Sisters and brothers in Christ. When we are teased for the faith which we have received and which others might think irrelevant or hypocritical and flawed because we are human- we have in God: we have the Holy Spirit.
When we are afraid of the truth which contradicts the bias and prejudice of this world and not the liberation the Kingdom of God brings to the whole created order: we have the Holy Spirit
When we are taken to places we cannot and do not want to go and have to face difficult things in our lives : we have the Holy Spirit
When our hearts break for the troubles of this world and we do not know what to do: we still have the Holy Spirit
When we feel we want to be doing our own thing and on our own. We have the Holy Spirit.
In all things and in all times and in all places when we cannot process this present moment, or understand our place within the church or this world. We have the Holy Spirit.
When we do not know how to pray, we have the Holy Spirit, when we are praying for the Sermon to end, you have the Holy Spirit.
For God with us does not embody only the picturesque scenes of Bethlehem, or that early morning with Mary in the Garden with the resurrected Jesus. God with us is now, for we have the Holy Spirit.
When we want to serve our neighbour as our friend we have the Holy Spirit. When we have a moment with one another over coffee after Mass, there is the Holy Spirit. When you are wondering will there be enough cake for the Congregation. There is the Holy Spirit. When you eagerly long for the end of racism and oppression, of homophobia and gender discrimination: there is the Holy Spirit.
The Gift of God in creation is to give to us his Holy Spirit. The unseen power yet presence of God which advises, confers upon us our place in God’s Kingdom alongside Alma, Jacob, Tyra and Tianna and makes sense of our fellowship.
In this Mass packed full of God and Christ Jesus. There is and here is the Holy Spirit. Binding us to our Bishop and one another in acts of service and love, fellowship and being together.
God’s Holy Spirit is with us, with Alma and Jacob with Tyra and Tiana, with you and me, building us up constantly to be the People of God in this place. Full of that Holy Spirit. Full of potential to be the power of the love of God in this community.
As the hymn goes which we will sing: Breathe on my, breath of God, till I am wholly thine,
Until this earthly part of me, glows with the fire divine.
Sisters and brothers, be open to welcoming in your lives the power of God’s Holy Spirit, and let us glow in the world with Fire Divine!!