Loving God, you delight in giving good things to your children - especially the Holy Spirit.  Grant us the eyes to see and the ears to hear your Word and your direction; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    We are into the season of Advent now - the season where we look for hope in the midst of despair, light in the midst of darkness, and Jesus coming to us in the midst of this mixed up world.  The season mirrors the time when the coming of the Messiah had been promised for many years, but people continued to wait for those promises to be fulfilled.  In the same way, those who believe in Jesus look forward to the time when Christ will come again.  Yet, even now, Christ is with us, and we are invited to pay attention to the ways in which God shows up in our day to day lives and in the world around us.

    Today, this invitation comes through the prophet Joel.  Just to give Joel a little bit of context, the Israelites have now returned from their exile in Babylon and are once again growing crops in their own land - the Persian province called “Beyond the River.”  However, there are locusts everywhere that have been eating up their crops.  And so, in order to stop this plague, Joel calls the people to repentance.  He calls them to turn away from worshiping idols and from greed and wickedness.  He calls them to turn away from sin and to turn back toward God.  For God “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13), and maybe God will hear their prayers and stop the plague.

    In response, the word of the Lord comes to Joel promising relief from the locusts and fruitfulness for the land.  “Then afterward”, says God,

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit (Joel 2:28-29).

It is perhaps easy for us to miss how incredibly inclusive this promise is.  It includes young and old, male and female, masters and slaves.  It includes “all flesh.”

    The thing is that prior to this time, in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God tended to be poured out only on the professionals.  The Spirit was poured out on Moses and on the prophets.  The Spirit was poured out on kings like Saul and David (1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 2 Sam. 23:2).  God even took some of the spirit that was on Moses and put it on the 70 elders who had been chosen to assist him (Num. 11:25).  The Spirit was also given to some of the judges, like Gideon (Judg. 6:34).  In these cases, they are all men, and are all prophets, or judges, or kings.  The only woman I can think of is Miriam, who is the sister of Moses and Aaron, and who sometimes prophesies (Ex. 15:20).

    While some of the Old Testament prophets (like Samuel and Jeremiah) are called to this profession when they are very young, none are as young as John the Baptist.  By the time we get to the New Testament, the Spirit of God is at work in John while he is still in his mother’s womb (Lk. 1:41-44).  Then we have Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was most likely a teenager, and Elizabeth and Zechariah who are older, and Simeon and Anna who are really old!  All of them are given the Holy Spirit.

    Then, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out in a whole new way, giving the disciples of Jesus the gift of being able to speak in other languages.  And thereafter, the Holy Spirit is given to all those who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - regardless of age or gender or social status.  In fact, by the time we get into the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is given even to the Gentiles.

    The Spirit of God in the Old Testament most often gives people the gift of prophecy.  In other words, it allows them to know God’s word for the people and to communicate it.  Sometimes a “prophetic frenzy” is also mentioned, which could be something like the Holy Rollers of more recent times.  In other cases, God’s Spirit empowers those who have been chosen as leaders in Israel.  And then, very occasionally, some different gifts of the Spirit are mentioned.  One of the best examples is in Exodus (31:2-5) where the Spirit has given Bezalel “ability, intelligence and knowledge in every kind of craft.”  This includes the ability to make artistic designs out of gold or silver or bronze or stones or wood.  Thus, these abilities are used in making the tent of meeting and the ark of the covenant.

    The thing is that, biblically speaking, whenever something really important is communicated or initiated, it always comes from God, through the power of the Spirit.  Sometimes angels appear to let people know what God is doing.  Sometimes people have dreams that communicate God’s message, like Joseph, and Joseph, and even Pharaoh.  Sometimes people have visions that reveal what God is doing - like Peter when he is praying on the rooftop (Acts 10).  And sometimes God speaks through prophets or through the Scriptures.

    There is really no reason for us to believe that God has ever stopped revealing God’s will for God’s people.  However, it is possible that we have stopped paying attention, and that we really don’t expect God to show up or to be at work in our world.  How might history have been different if Moses had never stopped to investigate the burning bush or if Joseph (either one of them) hadn’t paid attention to the messages in their dreams?  How might the church have been different if Peter or Paul had refused to see what God put right in front of them and had simply followed their own way?

    In the same way, how might things be different if we approached God with an attitude of listening rather than always telling God what is needed?  What difference might it make if we were to pay attention to what is going on in our neighbourhoods, and the situations and needs that God puts right in front of us?  What difference would it make if we were to recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit that God is pleased to give to us and were to allow that same Spirit to work through us as ambassadors for Christ?  What difference would it make if we were to allow God to be in charge rather than us, and were to follow God’s lead?

    For, the Holy Spirit is no longer reserved for the professionals.  All flesh are among the recipients of the Spirit of God, who gives us gifts for ministry and empowers us for service.  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen.

Advent 2 (NL 3)                            Joel 2:12-13, 28-29
December 4, 2016
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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