The Power ofThe Invisible Presence

-God’ s Invisible Presence of Christ in the Believer and in the World-

A Pentecost DevotionalDesigned for Hidenwood Presbyterian Church, Newport News, VA

ByRev. Dr. Keith M. Curran

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are— Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. 13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”1

Introduction

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Spirit? What’s it mean, who is it, and how does this Spirit work? You’ve heard sermons about the Holy Spirit, prayers almost always make mention of it, we even have a grand church holy day that is all about the coming of the Holy Spirit. We call this special Sunday, Pentecost. Pentecost means 50 or 50 days. Pentecost takes place 50 days after Passover. It is a Jewish spring harvest festival and the day the Hebrew community commemorates the binging down of the Ten Commandments from the mountaintop. It’s also the day Jesus told his disciples to wait around for. He knew something special was about to happen. You can read about this account in Acts chapter 2.

It sounds exciting, doesn’t it? To have a fresh breeze of God’s Spirit empower the believers, so much so that their rudimentary belief in a risen Savior changed the entire world and brought the message of the gospel to every corner of the earth and even to the moon2. But as a mainline denomination, and Presbyterian on top of that, we have lost much of the Spirit’s dimension in our worship, faith, prayer and spiritual lives. Often, we say it’s too emotional or unordered for us. We’ve seen excess and scandal in churches that over-emphasize the Holy Ghost. Spirited worship, like we see in other churches, often is a bit scary or odd, so we tend to distance ourselves from what is outside our comfort zone.

1 Acts 2:1-‐13 New Living Bible2 Most people are unaware that Astronaut Buzz Aldren, a Presbyterian elder, celebrated communion on the moon with blessed bread and wine from his home church in Houston, TX.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians

When the spiritual dimension is strong in a church, members are able to experience God. They discover that God isn’t ‘out there’, that God is ‘above all and through all and in all’ (Eph. 4:6) As members become more open spiritually, they become more open to an intimate relationship with each person of God: Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. They have an intimate encounter with the Trinity, even if they don’t necessarily describe this encounter in Trinitarian terms. They come to know God more than they speculate about God. As a result, they also grow in the ability to encounter and experience God in Scripture, others, their own hearts, and the events of life. N. Graham Standish

Yet, aren’t we called to know, experience and live out God in our lives whom the faithful over two millennia, have come to name God as Trinity? We know the one God of the Bible in this mystery of faith: Creator, Savior and Presence - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we’re to worship this God in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus called himself ‘the Truth’. We are instructed over and over again to worship the Lord our God in God’s fullness.

I’ve written these 26 daily devotions for the Season of Pentecost to help the good folks at Hidenwood Presbyterian Church gain a better understanding of the power and presence of God’s Spirit in the life of the church and the believer. As you work your way through these 26 readings, my prayer is that you will find a renewed sense of God being real in your life, as well as finding ways to live out that refreshed faith in worship and in the community.

This is my gift and prayer for you as you head out into this time of transition and discernment, letting God’s invisible Presence guide you every step of the way.

Keith M. Curran 2019

Day OneRead John 3:1-9

Years ago, the throne of Imperial Russia was held by two young boys. The co- czars were very young, yet daily they decided the most serious of complaints and diplomatic dilemmas. The people marveled at their wisdom and political savvy as they doled out judgments dealing with life’s most challenging issues. Unknown to the members of court was that behind the dual throne, behind the curtain, was the Princess Sophia. She was secretly whispering the answers to the two young boys.3

In much the same way, but it’s no secret, the unseen Holy Spirit of God is working behind the scenes of believers everywhere, impressing upon us grace, courage, wisdom, patience, charity, and faith as we face life’s most challenging issues. The

invisiblePresence of Christ is here right now, helping me with this writing and helping you hear the message you need to hear today. Whenever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, Jesus is present: literally, the invisible Presence of Christ.4

As we enter into the spirited season of Pentecost that marks the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthing of the Christian Church, I’m hoping we can explore many of

the ways we can experience, share, appreciate and understand what it means to be people of the Spirit. So lets get started as we look at the Old and New Testament word for ‘Spirit’. What’s it mean and what’s it mean for us?

Pray: For God’s Invisible Presence to guide you in this spiritual journey as you gain a deeper understanding, appreciation and experience of the Holy Spirit of God.

3 R. Shannon, in 1000 Windows4 Matt. 18:19

Day TwoRead Genesis 1:1-5

Some scholars believe that the origin of the old KJV era word for God’s Spirit, Holy Ghost, came from an old Anglo-Saxon word for ‘guest’. If that’s the case, then it helps us make a bit more sense of what the Bible’s trying to teach us about God’s Spirit: the invisible presence of Christ is a guest in the life and heart of each believer. Christ is a guest here in our midst. The question is, are we making our divine Guest feel welcome, appreciated, and valued? This is one way of thinking about it.

I recall a Youth Conference I chaperoned where the ill-informed speaker warned the teenagers about getting too intimate with their girlfriend or boyfriend because Jesus could see what they were doing and they didn’t want that, of course. He made it sound as if Jesus were a big brother always keeping a close eye on you to make sure you weren’t doing something wrong. There’s a ‘creep factor’ in this way of thinking (and taking that to a logical conclusion, no one wants Jesus going into the restroom stall with us, do we? And in fact, that’s exactly what the teens giggled about once they considered what the speaker’s unintended consequences might look like. Bright kids!) I don’t think that’s a good way of imagining the invisible presence of Christ as ‘guest’ in our lives.

Instead, it may be more helpful for some of us to imagine the invisible Presence of Christ as a divine force that surrounds us and is within us, an ever-present ‘Presence and Power’ of the love and grace of Jesus. Sounds a bit like Star Wars, you might say? Yes, it just might, but would that be bad? Occasionally, there are unexpected places that present a decent illustration of the Presence and Power of the Living God. Maybe even in the imagery of a powerful Presence taking the whirlpool of chaos and forming it into a power for good and purposeful order.

Pray: If there is some disorder or negative emotions in your life, ask God to let the Holy Presence bring order and good for the sake of God’s purposes and plan for your life.

Day ThreeRead Genesis 28:15

George Lucas, creator of Star Wars said in a Time magazine interview, “I put the Force in the movie Star Wars in order to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people- more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask questions about the mystery. Not having enough interest in the mysteries of life to ask the question, ‘Is there a God?’- this is for me the worst thing that can happen. I think you should have an opinion about that. Or you should be saying, ‘I’m looking. I’m very curious about this and am going to continue to look until I can find an answer, and if I can’t find an answer then I’ll die trying.’ I think it’s important to have a belief system and to have a faith ’5

Who would have imagined that George Lucas was concerned about the spirituality of his fans? The Force is like the invisible presence of God; something you can tap into and find power for doing good. There’s even a scientific principle that supports this. It’s called Caesar’s Last Breath. By coincidence, the average number of molecules of air in a human lung is close to the number of ‘lungful equivalents’ in the earth’s atmosphere. In the more than 2000 years since Julius Caesar’s death in Rome in a political coup, there’s been time for mixing of the air so that molecules from his last breath are everywhere. On average, each time you take a breath, you take in one molecule of Caesar’s last breath. We can use that same equation and claim that every time we take a breath, we breathe in a molecule of Jesus of Nazareth’s last breath from the cross or his first breath on Easter morning! The invisible presence of Christ is literally with us, in us, and around us. Do you feel it? Can you see it?

Pray: That you begin to sense the Invisible Presence of Christ’s Spirit in, with, and around you today. Acknowledge it in whispered prayer and share these God moments with family and friends as if they are neat discoveries you’ve just made.

5 Time 4/2/99

Day FourRead John 3:1-9

Nicodemus, a Jewish scholar, came to talk with Jesus and ask him what he was all about. In familiar fashion, Jesus explained with a parable. You must be born again...not only born of flesh and blood, but born also of the Spirit. In other words, be aware that we live not only in the physical world of people and places, galaxies and Sting Theory, but we also are in the realm of the invisible presence of God. We can’t see it but we can feel it. It’s kind of like the wind, it’s invisible but you can experience its effects. You can see the tiny hairs on your arm move when you blow across your skin, but you can’t see your breath. That’s how it is in the realm of the Spirit.

In Genesis, it’s the breath of God that blows across the chaotic liquid earth and life is ordered amidst the confusion of chaos. Breath is analogous with life. Spirit is holy life bringing God’s order into our fallen, disordered and sinful existence. The invisible presence of God is the life-giving force acting behind the scenes, whispering grace, courage, wisdom, patience, charity, and faith as we face life’s most challenging issues. For some, it’s helpful to imagine the invisible Presence of Christ as a force around us, in us, and working through us.

Pray: In silence, listen for a moment or two and see if you can hear the wind (or the AC) and ponder in your heart that realization that, like the wind, you can’t see the Spirit but most defiantly can feel God at work in the moment.

Day FiveRead I Thessalonians 5:23

In the book, Healing the Masculine Soul, Gordon Dalbey says that when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, he uses a NT Greek word pronounced, ‘paraclete’. It’s a term used in ancient combat. Greek soldiers went to battle paired up with a partner, so when the enemy attacked, they could draw together, back-to-back, covering each other’s ‘sixes’, their blind-sides. A battle partner was a

paraclete or ‘helper’. The invisible presence of Christ stands with us, side by side, back to back, coving our six, fighting for our well-being.6

New Testament scholar, J.B.Phillips, put it this way: Every time we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,’’ we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it. For some, knowing that the invisible presence of Christ has our back and is by our side helps them understand the Holy Spirit in a fresh way. Have you welcomed the ‘Helper’ into your life as your advocate, guide and guardian? Another way of saying this is to remember the Bible promise that God is with us; the invisible presence of Christ is our Emmanuel. 7

One of those holy moments in life came when I was able to visit the ancient Abby on the island of Iona in Scotland. It was cold enough to wear a coat and wool hat even though it was mid-July. The wind-blown island was home of Columba, an Irish monk who brought Christianity to the Highlands of Scotland. He was in the tradition of St. Patrick, a Celtic Christian. Celtic Spirituality arose in the early 5th Century and for a time competed for prominence with the teachings of St. Augustine and that of the Roman Church. Celtic spirituality is more gut- level/elemental than logic oriented; more natural than philosophical. It embraced all of God’s creation as a means to turn one’s heart toward God. It’s because of this emphasis that in Celtic spirituality, the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a wild goose instead of a gentle dove. For many, the wild goose is a powerful emblematic expression of the wild, invisible presence of Christ. James Freeman captures the spirit of Iona in a poem8.

Uninvited. God’s Spirit intrudes into my soul, soaring like a magnificent wild bird.

Will you welcome this Holy Guest?

Pray: If you have never prayed such a prayer, you are welcome to invite the Holy Spirit into your heart today. Trust that the Lord will make real to you the power of the Invisible.

6 Tom Tripp in Leadership Vol. 15, no. 27 Matt. 1:23

8 James Freeman, from a poem in Pres. Outlook

Day Six

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

This Pentecost journey is helping Hidenwood Church talk about the invisible Presence of Christ in the believer and in the world. We call this the Holy Spirit. Celtic Christianity symbolizes the Spirit as a wild goose. The Bible uses the dove as a symbol of theHoly Spirit of God and it’s a symbol that’s more familiar to us. But recently, the Catholic Church toyed with the idea of having a sea gull symbolize the invisible presence of God.

It happened while the world awaited news of the election of a new pope. There atop the famous chimney that either puffed black smoke for ‘no decision’ and white smoke if a pope was named, a sea gull perched for the longest time. Out of boredom, the news reports and bloggers started to see the presence of the sea gull as kind of a messenger of God: a sign, if you will, of God’s Spirit. Soon, the sea gull even got its own twitter page: #Sistine Seagull.

It became an instant hit. Some of the comments went like this…

"If the seagull catches fire from the pipe, could it be considered a phoenix, and therefore a symbol of resurrection," tweeted Edward-Isaac Dovere, a reporter for Politico.

"I was about to report the seagull had left, then it came back, then it left again ... clearly a symbol of the coveted undecided voter," tweeted Robert Mackey, reporter and editor of The New York Times news blog The Lede.

Michael Peppard of Commonweal magazine took a more religious analysis, explaining the gull's symbolism in Roman history: "The white bird signals white smoke later today," he wrote. "We are probably meant to associate this with the most famous bird omen in papal history, the election of Pope Fabian (236-250). According to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, 6.29), Fabian was not among the likely choices, but the Holy Spirit moved."

Shortly after the sea gull flew off for good, white smoke billowed out of the chimney marking the election of Pope Francis. The Holy Spirit moved!

When the Holy Spirit of God moves, the Bible tells us that certain things happen. Our Scripture texts for today, point to 2 of the most important happenings of the Spirit in a believer’s life: the Spirit sustains us and sanctifies us. This is the power of the invisible; we can’t see it happening but it’s taking place, nonetheless.

Pray: That today the Spirit of God will flood this church with a renewed enthusiasm for being God’s people in this time and place.

The invisible Presence of Christ Sanctifies Us.

Day SevenRead Exodus 33:14

This is what we see happening in Paul’s 2nd letter to the church in Thessalonica, in northern Greece. It’s one of his earliest letters. Paul is pointing out that believers, then and now, are tapped on the shoulder and chosen to be God’s holy people. “God called you to this through the Good News…to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes. 2:14 GNB)

Years later, in the well defined theological document that we call the Letter to the Romans, Paul says the same thing in a more refined way: “We know in all things God works for good with those who love God, those whom God has called according to his purposes. Those whom God has already chosen, he also set apart to become like his Son…And those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and the Lord shared his glory with them.”(Rom. 8:28-30 GNB)

The local church has that kind of experience when new members are welcomed into the fellowship of the church; we’re inviting them into the life and ministry of the family of God. More important, the invisible Presence of Christ is at work behind the scenes drawing faith seekers into a new opportunity to be Jesus’ people in this place and time. We can in fact say, ‘the Holy Spirit moved’.

Pray: For the last class of new members and confirmands into the church. This week, why not contact one of them and check in on how they are becoming involved in the life of the church. Connect with a confirmand and offer to meet them at the fellowship time on Sunday to see how they are growing in Christ.

My belief is that the way to forming a deeply blessed church lies precisely in the leading our congregations as a whole, and our members as individuals, into a deeper encounter and experience with God as all three persons (of the Trinity): Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit.

N. Graham Standish

Day EightRead Matthew 18:20

I can look back and see this happening in my life. The Holy Spirit moved! Every instance, I can attest, was the invisible Presence of Christ at work, not me. I was a baby when I was baptized but in that sacrament, God took hold of me and as I was christened with the name Keith Michael, I was sanctified as a child of God. When I was confirmed at age 12, again, it was the invisible Presence at work because I had little sense, as a sixth grader what it all meant at that time. But I had become a church member.At 20, after years of no church involvement, I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and invited him to be my Lord and Savior. Yet it wasn’t what I did, but what was going on in my young adult spirit behind the scenes. I didn’t know what I was getting into; I just knew it was a thing of grace that was happening. I joined my future wife’s Presbyterian Church within a few months. That congregation was so welcoming, and I was surprised that that accepted a former Catholic, longhaired Jesus Freak, with no real understanding of what it actually meant to be a Christian believer or a Presbyterian. Soon afterward, I was tapped on the shoulder by the Spirit and was taken under care of the Presbytery as a candidate for ministry. Again, I had really no idea of what that all meant, I only knew God had a purpose and plan for me and I was going to follow it. The Spirit worked it so I could attend Princeton Seminary on a scholarship that I never applied for but was given anyway.

Then again, in ordination to the ministry, installation to my first pastorate, commissioning as an Army Chaplain, and in the churches I’ve served along the way, the invisible Presence of Christ was guiding my life, often from the shadows. And it’s still happening every day. You see, it’s really Christ, working in ways we cannot always see, that’s proof that it’s the Spirit who is sanctifying you and me as God’s own people. As the good Reformed minister said, “It’s God not me.”

Pray: For your minister and church staff that they will be intimately in tune with God’s Spirit as they guide Hidenwood Church into a deeper walk with our Triune God.

Day NineRead Jeremiah 29:13

When you look back over your life, whether it’s decades long or just a few years, can you say, ‘the Holy Spirit moved’.

Paul not only says that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us (makes us God’s people who are saved by grace), but once that, then the invisible Presence of Christ sustains us. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul uses words like ‘encourage’, ‘strengthen’,and ‘empowered to do and say what’s good’. In Romans 8, he uses more poetic phrases like ‘nothing can separate us’, ‘who can be against us’, ‘who will condemn us’, ‘we are more than conquerors, and so forth.

God’s grace and mercy, protection and care sustain us even when it’s hard to be a Christian. The late Rev. Allen Brindisi, my pastor from Niagara Falls and later a good friend and colleague as we pastored nearby churches in Florida, told a story of when he was leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the travels of St. Paul. They were in a town in Turkey, visiting one of the places where Paul preached. That evening they ate at the hotel restaurant and a pianist started playing dinner music. He was quite good and Allen recognized the songs he played; they were church hymns. Wanting to acknowledge his choice of music, Allen walked over to the piano ready to introduce the church tour group and offer to sing a hymn while the man played. (Allen had a great voice and was in his college’s glee club.) But the man hurriedly quieted Allen and begged him to sit down. You see, it was against the local laws to play Christian songs, but if he played hymns like they were dinner music, no one noticed. It was his witness of faith, and nothing was going to separate him from the love of God, not rulers or powers, or local laws prohibiting from expressing his faith; nothing. His courage came from the invisible Presence that showed itself through his music. The Spirit sustains us in this life.

Pray: For all around the world who live in lands that restrict religious freedom and for the faithful in those places to be able to find ways to express their faith in the God who holds the whole world in hands that embrace every heart.

Day Ten

Read 2 Corinthians 13:14

We recently observed Memorial Day, remembering those who have died in wars and in service to our country. This annual observance can help us see the invisible Presence of Christ at work behind the scenes, sustaining our spirits, and at the same time offering us a sign of God’s longing for peace among all people. It is another way of giving witness to the Spirit who sustains the people of God.9

Presbyterian pastor, Christopher Keating wrote in an article in the St Louis Dispatch: Early this spring, my son and I walked among the graves of veterans at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. We spotted a grave of an unknown soldier who died in the Spanish American war. Likely this was the resting place of a young man, killed in action thousands of miles away from those he loved. Unknown, but not to God. And, because of the Spirit, carried deep into the heart of God’s love.10

The invisible Presence of Christ sustains us in this life and shepherds us into the life to come.

In our Presbyterian tradition, we have theological documents called creeds and confessions that help us understand the Bible and theology including things such as the Spirit’s work. In the Confession of 1967, whose theme calls the church to the work of reconciliation, we hear this about the invisible Presence of Christ.

Let this image guide us:

The Holy Spirit creates and renews the church as the community in which humans are reconciled to God and to one another. The Spirit enables them to receive forgiveness as they forgive one another and to enjoy the peace of God as they make peace among themselves. In spite of their sin, the Spirit gives them power to become representatives of Jesus Christ and his gospel of reconciliation to all people.

May the invisible Presence of Christ sanctify and sustain us and let us all be able so say: The Holy Spirit moved.

Pray: That in your life and in the lives of loved ones and friends, that the truth of this confessional phrase, be at work for the sake of Jesus Christ and his love. Why not use this phrase as a meditational prayer today, saying it often so it finds its way into the core of your soul.

9 C. Keating

Day ElevenRead I Peter 3:4

In this season of Pentecost, we’ve been talking about the Holy Spirit, and the best way I’ve come to understand God’s Spirit, as described in the Bible, is to imagine it as the invisible Presence of God in the believer and in the world. It’s a tangible way to think about what the Bible calls: The Holy Spirit- the Advocate, the Comforter, the Breath of God, the Sanctifier and Sustainer of our faith, the Helper, the Fire and the Dove, and so forth. With so many ways to imagine the Spirit of God, I’ve found it best if I think about it as the invisible Presence of Jesus Christ at work in me, you, the Church and in the world.

I’ve gotten a number of comments over the years by church members and colleagues who appreciate this imagery, and for them, it’s been an eye-opener as they’ve come to understand God’s Spirit in a new, refreshing and approachable way. We Presbyterians don’t talk about the Holy Spirit that much, so this is new to a lot of folks. In my 1994 doctoral dissertation, I worked on the concept of worshiping God as Trinity; Creator, Redeemer and Presence. In my research back then, I found that we PCUSA types had few resources and only 3 specifically themed hymns on the Holy Spirit in the hymnbook. Wow! Today, our denomination has corrected that lack and offers numerous worship helps, hymns, tracks, and resource papers on how we understand and worship with the Holy Spirit. We’ve come a long way, baby. Yet many congregations and individuals still find the things of the Spirit something ‘sketchy’ or not for them. I hope this devotional has helped in some way to make this topic and truth more tangible and approachable for you.

Pray: That our PCUSA and all who worship in our churches are open to the workings, the power and the Presence of God through the Holy Spirit.

10 St. Louis Dispatch 5/25/12

The Power of the Invisible…Can Be Seen In You.

Day TwelveRead Acts 3:19

I believe that with all my heart. The power of Christ can be seen in you.

Fred Bauer, in a Guideposts devotional writes: “You see, I’m fascinated with antique cars and never miss an opportunity to talk with others about my passion. Not long ago, a guy who has restored old cars was telling me about the great change that rocked the world of transportation: the invention of pneumatic tires (air filled instead of hard rubber tires)”.

With that thought, Fred Bauer began to think about how the Bible talks about the Pneuma (Spirit) and how Jesus tried to explain it to Nicodemus, the teacher who came to find out about Jesus’ teachings. (John 3) “Jesus tried to explain that the Spirit of God was kind of like the wind, we cannot see it, but we can feel its effect. Its expression is invisible, but we know it’s there.”

Bauer says, “Some people are God-blind and can’t find Jesus anywhere; others see Christ in the intricate design of a wildflower, in the configuration of stardust, even in such mundane things as car tires”11, inflated by that strange phenomenon, Pneuma, the New Testament word for the breath of God, which, by the way, is everywhere. This invisible Presence of Christ can be seen in you and in me.

Pray: For eyes to see and hears to hear the amazing and glorious grace of Jesus Christ that fills your heart with grace and love.

Day ThirteenRead Acts 1:8

The Spirit is seen especially when we shine and not burn. Shine not Burn is the family motto of the Smith’s, my wife Debbie’s family name. While in Scotland, one of the popular pastimes for those with Scottish ancestry is to look up the family roots and find out the history of the clan. Some purchase a tartan to bring back home. Although Debbie’s family is a typical American mix, like mine, there are still roots that take the name back to Scotland and England. The Smith family crest is inscribed with their motto: Shine not Burn. It’s a common motto of many families across Europe I discovered, but the message is one of life’s great life lessons. Back in the days of campfires and torches, fire could be used to shed light or it could be used to burn things down. The motto encourages us to shed light in our

corner of the world and not be the cause of destruction or ruin. It’s saying brings light to the situation and not heat to the moment.

I believe that when we live out this motto, Shine not Burn, then we are truly living out our job description as Christians: to be the light of the world and in so doing, it’s easy to recognize the invisible Presence of Christ in you.

Pray: Ask the Lord if you are shining a light in the dark places of life. Offer yourself to the Lord as a lamp for others to see the gospel of grace and love in life. Invite the Light of Christ to flicker and flame in your heart today.

11 Guideposts

Day FourteenRead John 3:6-8

The Spirit can be seen in you and me when we dedicate our efforts to Christ’s Spirit. Years ago, I came across a unique dedication page in a book my wife Debbie was reading. I’ve remembered it ever since. The book was on the bed, where my wife threw it, opened to the dedication page. The book was The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. (I saw the movie but didn’t read the book.) Walker dedicated the book to…

To the Spirit:Whose assistance,This book, nor I would have Been written.

It’s a great sentiment: To acknowledge the invisible Presence of Christ in one’s life and in one’s work. And when that’s true for us, that’s when the Spirit can be seen at work in you.

Pray: Thank the Lord of life that even before you were born, God knew you and had a plan for you in his will. Without the Spirit’s assistance, you would never have been written. Imagine that!

Day Fifteen Read Micah 3:10

The power of the invisible can be seen in you when we worship, as we gather at the Lord’s Table or the baptism font. When we pray as a family of faith and humbly serve the Lord in church. When we offer help to another in Jesus’ name. When we mentor a teen, or teach a child about faith. Christ will be seen in you.

During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the British Empire in the 17th Century, he found the nation was short on silver for coins. He sent his people to the Cathedrals to find precious metals for the treasury. They reported back that the churches were filled with silver and gold statues of the saints. Cromwellissued an order: “Good! We’ll melt down the saints and put them into circulation.”12

12 from The Basics pg. 82

By the power of the Holy Spirit, the saints of God are melted down and put into circulation: out there…where the people are, the lost, the hurting, the seeking, and the lonely people who need Jesus Christ in their lives, now more than ever. Can the Spirit of Christ be seen in you?

Ann Weems offers these words to inspire us who worship Christ…in word and sacrament.

O Amazing God, you come into our ordinary lives And set a holy table among us.Filling our plates with the Bread of Life and our cups with salvation. Send us out, O God,With tender heartednessTo touch an ordinary everyday world with the promise of your holiness.13

Pray: That the Lord will melt you down and put you into circulation in the place you can do the most good for the gospel.

Day SixteenRead Galatians 5:22-23

The power of the Invisible Presence can be seen in us as Christ melts our hearts and puts us into circulation.

And the power of the invisible can be seen in you when the fruit of the Spirit is in season. St. Paul offers the church a great list of what a life lived in the Spirit of God looks like. From the Message Bible-

Galatians 5:22 But what happens when we live God's way? (…when the power of the invisible can be seen in you?). The invisible Presence of Christ brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others,

exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion

13 Searching for Shalom: Resources for Creative Worship By Ann Weems Westminster John Knox Press

in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.14

When such fruit is in season in your life, you can’t help be seen as someone who has the invisible Presence of Christ in you.

My prayer for you: may such fruit be in season and may the power of the Invisible be seen in you. Amen.

Pray: O Christ, whose invisible Presence cannot be seen but truly felt in me, make the fruit of the Spirit blossom in my life, spiritually and tangibly. Amen.

Day Seventeen Read Ephesians 2:15-20

Sometimes the answers to some of life’s most difficult questions just can’t

befound. We ask, seek and knock but the answers remain invisible to us. Have you ever wondered that if a bus station is where the bus stops, a train station is where the train stops, then what’s a work station? Or do Lipton Tea Company employees get a coffee break? If Fed Ex and UPS merged would the company be called Fed UP? If pro is the opposite of con, then what’s the opposite of progress? If a tin whistle is made of tin, then what is a fog horn made of? And what was the best thing before there was sliced bread? One last question: if winners never quit and quitters never win, then who came up with…quit while you’re ahead?

14 Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved

Come, Holy Spirit. Fulfill your promise among us again today. Thank you that every time we pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit,’ the Holy Spirit comes and we experience an increased sense of the

presence of God among us. Help me to priorities my time and enjoy your awesome presence with

me.15

You see, answers to some of life’s most important questions can’t be found no matter how hard you try. I can only imagine the kinds of questions that came up on the first Pentecost when out of nowhere, the wind whipped up into a stir and flickers of fire touched each believer forehead, followed by a cacophony of voices preaching the gospel in all sorts of unlearned languages…no need for Rosetta Stone. What kinds of questions would you have asked if you witnessed the Day of Pentecost? Would they be easy to answer?

Pray: That you’ll be open to the wild, wonderful, amazing things the Holy Spirit will surprise you with today.

Day Eighteen Read John 14:15-17

We’ve been studying the work of the Holy Spirit; what I call the invisible Presence of Christ at work in the believer, in the church, and in the world. Both the Old Testament and the New are chockfull of moments in time and across eras of when the power of the invisible worked God’s will and ways in the people of God. But it’s here on the first Christian Pentecost that the Spirit arrived in such a way that everyone noticed; if not able to actually see the Spirit, then at least were able to feel and hear the effects. And that brings up a question.

What can happen when we, like the early church pray: Come Holy Spirit? Is this answerable or is it one of those questions whose answer can’t be found? I think we can find an answer.

When we pray: Come Holy Spirit, we’re wondering if the invisible Presence of Christ can be at work in our lives, too. The power of the invisible is closely tied to the power of listening. There was a noise that sounded like the wind. How often do you actually hear a breeze or gust of wind? We’re so used to it that unless there’s a high wind alert at the bottom of our TV screen, we tend not to notice. We’ve grown accustom to not hearing. And often that’s how it is in our spiritual lives, too. We’ve grown so accustom to God’s grace that we don’t even notice it anymore. We take it for granted.

15 https://www.bibleinoneyear.org/bioy/commentary/1288

All churches…no matter how vibrant, eventually lapse into a kind of functionalism. It happens to every church and it will happen to these new

churches, too. It doesn’t happen because of anything bad or corrupt. It happens simply because humans tend toward functionality. In other words, the more we do something, the more it becomes routine and functional as we try to create

systems and programs to make our churches more efficient and stable.

N. Graham Standish

Pray: That you’ll be able not only to hear God’s Presence in the major moments, but also in that ‘still, small voice’ that we so often ignore.

Day Nineteen Read 1 Corinthians 6:19

Some of you may be familiar with the music of John Cage (1912–1992), a contemporary composer. There’s one piece of music that stands out from the rest. It’s called 4:33 or 4 Movements, written in 1952. It’s 4:33 of silence. Musicians who perform this piece do nothing aside from being present on stage for that time.

In the 4 minutes without the orchestra playing, you can hear the creaking of the seats, the whirr of the AC, the shuffling of bottoms on the chairs, the distant sounds of a siren, or closing of a door. But the content of the piece isn’t 4:33 seconds of silence, as easily assumed, but rather the sounds of what we usually miss or take for granted in the background that’s highlighted for the audience. John Cage’s musical piece is an expression of ‘is-ness’, of being present in the

moment and listening to what usually we don’t choose to hear….life going on in the moment.

Pentecost reminds us that the power of the invisible is closely tied to the power of listening. It’s letting God’s Spirit, the invisible Presence become aware in us…something that doesn’t happen when we’re too busy trying to be in charge of our lives and our futures. There’s an old maxim from England that says: A whistling girl and a crowing hen will surely come to some bad end. The verse comes from the old belief that by whistling one could raise an ill wind and in doing so cause some kind of damage. Psychologists call this ‘imaginative magic’, meaning there’s a power there if we believe it. But basically this little saying warns us about trying to

control the Holy Spirit or think we have total control over our lives. The Proverb from the Bible talks about this as well: pride goeth before a fall. 16

When we pray Come Holy Spirit, we need to take a few moments to silently listen and be aware of the power of the invisible that is going on all around us.

Pray: For a humble and malleable spirit, open to God working in you for good and grace.

Day Twenty Read Psalm 139:7-10

When we pray: Come Holy Spirit, we’re wondering if the invisible Presence of Christ can be at work in our lives, too. The power of the invisible is coupled to the power to illumine. I shared with you a discovery my wife and I made when we visited Scotland. Her family name, Smith, has Scottish roots and the family motto is: Shine not Burn. Shed light, not heat, in other words.

When the wind died down on that first Pentecost, something like a flickering flame touched each believer in the house. No one was burned but instead, each could see clearly that the invisible Presence of the Risen Lord was doing something unique in the moment. They saw for themselves, by the light of Christ, that the old was gone, and behold the new life had begun.17 The power of the invisible is coupled with the power to illuminate. And it can be surprising.

Lee Eclov, pastor of a church in Lincolnshire, Ill. shares a common experience among pastors and preachers. “Every preacher who hews to Scripture knows there is a mysterious, holy power in preaching. What we don’t know is just how it will come through on a given Sunday morning. What psyches me up is the possibility, actually the likelihood, that God will do something in some lives that morning all out of proportion to anything I put in or that they expect.”18

When we pray, Come Holy Spirit, we’re expecting God to illumine our hearts and minds so that the power of the invisible can have an effect; often

16 Prov. 16:1817 II Cor. 5:1718 Leadership pg. 59 quoted from PreachingToday.com

surprisingly out of proportion to our level of faith. Eclov recalls a newspaper story about a college football player who came across an accident on the side of the road. A Cadillac somehow crushed the tow truck driver who was trying to move it. The athlete was a big guy but couldn’t budge the car. He tried again, but this time he felt an invisible energy fill him and he lifted the car, although he didn’t know how he did it.19

In much the same way, when we pray: Come Holy Spirit, the invisible Presence of Christ will show itself in you and me or in the church and we’ll be able to do some incredible things for God.

Pray: That God will give you strength, light your path and illuminate your way in the world today.

Day Twenty One Read Ephesians 2:15-20

When we pray: Come Holy Spirit, we’re wondering if the invisible

Presenceof Christ can be at work in our lives, too. The power of the invisible is united to the power of the company of strangers.

St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians highlights the fact that God’s people are a company of strangers. Jews and Greeks together. Men and women; slaves and free. The cross broke down any barriers that keep us at a distance from God, but also separate us from one another. Paul uses the word Spirit in describing this reality in the church. It’s the invisible Presence of Christ that makes this happen.

We see it all the time. We hear it said more often than not, that there’s a spirit here at church that’s tangible, even though we may not be able to see it, we can still sense it’s real. We truly are a company of strangers (and friends) who become a family of faith. How important is that?

Fredrick Buechner, the late Presbyterian minister and award-winning writer emphasizes the importance of the community of faith. “The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed, secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own.”

There’s a power in being a company of strangers who are empowered by and united in the invisible Presence of Christ. So when we pray like the early Christian church prayed on Pentecost, Come Holy Spirit…we are really asking God to make us into a family of faith.

19 Ibid

Naming the Invisible

The power of the invisible is tied to the power of listening, coupled with the power to illuminate and united to the power of the company of strangers who in the Spirit become the family of God.

Pray: So we pray…Come Holy Spirit.

Day Twenty Two Read Zechariah 12:10

The famous quote, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet?” comes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In Act II, Scene II, Juliet is concerned about the long-standing feud that divides the Capulet and the Montague families. She wonders about him changing his name and says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” To that, Romeo pledges no longer to go by his own name, but to change his name to ‘love’. This is one of the most romantic lines in all of literature. What’s in a name?

Doing a quick word study of Scripture, I came up with 10 powerful names we give the Holy Spirit, 11 if you count the one I like to call the Spirit: The invisible Presence of Christ in the believer, the church and the world. There are loads more names, titles and allusions to the Holy Spirit of God in the Old and New Testaments, but today I’d like us to look at these primary names for the Power of the Invisible (that’s 12 if you’re counting.)

Pray: Take some time in you quiet moments today to think of all the many different ways we give name to God’s Spirit. Be creative. Pray each name aloud and ask Christ’s invisible Presence to teach you something about each one.

Day Twenty Three Read Hebrews 9:14

Zechariah, the Old Testament prophet calls the invisible Presence: theSpirit of grace, love and prayer. Hebrews calls the invisible Presence: Eternal Spirit. In John we find a number of ways the power of the Invisible is seen: It’s the invisible Presence of the Truth of Jesus, the Advocate and the Teacher.

The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter (Jn. 14:26), Glory (I Pet. 4:14), Life (Rom. 8:2), the Spirit of Holiness (Rom. 1:44), of Prophecy (Rev. 19:10), and the Spirit of Adoption (Rom. 8:15).

When we consider the power of the Invisible has to do with grace and mercy we’re reminded of the three-part maxim:

▪ Justice is getting exactly what we deserve .▪ M e r c y is not getting that which we deserve .▪ Grace is getting the good that we do not deserve .

It’s the invisible Presence of Christ at work in you, me and in the world, that keeps reminding us of God’s rich blessings of grace, mercy and love. Keep an ear out for such reminders in the week ahead.

Pray: That justice, mercy and grace will be something that others see in you, and that our world may experience these gifts of Jesus’ love.

Day Twenty Four Read John 14:26

The Holy Spirit is a Teacher, according to John 14:26.

Parents need to realize the power they have to teach their children. But that doesn’t always seem obvious or acted upon. Parents (and grandparents) often turn that role over to schoolteachers, preschool staff, a youth leader or the pastor. They have a hard time imagining themselves as teachers. Moms and dads need to understand the teachable impact they have on the family.

I think fathers don’t always realize how important it is for them to see themselves as teachers. A story about Henry Brooks Adams and his father, Charles, the Ambassador to Great Britain, shows what I mean. One day, young Henry wrote in his diary: Went fishing with my father. The most glorious day of my life. Henry grew up to be an historian, philosopher and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Over the years he always remembered that day fishing with his father and mentioned it from time to time in his writings. Yet how sad it is when we see the contrast between the boy and his father. In the father’s diary of that day, he wrote: Went fishing with my son. A day wasted. Ponder the spirit of this...what was missed and what was lost. It’s said that until a child is 14, he or she does what the parent says;

after that a child does what the parent does. Are we intentional teachers or accidental ones?

It’s impossible not to think of that pop song, Cat’s in the Cradle, sung by Harry Chapin, about the busy father and a son. The boy grows up to be just like him, the song ends. It’s interesting that his wife is the one who wrote the song, which only goes to show that experiences like this are gender neutral. We all can miss the fact that our children are learning from us, whether we know it or not.

The invisible Presence of Christ is working overtime trying to remind you of the grace, mercy and love of God. I trust you’re open to God’s Spirit as the Teacher.

Pray: For all families in the church, your family and neighborhood, that the Holy Spirit will remind us that not only does the Spirit teach us, but we become teachers too, of the next generation of Christians.

Day Twenty Five Read John 3:16-17

In Hebrews, the invisible Presence is called the Eternal Spirit. EvangelistFrancis Chan has a great way of helping us imagine eternity. He uses a long rope to represent a timeline; your timeline. A white cord is stretched from the pulpit and runs down the center aisle of the church and out the door. The rope goes on forever. He says it’s our time line.

The two inches at the end of the rope is wrapped in red tape and he says, that’s our timeline here on earth. The rest is what awaits us in eternity. It’s

dramatic when we think of life and the life to come in this way because it reminds us how brief this earthly life is and how worried we get about such a minute fraction of life we know now, and don’t realize that eternity stretches out forever and ever and ever. He also challenges us to realize that what we do in this brief bit of red space has a lot to do with how we’ll spend eternity. The choices we make today matter when it comes to the life to come.

The invisible Presence of Christ is called the Spirit of Eternity: it’s the Spirit that we meet in heaven because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, only the Spirit. We will be spirit and our existence will last an eternity with God.

When we have plugged in and clicked on, we can bask in the breeze.Whenever we plug in and click on the power of the Holy Spirit, our churches

begin to experience God’s Spirit blowing through everything we do, much as we sit in front of a fan on a hot day and let it cool us. When we bask in the Spirit’s breeze, we become a church that learns to expect God’s power to work through

everything we do. We do our work in faith and power.

N. Graham Standish

Pray: Take some time today to picture that time-line and the inch or two of read at the beginning. Also think of how that line goes on forever; as far as the eye can see, and then more. What thoughts and emotions come to mine? Offer them up in prayer.

Day Twenty Six Read John 15:26

John’s Gospel also calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter; the One who will bring peace, wholeness, joy and love into some of life’s most stressful and sad moments.

I had the honor of having two future seminary presidents in my ministry class at Princeton back in 1981. Dr. Brian Blount, now at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond and Dr. Craig Barnes at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. We all graduated in 1981. I look back across these 38 years and it’s hard to imagine how far my classmates have come in the life of the church.

In an article, Craig Barnes recalls a parishioner named Duane Barney who was on the search committee that brought him to National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC back in the 90’s. Duane had a massive heart attack and was rushed to the hospital.

“Duane was a big, big believer in the need to start each day with personal devotions. Frequently, he would call me at the busiest time of my schedule to ask, “What did the Lord tell you today in your Bible study?” There were times when Duane could really get on my nerves. When I arrived at the hospital, I found his wife

sitting with a friend in the waiting room. We prayed together and read some Scripture, and then we prayed some more.

We told stories and shared a few memories. Then we got to that point when we ran out of prayers, conversation, and even tears. So we just sat there and waited for some news, hoping it would be good.

Good news finally came, but not from the doctor. His wife absentmindedly picked up Duane’s day planner notebook, which had been handed to her by the ambulance driver. As she began to thumb through the pages, a gentle smile emerged on her tear-streaked face. On every page at the bottom of a full day of appointments, Duane had kept a record of his daily devotions. He listed the scriptures he had read and the insight that he would remember through the day. Then he listed the things for which he had offered a prayer of thanksgiving. And at the top of every list was the name of his wife, Virginia.

Duane did not survive that heart attack, but Virginia did. Knowing that she was so dearly loved made all the difference in the end.”20

Maybe you can see what I see in this account; the invisible Presence of Christ in that hospital waiting room being for that family the divine Comforter promised in John’s Gospel. Craig Barnes adds, “Since that day in the waiting room, I have often wondered what people would learn about me if they picked up my day planner. Would they discover that I, too, used each day as an expression of gratitude? Or would they only see a life that had been crammed into the half hour slots on each page?”21

He’s talking about the spirit of his life that can either be touched by the Spirit of Life, the invisible Presence, or a life that pushes aside the offered blessing of grace, mercy and love of God.

What will it be for you this week, for me? Choose this day whom you will serve: the things of this brief life (red portion of the rope) or the Spirit of Christ who promises us eternity with the Lord of love and grace.

As for me and my household, we chose to serve the Spirit of Eternity.

20 PRF Renews 12/98 pg. 2321 Ibid

Closing Prayer:

O Invisible Presence; Wind, Breath, Comforter, Advocate… we so easily run out of names to ascribe to you, O Spirit-‐

but that’s okay.I know that it’s not what I call you,

it’s that I do call on you, even when I cannot see or sense your Presence.

As I move into the full blessings of Pentecost and the reality of your being in me and in the world, I pray that you let your invisible Presence fill me to

overflowing and send me out into this broken world with a vision, mission, and heart for the work of Jesus in the places I can make a difference. May I

be someone who truly believes that you are with us, that all things are possible with you, and that in Christ I can have the strength to do anything.Let me find in you my reason to be and know that it is in you that we live,

move and have our being. Amen.

N. Graham Standish quotes are taken from his book Becoming a Blessed Church, Rowman and Littlefield, 2016

Keith Curran 2019