The Very Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Can you hear it? There’s a Bach fugue playing. Wait a minute, Frank Sinatra’s singing “New York, New York.” Oh, there’s some rap music, and jazz, and country. Oh, and here’s conversation, and a weather report. It’s going to be hot today.
Did anyone hear any of those things? I didn’t either. But they’re all here. I don’t know precisely what’s here, in this room, but I know there’s some classical music and some country and jazz and rap and heavy-metal and weather reports and probably several talk shows, actually some really irritating talk shows – and they’re all right here! They’re all around, they’re everywhere, even in our bodies!
Furthermore, while I can’t hear any of it right now, I know how I can. All I need is a radio, and depending on what frequency I dial it to, I can hear any of those things I’ve mentioned and much more. Radio waves are everywhere, and some of them are so old they go back to the creation of the universe!
The ubiquity of radio waves makes them an interesting simile for the omnipresence of God. God is everywhere. God is in all of creation. St. Paul, when speaking about God to the people of Athens, said that God is one in whom “we live and move and have our being.”
That presence is spiritual, not physical. We can’t see God. St. John tells us that no one has ever seen God. So, while God is everywhere, we only know him because he wants us to know him. God loves us and wants us to be in communion with him. God chose a people, the Jews, to be a physical sign of his will for all humanity. For centuries he revealed himself and his will to first one prophet and then another, and his people would seem to get the point for a short time, but they kept forgetting about God, rejecting him for other false gods.
So in the fullness of time God sent his Son. God himself became a human being in Jesus of Nazareth. He lived in a particular place in a particular time with a particular group of people. He was like us in every way, save without sin. Eventually, he suffered and died on a cross, a perfect human being who accepted the cruelest form of death in order to be a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. It was through that sacrifice that people for all time could be reconciled to God.
That sacrifice was revealed to be not a defeat, therefore, but a victory when, on the third day, Jesus rose bodily from the dead, and for many days revealed himself in his risen body to hundreds of people. But eventually it was time for him to return to the Father. The scriptures tell us that he ascended into heaven on the 40th day after his resurrection.
And so, while humanity had experienced the fullest revelation of God it had ever experienced or would ever experience, we were back in a similar situation as before. God is spirit, and while he’s everywhere and in all things, accessing that presence presents a dilemma.
Jesus told his disciples that, while he was returning to the Father, he would send another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth. That Spirit would be God himself, in a different form from the omnipresent God the Father and from the fully human and fully divine God the Son. This would be God the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who once in a while would inspire a prophet. But this time, the Holy Spirit would be given to all who believe in Jesus and are baptized. This would be a presence that God’s people would have with them at all times, and who would comfort, enliven, enlighten, inspire, encourage, prompt…. The Holy Spirit would give wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord/
Similes are tricky, because they can never fully describe the reality they are intended to describe, and nowhere is that truer than when speaking of God, but let me attempt a simile for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like a radio. Through the Holy Spirit we’re able to tune into God, to have access to this God who is everywhere, and yet so hidden; this God who became human and suffered and died for our sins. Where the simile breaks down, of course, is that a radio is not itself radio waves, whereas the Holy Spirit is God himself. If you find the simile helpful, fine. If you find it troubling, go find your own simile!
When the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, it led to an amazing burst of divinely inspired activity that spread the Gospel ultimately throughout the world. It has led from the beginning of the Church on Pentecost to countless acts of self-giving love even to the point of martyrdom. It has resulted in the building of churches, schools, universities, hospitals, orphanages, and other great institutions, including this church and what we are planning to do in our building campaign; all to express the grace and love of Christ. If you have eyes to see, you see the evidence of the Holy Spirit every day among the people of this parish: in the choir, our Sunday School, our men’s and women’s ministries, our mission and outreach, and the list goes on. Like a radio that is able to find countless expressions of human creativity, the Holy Spirit leads the Church into endless acts of self-giving love, connecting us with God the Father and God the Son. That Holy Spirit is available to you, through your baptism. How do we “tune in?” Through being present in corporate worship, receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, praying and reading Holy Scripture, doing acts of self-giving love.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Sermon preached by The Very Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
Pentecost
4 June 2017