FAITH, DOUBT AND SPIRIT

Matthew 28: 16-20

I heard a story once about a famous tightrope walker who amazed the crowds with his ability to walk across large expanses on the tightrope without losing his balance. He would walk across waterfalls or canyons or between tall buildings, all to the delight and amazement of the crowds that gathered to watch. When he would return to his starting point, he would ask the crowd if they believed he could go across and back again with a wheelbarrow. There were a few skeptics, but most believed that he could do it. And he would prove his ability by talking the wheelbarrow with him on another round trip.

Then when he returned, he would ask the crowd if they believed that he could do it with someone sitting in the wheelbarrow. By this time, the crowd was exuberant and convinced of his ability and there was always an enthusiastic collective shout of “YES!” And then he would ask who would like to go first.

Nothing but silence.

Apparently, they didn’t doubt his ability to walk and keep his balance, he had already proven that. What they doubted was their own ability to sit still and do their part amid uncertainty and fear of falling. That is how doubt works into my life of faith. When I doubt, it’s not that I doubt God, it’s that I doubt myself. I sometimes doubt my ability to keep my end of the deal.

The story we hear today that we know in the church as The Great Commission, whereas Jesus empowers the disciples to go make more disciples of all nations which means of course, all people from every walk of life, is not the first we have heard of doubt among believers. We heard it in the encounter between Jesus and Thomas in the upper room after the resurrection. And we heard it earlier in Matthew’s account of Peter stepping out in faith walking on water toward Jesus. But then fear overtook Peter he lost his confidence, and when he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink.

All three of these stories – the holy trinity of doubt, you might say – are important because they, each in their own way, are calling for each of us to make space for faith, and worship, and belief, and even doubt like that day on the mountain in Galilee. But Jesus is unfazed by the lingering doubt. He is focused on the opportunity and task at hand – commission the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – The Holy Trinty.

For me, the best description of the Trinity was given by Shirley Guthrie, a Presbyterian minister and professor of Systematic Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. He writes, “The same God who is God over us as God the Father and Creator, and God with and for us as the incarnate Word and Son, is also God in and among us as God the Holy Spirit.” (end quote)

Today Jesus is saying that we, as his disciples, cannot go out into the world without this Divine power of the Holy Three guiding us, empowering us, and sustaining us.

I want to take a moment and talk about what we refer to as the Third Person of the Trinity – The Holy Spirit. It is that same Spirit that led Jesus into the desert for forty days for testing that resulted in the inauguration of his ministry. And that Spirit is shot through just about every moment of our lives. More importantly, we relate to God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he did not leave us orphaned, that he would send the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, the Advocate, and further that we should rely on the Spirit just as we rely upon him.

We are not Moses, so we are not relating to God face-to-face. And unlike the original disciples, we are not seeing Jesus face to face either. One could argue that some of the saints have had direct face to face encounters through mystical experiences, but I think you know what I mean. We don’t experience Jesus face to face like people in Judah or Galilee in the first century.

But we do have the Holy Spirit. And it is this Spirit that encourages us, inspires us and consoles us. It’s the Holy spirit that drives our desire to be closer to God. It’s the Spirit that yearns for us to have a more contemplative and authentic spiritual life. You know that feeling when you hear a beautiful piece of music, or you are inspired by a good movie, or beholding a glorious sunset? That’s the Spirit. Or how about that voice in your head that says it’s wrong to walk past a homeless person or ignore the poor? That’s the Holy Spirit at work on your conscience.

The Spirit is not just a part of your spiritual life, the Spirt is in fact, your spiritual life.

The Spirit comes to us in various ways. There are times when I have needed a rushing wind and the heat of holy fire to awaken my senses - to disturb me out of spiritual lethargy. At other times it has been the gentle Spirit of Peace that comforted and assured me. I have needed both at different times in my life. It has been in those times of fear, uncertainty, and even doubt that I have most felt the closeness of Jesus, touching me through the Holy Spirit saying, “I got this and I got you. Receive the Holy Spirit, my Brother Dennis. I am with you always and in all ways.”

How do we tap into the Holy Spirit in our lives? First by acknowledging that the Spirit is real and guiding you through your senses. Through our sight the Spirit can show us vision. Through our hearing the Spirit can teach us to listen, and it is with the ears of our heart that we can hear, as our Quaker Friends say, “The still, small voice of God.” Through our words the Spirit can speak truth. Through our intuition the Spirit brings guidance and wisdom. If only we have eyes to see and ears to listen.

I pray that the Holy Spirit that connects us with God and Jesus will be with you to guide you, inspire you, protect you, disturb you, and love you.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I pray.

Amen.  

Brother Dennis