Seeing the Invisible God: The Holy Spirit in symbols

The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us of himself. This is similar to Christ, as Immanuel. As we cannot see the Spirit, the Bible provides some other symbols to help us understand the Spirit: 

• Wind symbolizes the Holy Spirit: a breath that gives life. 
• A dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit: a creature of the air and relatively untouched by earthly problems, it is gentle, an emblem of peace and hope. Doves were also at times used as a sacrifice. 
• Water symbolizes the Holy Spirit: washing, cleansing, and renewal. We see the Holy Spirit descend on Christ at his baptism with water, and speaking to his disciples about a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. 
• Fire symbolizes the Holy Spirit: light for wisdom and understanding, counsel and knowledge. While the Psalmist praised the Word of God as "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path," the image used for that light and guidance is that of fire. Fire was associated with courage, empowerment, and freedom from fear. Fire was also used to purify and refine.

The presence of God in this world

Today I am taking a brief break in the current series here for Pentecost. In its earlier Jewish meaning, on Pentecost there was an awareness of the tribes of Israel as a chosen nation with a mission and a calling -- and the Jewish traditions were mindful that their calling would one day involve all nations together before God. On the first Pentecost of the age of the Messiah, it's the day when the Holy Spirit made sure that the wonders of God were proclaimed in all the languages of the people who were gathered together to worship God in Jerusalem that day. As St Paul pointed out about some early Christian disagreements: Don't we all have the same spirit? Weren't we all baptized into one baptism, and share loyalty to one Lord?

As Christians, our divisions weaken both us and the world in which we live. If the message of Christ is the light of the world, then our divisions make room for darkness. If we face the future with hope by faith in Christ, then our divisions make room for doubt and fear. If we love each other through Christ, then our divisions make room for indifference, coldness, even hatred.

The presence of God makes a difference in our lives. The Holy Spirit builds us up in love, which increases the joy of the one who is blessed by it and works for reconciliation, spreading forgiveness in its wake. Where love steps forward -- wherever it meets good will, peace follows. St Paul was right that love is patient and love is kind. I easily forget what else he said: love is bold, love takes risks (love hopes all things). The homily this morning mentioned that in baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. And of course we prayed "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." As we love, how can we not forgive? And so we receive forgiveness. Our own lives change, along with the lives of those we have forgiven from the heart.

This morning (as I'm away from home) I worshiped in a historic church built long ago. The church was a work of beauty and art. It is a visible reminder of what faith, hope, and love may still accomplish in this world. It's a peaceful sanctuary, a place where the depth of beauty can restore faith, hope, and love by communicating the presence of God. Where places of nature and natural beauty may be inaccessible to those who live in the city, here is a place of peace and beauty that is accessible. The presence of God makes a difference in this world. Love makes it known.

Pentecost: praising God in their language

Today, listening to the Pentecost readings, I noticed a couple of basic things:

• People listen when we speak their language
• Seekers listen when we praise God and tell the wonders he has done

At the first Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection, the apostles' words were understood in the languages of the people around them. As Christians, part of our faith is to speak and to be understood. The Spirit equips us by guiding our words, even in our own language. Time and again, we hear of the Spirit guiding words in particular:

• What the apostles were to say when brought into court -- and no worrying in advance because the Spirit would help.
  Jesus mentioned this to the apostles in advance. After the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we see the apostles actually on trial at times, and trusting that the words would come to proclaim what Jesus did.
• What the apostles said the first Pentecost
• What the apostles and other writers of Scripture would say, such as in their letters and in the gospels
  All Scripture is God-breathed ...
• What the Christians would say to help and encourage each other
  Some have the gift of encouragement or of teaching; some have words of wisdom or words of knowledge; the Spirit gives gifts including prophecy, tongues, or the interpretation of tongues. Jesus' people "are a letter from Christ, written with the Spirit of the Living God on tablets of the human heart" (2 Cor 3:3 selected/ellipses removed for easier reading)
• How the Christians would pray
  The boldness to call God "Father" -- and the trust to see him as Father -- come from the Spirit. And when we lack words, we pray trusting that the Spirit communicates for us. 

People look for the gifts of Pentecost today. If we encourage someone, teach someone, if we speak the truth with love, then the Spirit is among us.

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit: understanding

The Spirit of the LORD shall rest on him: The Spirit of wisdom and understanding ... (Isaiah 11:2)

This may seem obvious -- and sometimes the most obvious things are the ones we overlook. (Really, being proficient -- more than a beginner -- in any skill, means having become so accustomed to certain basic things that we no longer have to think about them any more. And so we don't. Every level of expertise carries its own blind spot, in that way.) If I look back on every conversation I've ever had, and look forward to every conversation I expect to have, all those conversations share one thing: a common language. The other person and I could understand each other, if we tried. Every long-term friendship I've ever had was with someone that I could talk to, or write with, in a language that we both understood. I've had some casual interactions with people who don't speak the same language; you can get a certain distance with signs and body language and facial expressions. But there is only so far we will get without a common language.

At Pentecost, the gift of languages was a gift of communication, a gift of understanding, a gift of including all people. It is a gift of fellowship ("the fellowship of the Holy Spirit") which begins at the basic level of understanding each other.

Like all the great gifts, even understanding must take its direction from love or it becomes unwelcome. Consider how much Amazon and google "understand" us from keeping close track of our actions, and how much Big Brother "understands" us from our communications, for examples of how someone can "understand" without any real understanding of us as people, or any wish to understand us as people. I do not mean to start anyone worrying about Amazon, google or Big Brother; I mean to mention that in our own small way, we're hardly any better if all our understanding is without love. As a follower of Christ, I want to understand my neighbor in a way that helps me see them through the eyes of love, so that my understanding is a gift. We all desire that kind of understanding. May God grant that the Spirit of wisdom and understanding help us.

The Spirit and the fire

The Bible has a collection of images that it uses for the Holy Spirit -- and fire is one of the main ones. This fire is not a destructive fire, but a purifying fire, a holy fire. It is light in the darkness. It is the light that shines before men, the lamp on the lamp stand. It is the smolder that clings to the wick that is not snuffed out yet. It is the burning in the bosom as we hear the words of Christ. It is the flame that we fan. It is one way that faith passes from us to the next person -- that they feel the warmth, see the light, and are drawn. It is part of how we encourage each other, and part of why there is so much power in fellowship. In isolation, we are candles in the dark. Together, we are a bonfire.

In one of the Greek myths, man is denied fire -- it is reserved for the gods -- and the man who steals the power of fire is dealt a stern punishment. On Pentecost, God takes the fire of His own Spirit, and sends it down to man: The tongues of fire light on all the believers so that the young men will see visions, the old men will dream dreams, and on all -- both sons and daughters -- the spirit is poured out. God does not try to deny man the power of God: He pours it out on us, to lift us up, and restore us, and kindle the divine Spirit in us. God is a gracious God.

Purgatory and Pentecost: purifying fire

I once knew a Roman Catholic fellow who was terrified of purgatory. It really haunted him. He had done something genuinely awful that was burned into in his thoughts: he had blamed one of his own mistakes on someone else, who had lost her job as a result. He described -- fearfully -- the cost of purification that he expected to endure in purgatory, and he quoted the Bible to the effect that everything would be purified by fire. He could make himself unsteady contemplating the horrors of purgatory.

At the time I wasn't really sure what to say. I think I looked up the verse in question and mentioned that the Bible also said anything that couldn't endure fire would be purified by water, hoping that Numbers 31:23 was the passage he was quoting. I knew my belief "there's no such thing as purgatory" would not get me far with him; he knew he needed purifying and to him that was all there was to say on the topic of whether there is such a place as purgatory. But I write this in the hopes that anyone else in the same situation might consider it:

If we are purified by fire, consider that the apostles met with purifying fire too. It was at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended on them as tongues of fire. Yet they were not hurt. God's purification is not necessarily different than Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire that we were promised that Jesus brings.