Life in the Spirit

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Families come in so many different shapes and sizes, and no two are the same. Most of us have experience of belonging to a family, and although at times getting along with one another is tricky, and sometimes simply impossible, there is often a link that remains there that continues to somehow bind us together. Paul uses the image of the family in our reading from Romans as he speaks of those who are led by the “Spirit of God” as being “children of God” (Rom 8:14). He speaks of a familiarity and intimacy with God as he goes on to describe the assurance that the Spirit of God gives each of us in our own spirit that we are indeed much loved children of God.

The whole section leading up to this reading is sub-titled “Life in the Spirit”. I wonder what thoughts come into your head when you think about that. What does it mean to live in the spirit? The phrase that someone is “too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly use” may come to mind. We may know of people who, although they may have a particularly intense closeness and devotion to God sometimes almost seem as though they are on a completely different plane to the rest of us. Is that what it means to live in the Spirit? To become so completely focused and immersed in prayer and studying God’s word that everything else just seems so unimportant? Somehow I don’t think so! Vital though prayer and study of the Bible is, it is not by doing those things that we suddenly are able to become some kind of spiritual Superman or Superwoman.

During the services of baptism and confirmation a particular emphasis is made upon the role of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives new life and new birth. Part of the prayer said by the bishop for those about to be confirmed has these words:

Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them:

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding;

the Spirit of counsel and inward strength;

the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness;

and let their delight be in the fear of the Lord.

This is the Spirit that each of us receives at our baptism, and is acknowledged more fully during our confirmation. The Holy Spirit indwells within us as we live out our lives in the world..........not apart from the world, but in it, and engaging with all its complexities and messiness.  As I have mentioned before, we live and relate to one another through community, that may be the church community, but it is also our work community, our social group community, our neighbourhood community, our family community. Very few of us are going to be called to live in isolation, shut away from the world and reliant only on prayer to get by.

Last autumn as part of my reader training I was fortunate enough to go on a Quiet Day that was held at St Julian’s Church in Southwick. This beautiful medieval church once had an “anchorite cell” attached to it, in which once would have lived a hermit whose life was devoted solely to prayer and devotion to the things of God. It’s difficult these days to imagine what the conditions must have been like. Day in and day out, for weeks, months and years willingly being in just that one place, with only the occasional glimpse of what passed for everyday life. Passers by and pilgrims would stop at the small window that was the anchorite’s only link to the outside world and seek spiritual counsel and guidance. I suspect for most of us such an extreme form of isolation would very seriously threaten our sanity. Yet, what was it that sustained these people as they sought to follow the will of God in their solitude? I suspect it was the same Spirit of wisdom, understanding and inward strength mentioned in the confirmation prayer that kept them going and maintained their focus.

Yet, like I said, most of us won’t be called to such an ascetic life. For some of us our daily routine will involve getting up at some unearthly hour to get ready for work, or to take the kids to school. For others there might be appointments to keep or meetings to go to. It is the ordinary, simple things of our everyday life.....the way sometimes that life might seem to just plod on with nothing much really happening. Is this really what it is like for us to be living in the Spirit? Surely it should be more exciting than this?

Well no, not necessarily. Living the Christian life doesn’t always come with guaranteed excitement. I’m sure that there are probably a few of us here who breathe a sigh of relief about that! To live in the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit and then go out and get involved in the hum-drum, sometimes messy, but often so very ordinary parts of our communities as we live out the gospel through our words and deeds. To live in the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to shine through us, daily, so that in whatever we do, whatever we say, there is something of Christ within us, reaching beyond ourselves to others.

Far from being some kind of super-spiritual ideal that seems almost impossible to achieve, life in the Spirit is here, for us now! We are children of God, loved and cherished by him and set free from fear and condemnation. It is for us to live out that life, and share it with others. For some that may be by getting involved in something like Sea Sunday last week at the Marina and being a very visible presence of the church. For others it may just be in going about their everyday business, quietly living out the good news of the gospel. But however we experience this life.....this inward strength, in our sharing it with others we still have a huge reservoir of it that we can draw upon ourselves. Our sharing with others, rather than diminishing it for ourselves, actually strengthens it as we live out the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN