From the Pastor

Come, Holy Spirit!
(Galatians 5:22-23)

“Come, Holy Spirit!” Have you ever prayed that prayer before?

Here’s an image for you: while you might have always thought of the Holy Spirit as the wind that moves a windmill or powers a sailboat… how about comparing the Holy Spirit to a parachute? Believe it or not, I recently had the chance to go skydiving. It was exhilarating. It was awesome. It was something I always wanted to do. And there’s this unforgettable moment when the parachute opens. You go from a free fall with the wind rushing by you loud and intense one minute, to the opening of the chute and immediate quiet, the next. As you float gently down you can even survey the landscape around you. I’ve shared with many of you how I often go to bed with the prayer “Come, Holy Spirit!” at the end of the day. I remind myself how, having received the Holy Spirit by God’s grace, I can give thanks that I have also received God’s comfort, peace, and love for me. The Holy Spirit and the Presence of the resurrected Lord Jesus with me “breaks my fall” from the turmoil, emotion, and out-of-control energy that can make rest elusive. Or as St. Paul puts it, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” The Holy Spirit doesn’t just empower me to get going and carry out what I cannot “by my own reason and strength” pull off — though He does, at times, do that. There are also times when the Holy Spirit brings me from a “free fall” to a glide… from my natural inertia to a quiet “stop” when such a transition seems impossible for me. That’s the gift that our crucified, risen, and ascended Savior and Lord brings us. Come, Holy Spirit!

May at RLC is all about the gift of the Holy Spirit sometimes motivating and moving us to action and at other times bringing us the rest and quiet of sins forgiven. Whether it’s the Rite of Confirmation for eleven RLC young people of our congregation who say “yes” to the promises others made for them at their baptism… the nuptials of RLC young adults this month who will be saying “yes” to the love of God that they pledge to live out in faithfulness to one another… or even just the ordinary opportunities we all have to say “yes” to bearing fruit in everyday circumstances… it is not just you and I who do it. The Holy Spirit, working through God’s Word and Sacraments, powers us up and breaks our fall time and time and time again!

This month, let’s not only receive the Holy Spirit together again, but live out the working of the Holy Spirit in us, by God’s grace! Come, Holy Spirit!

Peace and joy in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan