Open to the Spirit

A Sermon by Andrew Colman based on Luke 2:22-40

It has been a hard week. If you remember anything from this sermon it is that the Holy Spirit is God’s very presence here on earth, right beside us, and within is, to both comfort and guide us in times of trouble.

It was in one of those long sprawling conversations about God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, the way lived, choices made for better and for worse when

The conversation turned towards the Holy Spirit—perhaps one of the most beautiful and difficult topics upon which a conversation can dwell.

Beautiful because the most description in scripture that we get of the Holy Spirit is that of wind/breath (Ruah) all at once, a dove, tongues of fire, a flame, brooding over the water, the one who fills people, and the giver of gifts. Not exactly a clear descritption at all, but beautiful

Beautiful because we all have our own experience of the Holy Spirit, and those experiences take on deeply personal shapes. They must, for the work of the Holy Spirit happens within each of us, and we are all unique—

not just in body but in every facet of our being. From the books we like to read to the music we enjoy, from what stresses us out to what stabilizes us, from our relationship with the church to the ways we connect most intimately with God in prayer—all of it.

Yet difficult because our experiences of the Holy Spirit are so varied. Some feel them powerful and undeniable, while others struggle with an apparent absence.

The conversation lingered on the Holy Spirit for quite some time. We exchanged experiences of how we had at times in life felt led, in some way or another, for either no real reason or by a great big kick in the pants, to do something or say something, either big or small, that we weren't considering before that moment.

We found agreement that these moments were leadings of the Holy Spirit. We bounced around the idea of intuition but a kind of higher intuition. We rolled around the idea that, at times, being led by the Spirit is not about sudden inspiration but about long, honest thought and discernment—but a discernment in the Spirit.

Then, there was the movement of the Spirit through art: music, film, literature, visual expression. We spoke of times when encountering these things in a particular moment revealed something about God, about each other, or about humanity.

We had both preached a sermon or two in our days, and if you ask most people who have preached a few sermons they’ll probably tell you about the experience where someone came up to them at the end of service and said something like, "Thank you for that word, I really needed to hear the part you said about... perseverance in the Wilderness…"

The preacher only to realize we had never spoken of the wilderness at all. We laughed and said, “Thanks be to God for the work of the Holy Spirit”—that person had heard what they needed to hear.

Honestly, the examples of the Spirit’s work could take up an entire sermon, and perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Sometimes, the Spirit moves with great power: speaking in tongues, revival experiences. Other times, it is as simple as a nudge to call someone we haven’t spoken to in years, only to find that the timing was important. And sometimes, the Spirit moves in quiet ways, almost imperceptibly.

In tonight's reading we have one of my favourite moments of the work of the Holy Spirit in all of Scripture, it starts like this...

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

This is one of those big movements of the Holy Spirit. A personal revelation that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. I would think that those are few and far between...

But that's not the best part... it's the next line...

"Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple."

That is more like it. He was guided by the Spirit. Not lifted and transported to the temple like Ezekiel, but guided.

To be guided means we move of our own volition. A guided experience—whether a tour through a building, a safari, or a fishing trip—requires our participation. I spoke to a cousin who recently went on a guided safari in South Africa. Their guide led them mere feet from a pack of lions. Because they were in a jeep for some reason, the lions had no interest in them whatsoever.

The guide knew that of course or they would have never taken them so close, but neither would my cousins have ever considered going so close to the lions on their own. It was their willingness to trust the guide and follow them into that situation that gave them the incredible experience of seeing a pack of lions.

Simeon had to hear the guiding, feel the guidance within, and at that nudge Simeon had to respond to actually get to the temple to see the Messiah which was promised to him. And because he moved when guided, he arrived at the temple to see the Messiah as promised.

But here, we also meet one of the great difficulties in discussing the Holy Spirit. The very thing that makes the Spirit so beautiful—its deeply personal movement—also makes it challenging. There is no objective way to test or verify, for ourselves or for others, the authenticity of a leading.

We live in a world where almost everything can be measured, tested, or verified. This makes discerning the Spirit’s movement tricky. How often have we heard, “God spoke to me and told me this, so I’m on that path”?

Unless there is something really wrong about what that person is doing or saying, there isn't much that we can do about that claim. Because sometimes God does speak into our lives. It's more than tricky, it can be down right hard to know what where how or even whether the Spirit is leading us or its all "just in our heads.”

This is where Simeon offers some help—not definitive, but meaningful.

Where was it to that Simeon was being guided? The Temple. And who was he exptecting to find when he got there? The Lord's Messiah, the one who was promised as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

We don't know if he came expecting to see a baby, vulnerable needing love and care, but he came exptecting to find the one who would would bring salvation. He didn't know it would be Jesus born Mary and Joseph from Nazareth but it is who he found.

He went to the place of worship, of sacrifice, and the Love of God, and he found the Love of God incarnate, the one who deserves all worship for his sacrifice for all.

Simeon spent his life in anticipation of seeing the Messiah, his soul was waiting to be moved by the Spirit. And never to miss an opportunity to quote the Late Bishop of Mexico Luiz Martinez, he speaks of the this anticipation to be moved by the Spirit like this,

"The operation of the Holy Spirit in our souls is motion. He sanctifies us by directing our activities with the sweetness of love and the efficacy of omnipotence... The sanctifying movement of the Holy Spirit is something special even among the movements of the supernatural order. The Holy Spirit assists our weakness but leaves the management of our acts to our superior faculties.” That is to our reason and will.

We live in times where making choices is just not simple. While we may not appeal to the Holy Spirit for every single decision, in a way, that is precisely what Simeon did his whole life. One day, while walking down the street—perhaps returning from the market—he felt a nudge to go to the temple. And so, he went. He did not know what he would find, but he lived in expectation.

And on the day that he did, it ended up being so much more than seeing the Messiah.

He held the infant Light to lighten the Gentiles in his arms. He offered a blessing and a song that would be remembered thousands of years later.

Living a life led by the Holy Spirit has no single prescription, no set formula because we are all unique.

But the one thing that it will have in common for all of us is that the more open we are to being moved, the more anticipation we have towards being guided towards worship, love, and sacrifice the more we will find that the Spirit is already trying to guide us along the way. The more we will find the comfort of the Holy Spirit encircling us.

And we live in a world in need of such guidance and comfort.

So may we invite the Holy Spirit into our day to day lives to be the one to remind us to open ourselves to her comfort and leading - and when we do feel it - that we might respond like Simeon and turn on our heels towards the Love of God in this world.

Amen