One-armed Paper-Hanger
When the Holy Spirit blew into the nostrils of the first creation, bringing man and woman the breath of life, play time came to an end. The Holy Spirit probably had it pretty good before humans. Well, there were the principalities, of course, and that whole Lucifer meltdown wasn’t much fun, certainly. So, maybe we weren’t that big of a messy spot in the middle of the Kingdom in the beginning. But now, we’ve got the Spirit working harder than a one-armed blind paper-hanger with an itch.
Faster than “Now”
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040716.cfm
The scriptures selected for Thursday this week provide two short verses that tell us a bunch of things about the Holy Spirit.
In Acts, verse 32 of Chapter 5, Peter says to the Sanhedrin — who have charged him with the crime of preaching the name Jesus and claiming he sits at the right hand of God — to pound sand.
“We are witnesses of these things, as is the holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him.”
In Chapter 3 of John, verse 34 says:
“For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”
Pretty short statements, but very telling details. A ton of significant issues are brought up about God the Father and Jesus, the one sent by the Father. We’re focused, though, on the almost tossed off bits about the Holy Spirit. Here’s how those bits line up in paraphrased deductive reasoning:
- The Holy Spirit is given by God, which confirms that the Spirit is not summoned by us
- The Holy Spirit testifies and witnesses, like a real person
- The primary point of the Holy Spirit is to witness Jesus
- Those who obey God, by following Jesus, are anointed with the Holy Spirit
- The gift of the Spirit is “all in,” nothing is held back
That’s some pretty signifiant theology right there. The Holy Spirit is both the wingman of Jesus and the consigliere of the Father. At one moment, the HS (kind of long to keep typing it out) flows through and from Jesus, floating and filling Jesus like a river nourishes a valley. At the very same moment HS coordinates complicated plans and actions with the Father, zooming about the universe like with way gravity works its magic.
The God character capabilities of the HS make a battalion of “C-level” corporate fellas (CFO, COO, CTO, and so on) and a board room full of top notch fiduciary folks look like pikers. The HS always gets the right directives, implements the right procedures, processes the right context, and does it all transparently. Yes, literally and figuratively, transparent.
On top of those auspicious jobs, the Holy Spirit pulls added duty as our personal portal to the Trinity. Billions upon billions of authenticated and logged in folks chatting, wailing, whining, and negotiating all at the same time. Each noodnick of communication comes with the proper amount of kindness, rebuke, joy, sadness, and aplomb. That last part is assumed as the historical portrayal emotions in eyewitness testimony, heartfelt empathy, and loving discipline. (Most of which I got from 20th Century sitcoms, radio shows, and the extended family of John and Joanne)
Plus, our portal hookups (located somewhere between the soul and the heart) careen through the HS holysphere faster than instantaneous. Quicker than now. More reliable than a Tesla spiderweb of electrons plugged into Niagara Falls. And, we don’t just get downloads and extensive search from our HS personal portals. We also get multi-dimensional GPS, lilting messages to us in awesome audio playback. We also get the equivalent of live T- witter/LinkedIn/Facebook messaging direct to our cerebral cortex, or wherever that soul/heart connection lies.
When the HS blew into the nostrils of the first creation, bringing man and woman the breath of life, play time came to an end. God probably had it pretty good before humans. Well, there were the principalities, of course, and that whole Lucifer meltdown wasn’t much fun, certainly. So, maybe we weren’t that big of a messy spot in the middle of the Kingdom in the beginning. But now, we’ve got the HS working harder than a one-armed blind paper hanger with an itch.
Just today I’ve had a fender bender, a sliver, weird combinations of food that are still wrestling for domination, emails I couldn’t ignore, phone calls I dreaded, paint that dried too fast, three battery charges on two screw guns, and fingers coated with silicone, wood putty, hot sauce, hot coffee, and yogurt. I licked off the yogurt, but all the rest involved arduous cries for help from the HS. And this was a good day!
All of this activity on my fingers in just a few hours exemplifies a microcosm of the existence of the HS. No, actually a minuscule portion of the tiniest microcosm of one insignificant couple of hours in only my eternity. All my issues came one after the other, too, giving me almost ample time to deal with each one. (The hot coffee and the fender bender were simultaneous) I can’t grasp how the HS does it.
The HS does not apologize, because he doesn’t have to. The HS doesn’t take time off, because quantum physics operates on God’s schedule, which somehow makes sense, but only if you are God.
It’s that last bullet point above that not only keeps us fascinated, but loved. The HS is not rationed. The unlimited flow of grace and holiness from the HS trumps all fear and all doubt. Even as I cry out in either pain or worry, I know the un-rationed HS fills me up. I can rely upon that. That’s not going away. No matter what.
I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.