power. It’s
flat. There is no more spirit or breath within it. On one hand we
are not like that balloon. Jesus promises that the Spirit will be
with us forever. We will never run out of the Spirit’s power. On the
other hand, over and over again in Acts, we read that certain
disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. Their filling didn’t just
happen once, but over and over again. So we also need to be
refilled. Weekly we return to church as a refilling station of
sorts. To receive Jesus again in the hearing of the Word in the
sharing of the sacrament and through the fellowship of the saints,
which is each other.
What happens to a filled balloon that
doesn’t use the power within? Over time, the power leaves. The
balloon, without doing anything, will go flat. Go ahead and blow up
the balloon in your hand and hold it tight and then hold it up…… In a
few minutes, during the offering, we will all be committing our time
and talents to the Lord for the upcoming year. We get a chance to use
the gifts that are inside of us, to release some of that power. Go
ahead and release your balloons. We don’t know where these
ministry opportunities will take us, it may even be chaotic at times.
Never forget however, that you can always come here to get refilled
with the holy breath of God. May the force of God be with you. And
also with you. Amen.
