Preacher: Revd Dr Joe Mottram
Date: 16/01/2022
Life in the Spirit
Second Sunday of Epiphany
Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, John 2:1-11
Opening Prayer:
May the Holy Spirit speak to each of us today, transforming my words into what needs to be heard and felt by each of us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction: Diversity, the Trinity, and Balance
Three good readings this morning, each capturing a different person of the Trinity. Isaiah talking of the love and rejoicing of the Father for us, the first sign in the gospel of John where Jesus responds with extravagance to a potentially embarrassing social situation, and Paul speaking of the Holy Spirit to the church in Corinth.
It seems to me that while all Christian churches talk about the importance of the Holy Trinity, most churches, and indeed most of us as individuals, will often lean more in one direction than the others. We may find it more natural and comfortable to engage with God the Father, or as Jesus, God the Son, or the experience of God the Holy Spirit.
This is another part of the diversity of the church and expression of Christianity, whether within this congregation, within our parish, diocese, the Church of England, the Anglican Communion, or indeed the whole church throughout the world and throughout time.
Now one might think that Evangelical churches would focus more on Jesus, Anglo-Catholic might focus more on God the Father and Charismatic churches on the Holy Spirit, but it doesn’t always just follow tradition or worship style. I’ve encountered churches which are very conservative and about as high up the candle as you can get which nevertheless had a strong sense of the Holy Spirit at work in their church and community.
There are times when we can see this diversity as threatening, find the unfamiliarity or difference uncomfortable. However, from time to time I believe it’s important and life-giving to try to restore some balance. So I’m going to resist the urge to focus on the Wedding of Cana, despite my love of John’s Gospel, and follow Paul’s focus on the Holy Spirit instead. Because, as our reading began this morning, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Testimony – becoming informed about the Holy Spirit
And I speak as someone who was completely uninformed until probably my early to mid-twenties. Growing up I went with my family to RAF Chaplaincy churches, which tended to be on the lower end of middle of the road: often ecumenical, shared with other denominations, neither strongly Catholic or Evangelical. Mission praise on the Clavinova, a short sermon or children’s talk, communion, coffee afterwards.
For me, relating to God the Father always came naturally, the benefit I guess of a good strong Father figure in my life. I could understand who Jesus had been and the impact he’d had. The Holy Spirit didn’t get that much of a mention that I remember. Faith at that time for me was more an intellectual thing, about the head and reason.
When I went to University and began to meet more and more Christians from very different traditions and backgrounds. First I ended up going to the Christian Union, more by accident than design, then I met my wife Kirsty and began visiting her Dad’s Methodist Church in the centre of Nottingham when we were down there.
Through these and other experiences, I was exposed to situations where everyone but me seemed to know what was going on and be ok with it, even enjoying it, seeking it. Speaking in tongues during worship seemed natural to them, but I don’t mind admitting that it freaked me out at first.
My initial response was to retreat into the familiar. I stopped going to the CU, though that was also about rejecting the idea of having to physically sign up to a doctrinal statement. Instead I attended the university ecumenical chaplaincy which was more like what I’d grown up with.
Whenever we went back to Kirsty’s Dad’s church I would focus on the sermon and sing along during worship but struggle to engage. Everything felt uncomfortable, unfamiliar. I didn’t feel like I knew what was going to happen, I didn’t feel in control. I’d generally sit there feeling a bit grumpy and not getting much out of it if I’m honest.
But then I had a moment which was the pivot around which things started to change. I realised that I had a choice to make. Either I could continue to choose to feel grumpy and not engage, or I could let go of my expectations, particularly of my expectation of control, and give it a genuine chance. This took conscious thought and effort, but over time I relaxed and accepted the worship on it’s terms.
In time I found an emotional connection and experience during worship which I’d never known before. To borrow words from John Wesley, I found my heart strangely warmed.
1 Corinthians – varieties of Spiritual Gifts
I’ve still never spoken in tongues, but then our reading from 1 Corinthians talks about the variety of spiritual gift, of ways in which the Holy Spirit works in different people. Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, and interpretation are all mentioned here, and there are other lists in other parts of the New Testament.
Just as each person is different and unique, with a valued place in God’s plans, so the Holy Spirit works in a variety of ways. Just as we are all equally important as members of the Body of Christ, so there is no hierarchy in terms of outworkings of the Spirit. Despite this variety, this diversity, there is also unity. Spiritual gifts are not given for our personal benefit or status, but for the common good to further work of God’s Kingdom.
Life in the Spirit
However, the Spirit can only work if we choose to be open. This was a lesson I had to learn. I had to stop trying to put God in a box, to stop expecting God to do things the way I expected. I had to accept that it was God who was ultimately in control, not me, and that at times following Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit means being out of my comfort zone.
I guess this is a big part of why many people don’t like to think about the Holy Spirit. It’s easier to put God the Father and Jesus in the box of our expectations and to ignore the rest.
Being in tune with the Holy Spirit is not easy – there are no easy answers or instructions. At times my natural scepticism and need to be in control have to be held at bay.
However, if I had not listened to the Holy Spirit, I would probably be preaching a nice easy sermon about the Wedding at Cana. For that matter, if I had not listened to the Holy Spirit, I would never have led the worship group at St John & St Philip, the Hague, I would never have explored whether I had a calling to preach and lead worship, I would never have started the discernment process for ordination, which I had fought against for most of my life. If I had not listened to the Holy Spirit I would not be here with a collar around my neck, serving this parish.
Listening to the Holy Spirit can lead to meeting and walking with people that you might never have otherwise spent time with, to doing things that you could never have done through your own strength and abilities, to adventures that you could never have planned or expected.
Life is not predictable, but it is fuller, better, for knowing that we work with the God who doesn’t call the equipped but instead equips all those who respond to his call to follow the teaching and example of Jesus. The God who wants the whole world to know that he rejoices over each and every part of it. The God who longs to lavish his blessings on each one of his adopted children and partner with us in making this world all that it could be.
If you’ve never been baptised or confirmed and would like to be, or get a sense of calling to do something for God and would like help discerning what that might be, then please talk to someone – Graham, myself, or one of the other members of clergy, and we’ll be happy to chat about what that might mean. If you want to respond, then praying, asking God what his will is might be a good place to start.
The offer is there for all. The Holy Spirit is waiting. Will you respond and live in the Spirit?