"Wind, Fire and a Dove"

Pastor Laura Guy

May 11, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We reviewed the Pentecost story in Acts 2 - how the Holy Spirit came upon those early followers as wind and fire, two of the most destructive forces on earth.
We read another story about the Holy Spirit from Luke 3:15-16, 21-22, where the Spirit came upon Jesus after his baptism in the form of a gentle dove. Why would the Spirit appear as a dove in one scene and wind and fire in another?
We recognized that the Holy Spirit is God's presence inside us. There are times when we need God's Spirit to comfort us and give us peace. This is what Jesus must have needed as he began his difficult ministry. But there are other times when we need God's Spirit to ignite us and empower us to move outside our own door and accomplish things we could never do on our own strength. That's what the early followers needed as they huddled in fear, praying together on that Pentecost day.
We heard the story of Jeff - a man who came to Living Water three years ago and who would be getting baptized that morning. When Jeff came, he knew he needed Jesus, needed a church family and needed the power of the Holy Spirit to help him overcome his addictions. However, in those three years, he had given in to the addictions and even spent some time in jail. After being gone from church for several months, he told Pastor Laura, "I was messing up, and I didn't want to come to church and be a hypocrite." She reminded him that it is the times when we are messing up that we need our church family the most. Jeff wanted to be baptized because he wanted, "to leave the garbage of my past in the water." He knew he needed the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome his addictions.
We asked ourselves if we can identify how the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. Is the Spirit comforting us as a dove or lighting a fire under us to do more than we can accomplish on our own power? If we can't identify how the Spirit is at work, is it because we aren't listening?
We sang "Holy Spirit Rain Down" as our response. It is a very dangerous song because we are asking the Spirit to baptize us anew, to open our ears so we can hear what he is saying to us. And if the Holy Spirit is raining down, will we put up umbrellas or stand in the downpour?
We shared communion at the table of love, praying that God would pour out the Holy Spirit on the bread and the cup so that as we take them in, the Spirit would be at work within us, transforming and renewing us.