The Holy Spirit - Reflection by Rev. Mees Tielens, Curate
Reflection May 23, 2024
If you were at church on Sunday, you heard me preach about how sometimes the Holy Spirit is as subtle as a sledgehammer. In the story of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21), the Holy Spirit is a disruptive force, arriving as a “violent wind” and flames of fire (v. 2). It’s a dramatic story that pushes the disciples into a confrontation with the crowd and Peter into a testimony of God’s plan for God’s people.
And sometimes the Holy Spirit does work that dramatically. Sometimes the Spirit arrives and pushes us somewhere we did not expect–or want–to go. Sometimes doors slam shut and the only choice you seem to have is to go through the only open door you see.
But the Holy Spirit doesn’t always operate like those old Looney Tunes cartoons, the ones where cartoon characters are minding their own business and suddenly they get flattened by an anvil dropping from the sky. I’ve had my fair share of those, and while they work out for the best, I can’t say it’s a particularly pleasant experience when that anvil hits you.
But the experience that taught me to trust the Spirit’s guidance for my life was not like that.
Because sometimes the Holy Spirit is so quiet you might miss it, if you don’t pay attention.
In college, during my sophomore year I faced a particular decision. It doesn’t really matter what it was, just that there were two paths, and one of them was the one that came with the approval of the church. At the time, I was so desperate to earn God’s love that I ignored everything in me that told me to take the other path. But late at night, when I would bike home from classes or events, when there was nothing to distract me, I could feel the tendrils of doubt taking root, warning me that this wasn’t right for me.
I wish I could say I listened to that doubt. I didn’t. Ironically, I tried so hard to obey the church that I ended up ignoring what the Spirit was telling me. Lucky for me, the whole thing fell apart rather spectacularly a while later and I didn’t end up going through with it. But I never forgot that inner voice that had told me months before that I was making a mistake. It was a quiet voice, a gentle voice, and above all, a persistent voice.
In 1 Kings 19:11-13 the prophet Elijah is seeking God. God sends a “very strong wind” that breaks apart the stones of the mountain where Elijah is. And after the wind God sends an earthquake. And after the earthquake God sends a fire. But, the Bible tells us, the Lord wasn’t in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. Instead, after the fire, there’s something else. The Common English Bible translates the phrase as “a sound. Thin. Quiet,” where the NRSV says it was “sheer silence.” Either way, it is in marked contrast to the big violent events that preceded it, and it says something about Elijah’s faith and vocation that he was able to hear the thin sound for what it was: the voice of God.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes to us in wind and flame and loud disruption. Sometimes she is gentle, nudging us over and over again until we have the ears to hear her. However she comes, though, we can trust that she has our best interest at heart.
What is the Spirit telling you?
- Rev. Mees