8 June 2014 - happy birthday, church

8 June 2014 - happy birthday, church

Last night we heard Jesus say, "“Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.
As Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.”"

Today Paul makes the fulfillment of that promise explicit:

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

And the Spirit is not only the source of baptism but of reconciliation and all of the sacraments of the Church.

“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

We finally understand what Jesus hinted to the Samaritan woman at the well.

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

At the crucifixion of Jesus "one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out."  Now we begin to understand why.  The Church is born from the side of Christ just as Eve is brought forth from Adam.

But it would not be fitting for the New Eve to precede her head, Jesus, into life.  For this reason, although her body is now ready at the crucifixion she is not given breath until Pentecost.  In the old order, God breathes into the nostrils of Adam to give him life.  In the new order, the New Adam himself, Jesus, joins the Father in breathing life into his bride.

The strong driving wind of Pentecost is this life-giving breath:

And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

And if it is breath is it any wonder that it takes shape in us as words?  Is it any wonder it enables us to speak other tongues, to speak prophecy, to speak words of knowledge and words of wisdom?  The breath of he who is the Word of God fills us with the need to speak "of the mighty acts of God."  Often he gives us specific words for the situations to which he sends us.  In prayer he sometimes even gives us words which we don't know, which feel to us as babel, in order to edify and build us up.  This is when we "speak in the tongues of men and angels".  We "utter mysteries in the Spirit" but "no one understands" us.  Understanding is not necessary, nor good feelings.  It is a simple act of surrender where we give our capacity for speech directly to God, trusting him.  We allow him to shape the breath he gives us into the words he wants us to speak.

There are many different ways in which the Spirit wants to take shape in us.  "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts" and so there are different ways in which the LORD wants to shape our speech.  He may not be inspiring us to pray in a tongue at this moment (though we must remain open to it).  But we can be assured of the meaning he wants these words to convey.

Brothers and sisters:
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Anyone, of course, can utter those syllables.  But when we say it our proclamation has power because the Holy Spirit speaks these words in us.  So today let us learn to trust him working in our words.  Let us proclaim "the mighty acts of God".  Let us declare that "Jesus is Lord" even when our own weakness and lack of understanding discourage us.  Let us trust that the Holy Spirit speaks within us all.

If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.