Introduction
There are certain ways to get closer to God; always have been. Moses went on mountaintops and Jesus went out into the desert... Over the years there have been pilgrimages to holy sites, the walking of labyrinths, silent weekends at retreat centres, and even fish on Fridays.
All of these things are tools that take us outside of ourselves, that allow us a moment’s pause and open us up to hearing, to feeling, in different ways.
Sometimes we just fall into moments where we seem closer to God, we witness a sunset, or an amazingly full moon, we get swept away in the intricacy of a single blade of grass or a babies grasping fingers...
But those moments are few and far between. Realistically we do not encounter God out there in the world often enough to sustain us on the journey.
Faith is something we have to be willing to go out of our way to encounter. It is something we have to be willing to work at.
Over the next five weeks I am going to talk about the five basic practices of the Common Life movement, and about how those practices can help us get closer to God.
Today we are going to be talking about “Attending to the Spirit” – paying attention to the spirit’s presence all around us and what it might be whispering to us.
The Test
Abraham had a really rough go of it you know. He is often called the most faithful person in the bible, and with good reason. When he was in his 80’s he was asked to have some kids and raise a family; and he did it. He was asked to sacrifice his son and he was willing to go along with it. Now he is asked to pack up a pretty substantial household and walk across the desert to another country; and he is going to go.
It makes me think about what I would be willing to do in order to work on my relationship with God.
How about you? Are you going to pack everything up and move to Vancouver? To Israel? To Japan?
Exactly what would we do for God?
And how much are we listening?
I know I have said this before, but it bears repeating: God is always speaking; it is just that we are not always listening. What is more, God is always calling, and the spirit is always present within and around us; but we do not always feel it.
What is always in our way is us, pure and simple. We get caught up on the wrong things, we believe we aren’t good enough, we worry about what we cannot explain... but every now and again we would do well to remember Abram who just said, “ok” and followed the spirit’s leading.
Superheated Paraffin
What is the Spirit of God?
Spirit has often been represented by flame, and smoke... why?
(blow out a candle and immediately hold a lit flame in the stream of flame – the fire will treavel down the smoke and re-ignite the candle)
Sometimes what we cannot see, or what looks like it has no substance, does... it carries the spark, the flame, the love... which is what the spirit of God does.
Attending
I have never really understood the whole faith/works argument. In the end it always seems a bit like the chicken or the egg argument. Do we do good works because we are faithful; or are we faithful when we do good works?
The second one there, that is a heresy... apparently...
The point of life is to be faithful, to believe, to be connected to God. If you are, then you will just naturally do the right thing.
One of my favourite ways to explain this is another Biblical image that is found all the way back in Deuteronomy, and also in the Psalms, but most completely in the prophecy of Jeremiah; where we read:
“Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah... I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
God’s spirit will be so much a part of you that you don’t have to think about it, it will be instinctive to do God’s will... like a professionally athlete, or a saint, you will just always do the right thing...
Hands up if you are there....
Next up we are going to look at Nichodemus... a holy man himself, who asked Jesus a lot of practical questions...
Answers by Moonlight
So Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin; the council of 23 judges appointed in every city to make all the religious decisions for the people. He was not only a law unto himself, he was, for all intents and purposes, the enemy.
The Pharisees wanted to bring Jesus down. The problem was, Nicodemus is himself a seeker, and he is more open to the spirit of God then some of his contemporaries.
What he wants is answers. He wants to know how Jesus does the miraculous things he has witnessed with his own eyes... but Jesus tells him there is really no point in trying to explain it – you just have to be open to it.
He says it like this: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Okay, that is all well and good, perhaps we are even convinced that the Spirit is blowing in our lives, but there is a deeper question that is still not answered: how do you live as though you were born of the Spirit? How do you let the wind guide your life?
It is no easier for Nicodemus to understand this than it is for us today.
Nicodemus was firmly entrenched in the Jewish faith where he followed 613 laws and commandments – instructions on what kind of meat you could eat and how many sets of dishes were needed; who had the responsibility for a widow in the family and which brother was required to marry her; right down to how precisely the Sabbath was to be kept.
It was a very cut and dry world... and there were specific answers about what you were to do and not do; how you were to live your life.
Don’t kid yourself, we are far more like the Pharisees then we would want to believe. We have our own social norms and cultural expectations that will guide our lives if we let them. Only our rules are not nearly as holy as Jewish Law.... but if you stop and think there are expectations about what TV shows to like, what to wear when we stop outside our doors, how our house should look, and even what to talk to your colleagues about over lunch.
Life is a series of expectations... and there is little room for the Spirit.
Nicodemus was probably amazed by the simplicity of Jesus' message: Let the Spirit guide your life...
Jesus replaced the rules that came from God with a relationship with God. We should be equally amazed at that simplicity.... it is not about following the rules, it is about being open to the spirit’s leading... it is about being in a true relationship... at the simplest level, it is about taking the time to listen.
Conclusion
Ever heard the expression “Let go and let God?” Nice sentiment, but not as easy as it sounds, is it?
We all have a pretty firm grip on our own lives. We all think we have things figured out. To open ourselves up is to risk everything.... and that is scary.
It is also what we are called to do.
It takes a tremendous amount of trust to live this new way... But I guarantee it is a step in the right direction. Let the spirit guide you and you never know where you might end up, but you will be where God wants you to be... where you are supposed to be.
The invitation to Abraham and Sarah, the invitation to Nicodemus, the invitation to us is to let go of the plan and the rules and the way we think the rest of our lives should look.... To be born of the spirit and to trust our life to the God who gives life to us. It is to embrace the mysterious newness of God, knowing we do not have a final hold on the Holy Spirit. To be born of the spirit is to live as ones born of love. So, come and feel the wind on your face! Come and let the wind of change into your life.
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