Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another thought for the week, my name is Reverend Joe Cooper and I’m one of the Curates here at Christ Church.
On Sunday the Church will celebrate Pentecost, that moment when the Apostles, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus were baptized by the Holy Spirit in a truly remarkable scene described in Acts 2. Jesus had promised that He wouldn’t leave His disciples alone to face what was coming in the years ahead. He had promised them the Holy Spirit, a helper who would stay with them forever. And the power of the Holy Spirit changed the lives of the disciples forever. If you’ve never read the book of Acts in its entirety, I recommend you do so in preparation for Pentecost.
When we become a disciple of Jesus, we too receive the power of the Holy Spirit. We receive the gifts of the Spirit described in Isaiah 11:2: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the Lord and the spiritual gifts (also known as charisms) described in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12. Verses 4 to 7 ask us to remember: ‘there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good’.
The gifts (the charisms of the Spirit): Wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, speaking in tongues, being an interpreter of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills. It is useless and actually quite damaging, to stare at our fellow Christian and compare ourselves to them. For we will have both been gifted differently.
So instead of me fixating on how God seems to be moving in their life, I should consider how God is moving in my life. We are very good at saying ‘I’m not like …’ ‘I can’t do …’. When what we should be saying is ‘the Holy Spirit has gifted me with …’ ‘therefore I will continue to be good and to grow and to develop at…’. Our giftings have been given to us to complement each other and for the growth of the Kingdom, not for us to compete with one another, which will ultimately prohibit growth. We can’t do everything alone!
As Christ’s disciples, it is essential that we listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, our helper who guides and convicts, who nudges us along. To do this, we must recall the presence of the Holy Spirit with us in the here and now. He is not some distant theological concept, but the Spirit and power of God Himself who dwells within us. We must attempt to pause frequently throughout the week, preferably at least once a day, to listen to Him expectantly, what is He saying to me? What is He asking me to do? Where might he be asking me to go? Are you really sure that’s what you want me to say/do/visit? And then we submit to His will just like the early Apostles did time after time in the book of Acts. And if we do that and make a habit of doing it as often as we can; well, be prepared for the Holy Spirit to move through us and flow out into the world in many remarkable ways.
May you have a blessed Pentecost this Sunday!