Listen.

Can you hear the Spirit?

Some people say that they can. I had a classmate in seminary who swore that when he was quiet, he could hear the Spirit He was always convinced he knew what to do, because he had the voice of the Spirit talking directly to him.

That amazed me – still does in fact. The Spirit has never been so clear in talking to me. No, for me the Spirit likes hints, nudges – a prod in the right direction occasionally, but nothing so clear as a voice. Yet, when I think about it, it’s strange that I have so much trouble hearing the Holy Spirit. After all, even before I was born, the Spirit was with me.

Psalm 139 has always been a favorite of mine. “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” This is a God who cares. This is a God who loved me before I even knew what love was. God took the time to make me – Me. Fearfully and Wonderfully, God made me. God made you – each of you – fearfully and wonderfully.

How comforting! To have a God who loves you that much. To have a God that takes a personal interest in you. How reassuring! Or is it…

You see, because God formed you, knows you, loves you – God also calls you. Each and every one of you. You may not hear it the first time, or the second time, or even the hundredth time, but God keeps calling.

The call of God we talk about is usually through the Holy Spirit. Spirit is a strange word. There’s not really a very clear definition of spirit, is there? Websters says that it is: an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organism or a supernatural being or essence.

… yes, but what is it?

In all of the original languages – Greek, Hebrew, Latin – what we now call spirit translates closer to breath or wind. This passage in Acts calls to a sense of breath and through that living. For breath is what you have when you are alive. Breath is how we know someone still lives. When at deathbed vigils we watch the rise and fall of a chest and we know they are okay. As long as he is breathing, there is still hope. To breathe is to be alive. To have spirit is to be alive. To speak of the spirit is to speak of the power of life that is in you.

There are those in the world who are so strong, so alive, that their spirit will affect others. I’m sure you all know those wonderful individuals whose mood is infective. When they are smiling and laughing, it is almost impossible not to be caught up in their joy. When they are sad it puts a pall over the entire room. This is spirit so strong it can breathe itself out into other lives, becoming inspiring. Their spirit touches ours.

With God’s spirit we are dealing with the breath of God, the very life of our God. God is the power of life itself, and has breathed and continues to breathe life into his creation. Inspiring it. When the Spirit of God comes upon us, as God breathes it upon us, we cannot help but be caught up in that spirit. God’s spirit will move us, whether we wished to be moved or not.

In today’s passage the Spirit calls a group of people in the middle of a noisy busy city. Numbers of nonbelievers are striding past. People are going about their normal daily business. Its early morning, and with breakfast in their stomachs, people are starting out their day. A crowd of people has gathered together to celebrate the holy days, something they do every year. Life is normal.

And then… out of nowhere the Lord breathes upon them. All of them. Every last one of the disciples there. These are people who just came to worship and who got more than they ever bargained for.

Imagine those poor people. Going along, minding their own business. They were attending the Holy Days like good faithful people do. Life is simple when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, bam. The Spirit falls upon them in tongues of fire, uncalled for and unwanted. They are overwhelmed with the infectiousness of God’s Spirit. God’s breath. They are touched by the life of God, and are wrenched out of their normal pattern. No more will this one weave his cloth. No more will that one sell his wares the way he did. He is called into God’s spirit and the very air he breathes has changed.

True. You can ignore the call. Many do. I tried to!

Growing up, I never thought I would be in the pulpit. This wasn’t in my plans. I had very careful plans. I was going to go study wolves in the wilderness. I’d live in a tent most of the time and get into arguments with people about funding. Whenever I wasn’t camping out on the tundra, I’d be in church of course. I was raised in the church. I believed strongly in God – but that was about it.

As the years went by, I began to have an inkling that God was prodding me in another direction. I hated my biology courses and was drawn to theology, but at most, I thought I would maybe teach theology or ethics in some academic setting. Work in a displaced, far off scholastic realm.

Not in the pulpit. Faced with real problems from real people who were hurting every day.

Not me. You couldn’t mean me God.

Me? Really?

God calls us all no matter to gender or race, economic class or education. There are no entrance exams, no interviews. It makes no difference if you’ve traveled the world or if you have never been out of your hometown. God doesn’t care whether you are well spoken. The Spirit has chosen you. You.

I see what you’re thinking. Sure, its one thing for me to say that. I’m a pastor. I went to school for years, went before committee after committee to be here. It only makes sense that I would think God has chosen me to do something. But God couldn’t want anything from you, right?

But don’t you see? You are precious. God has chosen you to hear his word. To live in the Spirit’s calling. You are called to do more than you ever planned on.

Make no mistake; the Holy Spirit is calling you personally. No matter what you own plan is. You have been given the Word. The Spirit has called you to serve and your life will never be the same again

What does this mean? Well you start by listening. The Spirit not always a noisy or clear in its calling. Usually the Spirit is subtle, calling you through the needs of others. So listen. If someone asks you to volunteer for something, listen for the Spirit in that question.

Even easier to miss is when you aren’t asked directly, but instead hear of a need that you are suited to fulfill. Maybe there is a committee that could really use your help. Or you read an article on the growing plight of the homeless in our community. It’s easy to keep on reading there. Easy to see the problem as too big for you to help with. Easy to ignore the Spirit.

We even have good excuses! “I’m too busy.” “I couldn’t do something like that.” “Its too big for me to make a difference.” All are reasonable arguments about the enormity of problems facing us today.

But remember – God knows you. God formed you. God knows exactly what you are being asked to do and is asking you anyway. Because God knows you. God knows what you are capable of.

More importantly, God knows what you are capable of with the Holy Spirit’s help. Even tasks that seem so much bigger than us – so much more than we could possibly do are possible. Through the same Spirit that calls us, we are gifted with what we need to follow the Spirit’s call. So excuses will never fly with the Holy Spirit.

I didn’t think I’d end up in the pulpit. I thought ministry would be a terrible place for me. I was terrified at speaking in public and chronically shy. Given my own way I could have never ended up here. But it wasn’t my way, it was God’s way. The Spirit breathed upon me and gave me the courage to stand in a pulpit and speak the Word. The Spirit gave me the strength to introduce myself to people.

And I’ll tell you a secret, now that I have been breathed upon by the breath of God, I couldn’t possibly imagine being anywhere else – doing anything else. I love my call – even if it didn’t come to me in a bolt of inspiration but in several subtle nudges in new directions – I am still convinced it is the call of the Holy Spirit I am serving.

Listen… The Spirit calls you. Loudly, quietly, insistently, joyously, somberly, urgently the Spirit calls.

The Spirit calls you to serve and if you only accept that call, the Spirit strengthens you to fulfill it. How joyous it is that you are called! It may not turn out how you plan – it rarely does. But you have been breathed upon by God, infected by God’s spirit. And that will forever shape who you are.