'The Holy Spirit' and 'The Church'

 

We started by praying a prayer of St Anselm and noticed his exploration of joy in the third paragraph this time.

This session was different in that we reflected on what we'd been doing throughout the course with some overarching themes. As we were discussing experiences of the Holy Spirit, it was also agreed that some of our shares on this topic would be private.

In exploring the Creed we had been able to deepen our relationship with God and examine our faith. It hadn't just been analysing the wording of the Creed in an intellectual way.

What do the words 'Holy Spirit' make you think of and is it important that it is mentioned in the Creed?

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.

The feeling was that it is important that it is mentioned in the Creed as the 3rd party of the Trinity and we need to understand that the Holy Spirit is part of God. It also helps to keep us from going astray as it creates a framework of belief including the Holy Spirit.

In the Pentecostal tradition the Holy Spirit is emphasised and services sometimes include words of knowledge from the Holy Spirit. In other words, someone is empowered by the Holy Spirit to convey the direct word of God. Praying in tongues is also a possibility. When someone prays in tongues it is necessary for someone to interpret this. Paul ranked prophesy over the gift of tongues.

God is at work in all different branches of the church and it's necessary to be open to Him and the Holy Spirit can be expressed in varying ways. The Holy Spirit is more of a mainstream part of worship now. In the 1970s and 1980s it wasn't central to Anglican practice. The charismatic movement has developed the emphasis on the Holy Spirit in worship and there is a new openness to the Holy Spirit even in the Anglican tradition nowadays.

Experiences of the Holy Spirit varied from crying to laughter, and sometimes a multisensory awareness of the Spirit is possible through music or pictures. 

Where is the dividing line between emotion or psychology and where is it a spiritual experience? God created us to worship using our whole beings, our minds and our emotions. It is possible to have a profound awareness of Jesus' presence and to be connected to him.

The hymn Be Thou My Vision came to mind.

To be infilled with the Holy Spirit is good but we leak! This means that the process needs to be ongoing and that prayer for God's spirit needs to be a daily occurrence. Although eternal life begins when you accept Christ, salvation (as previously discussed) is ongoing. Prayer can be linked to actions and the example of Brother Lawrence was given, who gained great peace through humble activity.

How is the Holy Spirit 'the giver of life'?

Ruach means 'breath' in Hebrew and Jesus sometimes breathes life into humanity in the Bible. Creation was the spirit of God hovering over the waters in the Old Testament. Was Jesus present at creation? Jesus was predicted and prefigured in the Old Testament and Jesus dying on the cross knew Paradise. Jesus is reported to have said to one of the people being crucified with him, that today, this person would be with Him in Paradise. In this example, salvation is also instant.

Luke 23:

39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. ^d ”

43Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

How is the church referred to in the Creed?

We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. 

While the first part of the reference to the church was probably political, the inclusion of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come is important. The language 'we look for' seems curious, perhaps a visceral sense of seeking resurrection, perhaps it was a translation issue and it would be necessary to understand the original Greek text to interpret this correctly. As always, concepts must be viewed in their historical and linguistic context.

Graham Kendrick's song We believe encompasses the words of the Creed.

The concept of one baptism for the forgiveness of sins caused some discussion.  It is necessary to be a Christian to be baptised. Is its inclusion legalistic here as the process of forgiveness is ongoing? All churches agree on baptism being important, christening being an old English word meaning baptism.

A story was told of a woman seeking asylum, who asked to be baptised and was refused on the grounds that there had been no chance to check her story of faith. The authorities could then claim she wasn't necessarily a Christian, just requesting baptism as it would help her asylum case. However, some effort was made to have a private conversation with her, and it transpired that she had witnessed a dramatic change for the better in the behaviour of her brother. After asking her brother over a period of time, he finally told her he had become a Christian and this had changed his behaviour. (He had been avoiding telling her to protect her.) She had turned to Christianity following her brother. Therefore, she was baptised.

Whereas at her first asylum hearing, she had been in tears, unable to speak, she was given the words to say at her second hearing, and she recognised that this was God's gift to her through the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:12)

There was a brief discussion about different possible pathways to God and that Jesus is important in Islam. Many Iranians have dreams about Jesus.

We closed in prayer.