Seizing The Generous Spirit
John 20:19-23
The concert hall was vast, but it was almost empty as the orchestra took to the stage.
Just a dozen or so in the audience as the performance began.
At the front, a young man sat down at an electric keyboard and began to play a rhythm.
All on his own and pleasant enough.
The orchestra were seated around him but none of them played.
They sat there just staring into space whilst the young man continued on his solo.
To be honest, the members of the orchestra did not look like musicians.
An old man in a checked shirt sat next to a boy in torn away jeans.
A studious girl wearing big glasses was alongside a woman in African dress,
They each held an instrument though, cello, violin, clarinet and flute.
But the piano solo just went on and on and several in the audience began to drift away.
A girl with a modest acoustic guitar suddenly began to strum along with the pianist.
Just simple chords, but she brought a surprising brightness to the music.
The other musicians started to finger their instruments and to glance at the sheet music on the stands before them for the first time.
As if the girl’s daring to join in had given them sudden courage.
Then came the moment. A moment without warning, when together the entire orchestra lifted up their instruments and as one, and began to play.
Inspiring new music of an orchestra fully in tune.
Concentration. Fulfilment. Determination, etched on the faces of each member.
The pianist continued with his rhythm, the guitarist her strumming.
But now they were just small parts of a sweeping majestic whole.
In dribs and drabs, a few more people drifted into the concert hall to listen.
This is the season of the Spirit and the character of the Spirit is the generosity of God.
Something poured out on believers totally out of proportion with what they might think they deserve – far greater in quantity and quality than any daydream of personal success.
Not poured out to make them feel good.
Not poured out for good effect, spiritual buzz or some sort of power.
Poured out because there is a job to do.
The job described on the Mount of Olives when Jesus ascended into heaven.
To fill the world with the love of God.
A spirit given so that everyone can see where they are in relation to Him.
A Spirit given so that hearing the Gospel in your language you can act upon it.
A Spirit that, in the end, can make musicians of anybody.
But this outpouring is not just goodness unleashed in a willy nilly sort of way.
It’s not the beginning of the church’s playtime.
There is sheet music to follow so that the orchestra stays together.
To find that out what that is,we must take our seats alongside the first disciples as, on the evening of the first Easter Day, so John tells us in our Gospel reading this morning, they received the Holy Spirit direct from the mouth of Jesus.
It was as if he was filling them with himself.
Jesus says to them “ Receive the Holy Spirit” and then “ if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any they are retained”
I have long puzzled over what that means and why Jesus said it there.
I think its to say – that is the first place where your generosity comes into play – in your attitude to forgiveness.
I used to think that this meant I had a sort of power now to decide who I forgave and with whom I should let the guilt fester. That retaining the sin meant the person was so bad they had to live with it.
However, in the original Greek the word used is not “retain” at all, it’s very different.
It’s “seize hold”
So there is a choice to be made when we encounter wrong doing in any situation “letting it go” or “seizing hold of it”
To let go means following the example of the father in the Story of the prodigal son who welcomes his son home even though he has squandered everything.
To let go means following the example of our Lord when he reinstated Peter as the head disciple even though from Gethsemane onwards he had failed him miserably.
We need to be generous in what we are prepared to let go of when we deal with our own failings, the failings of those around us and of those in the big wide world under the media spotlight. – for the Spirit can cleanse and heal and restore more than we could ever know where a generous spirit of forgiveness exists.
To “Seize hold” does not mean letting a person stew in their misery or walking away from turmoil. To seize hold of a sin means taking it by the scruff of the neck and dragging it towards the light –so that it can be seen for what it is and dealt with.
To seize hold means following the example of our Lord as he pointed out time and again the errors in the ways of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
To seize hold means remembering the rich young man who said he would follow Jesus but Jesus knew he wouldn’t because his possessions meant too much for him.
To seize hold of the painful things which drag us down, suppress our holiness and make darkness when we want to be making light.
The spirit gives us the discernment to see what needs to let go of and what needs to be seized.
In the church that ends up knowing the difference between times of showing mercy and times of taking a stand.
At the “Breaking Through” lecture on Wednesday we learnt more about the ministry of Canon Andrew White at St George’s Baghdad.
We learn that the start of each Sunday service can be delayed for up to an hour because before the worship begins everyone gets a cuddle from the Vicar.
No matter who you are when you step over the threshold of that battle scarred church you are physically enfolded in love. Accepted unconditionally.
Reconciliation. Protection. Absolution. The sort of thing that loosens sin and guilt and causes it to flee away.
Yet at the same time Andrew White puts himself in mortal danger by the sins he “seizes hold of”. The violence, the division and the fear. He says that Iraqi Christians are far worse off now than they were under the regime of Saddam. There is implied criticism of the American led invasion and yet, he ministers them during the week in all sorts of ways and is accepted and respected.
He seeks to bridge the gaps in understanding with the Muslim community in dialogue and discussion.
Daily must he face the dilemma – what do I let go of and what do I seize by the scruff of the neck.
It is the same for all of us and we can only go the right way when we take up the Spirit given to us right here on this Pentecost morning and let it’s generous grace guide our lives, like musicians at last with the courage to play.
Those musicians and that orchestra. Maybe you’d like to know who they are.
There’s a list at the back of the church in a big blue folder.
They’re written there, most of them.
St Matthew’s Parish church Redhill – Electoral Roll.
RH 11.05.08