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Vocare Talk: Empowerment

© Michael P. Spencer

This is a talk about the third person of God. God is one being with three unique expressions, if you will. For the most part, Christians claim to understand two of those expressions. We are familiar with the concepts of father and son. Fairly straightforward. The third expression we usually claim to understand also, but in an abstract sense. The Spirit is the part of the Trinity that is most mysterious to our modernist sensibilities. In the age of reason and science, spooky stuff doesn't attach much credibility. We enjoy our scary stories, we all tried out a Ouija board in middle school and swear something moved that thing, but we don't really believe deep down that spooks and ghosts are real. Well my friends, my job today is to tell you about one ghost who is very real. Yes, I'm talking about the Holy Ghost. The Hagia Sophia. The Breath of God. The Holy Wisdom. The one who leads us to Christ.

I really like the idea of the Holy Spirit as the breath of God. In the creation of humankind, God breathes the breath of life into Adam, thus giving him life. Meditation exercises in many kinds of spirituality often start with a focus on breathing. Without this simple, usually overlooked function, the body cannot survive. It is essential. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God in us. Breathing, to me, serves to remind that in everything I do, and everywhere I go, the Spirit is with me.

This is a powerful thing, having the breath of God in us at all times, and we cannot overlook that fact. There must be a reason for it. Why do we need the breath of God with us?

For one thing, we are called as Christians to live as Christ and to spread his word. This is very difficult. Human beings are inclined to follow the path of least resistance. It's so much easier to sit down and watch an episode of Ally McBeal than it is to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and bring good news to the weary of spirit. Those are the things we are called to do as Christians, and it takes a lot of courage to go out on the front lines to do them.

Not only is the banner of Christ hard to bear, sometimes you feel like you're doing it alone. Sometimes you can't find God's face in the crowd, or hear his voice above the din. Like when you were a little kid and you lost your mom in the department store, that was just about the scariest thing you ever experienced up to that point in your young life. That fear can grip us just as tightly as adults. Despair can get the better of us, and it is powerful. This is the time when we turn to the Spirit to guide us back to the path we need to be on.

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