Trying To Figure Out What’s Going On…

I can’t find the Legion Post. There is a sign. FW Grigg Post 68, of the American Legion, and an arrow. Into a neighborhood.  If there are more signs, I have missed them, and so far, no Post.  The closest association is a sign for a Veteran’s breakfast at the Community Center at the far end of the street.

I can’t fold Jesus into the new situation. He’s leaving, ascending to be precise. But his replacement is the Holy Spirit. Tagged as God’s Promise by Jesus, so there is authority here.  But God the All-Powerful is calling home the Risen Savior and sending a Spirit, Holy but still a Spirit, and it sends my mind spinning.

So what is the point of finding the Post?  It is a focal point for prayer.  We have just come off Memorial Day.  I have a devotional practice of going to places where prayers of particular focus are appropriate.  Outside the Police and Fire Departments are points of focus to pray for our First Responders.  Outside a school to pray for our children and for education.  At City Hall to pray for our leaders.  For me, this 'point of contact' deepens the experience of prayer.  

So, what’s the point of the Holy Spirit?  Well, Jesus indicates that it is not only important, but central, so there you go.  And the Holy Spirit is God, Trinity-God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God.  But that was not immediately helpful?  Want something really unhelpful?  I was reading “Perspectives on Pentecost” and the author, an old professor of mine from Seminary, talked about the “Economic Trinity”.  But wait, it gets better, this is to distinguish it from the “Ontological Trinity”.  I feel my eyes glazing over just to think about it.  These would probably not be steps in an outline for a Trinity Sunday sermon...   

But it is necessary to nail this down.  It is what we are here for.  The disciples asked after the Kingdom of Israel, Jesus told them that was NOT their thing.  Rather, it was wait for the Spirit, and go.  So, what is the Spirit, I gotta know.   

So, why not ask for help in finding the Post?  Use the internet.  Google Maps says it is at the Post Office, the other way up Maple Avenue from the church and where the sign is located.    

So, why not ask for help in figuring out the Holy Spirit?  Well, Dr. Gaffin did in that same book, “Perspectives on Pentecost”.  It has to do with the bigger plan that Jesus told the disciples was not theirs to know.  Jesus is ascending to heaven for us.  That is part of Our Story.  It foreshadows the End, when Jesus descends from heaven for us. But we've not been 'read in' to what all that means.

However, two things have kicked in.  The first is that the Holy Spirit is a fundamental upgrade to the disciples to take over what Jesus began.  The second is that Jesus is the upgrade that is the Holy Spirit.  God the Son, the human, has a part to play in God’s Plan for us.  In the meantime, Jesus continues to be present for us, but in the Spirit, because God has not left us alone. 

I still haven’t figured out where the Post is.  But I shall.  There are a lot of resources as yet untapped.  Trying to embrace the God-given reality that the Holy Spirit is Jesus indwelling me?  Still working on that one too.  But we have a Bible-full of resources on that one. 

What I know thus far is that the division of doubt between Jesus and Holy Spirit, that is a diversion of the devil.  But Jesus has carried me through that, and opened my eyes to see how much more can be done in His Name.  

Peace

Pastor Peter