this is how you make yourself worthy of the love
that she gave you back when you didn't own a beautiful thing
To talk about the Holy Spirit, I want to talk about that 90’s sitcom, Seinfeld. Specifically, the character George Costanza. George, that unlucky in life, lovable loser. NOT what you were expecting? Good! That’s how it goes with the Holy Spirit and us; it defies expectations!
What the writers of Seinfeld did that was so brilliant was to make the unusual move, at the time, to refuse to dress George up. Or any of the other characters, for that matter. The humor of Seinfeld was that no one ever got their act together! Everyone was more or less stuck with whatever their inherent defects were.
The question of Seinfeld was never, would the characters learn. In fact, that was a rule in the writers’ room, “No learning. No hugging. In the world of Seinfeld the gag always was, how would the characters finagle their shortcomings. Whereas George was hapless, Elaine and Jerry had a knack for it. And so, although they were all fatally flawed, George’s life took on a fundamentally different mold than the rest.
This is what makes George such a plumb candidate for talking about the Holy Spirit. And it’s best displayed in the season five episode, “The Opposite.” In it, George concludes that life hasn’t come out the way he hoped. Upon review, he concludes that every decision he’s ever made in his entire life has been wrong.
So, as an experiment, he tries going against his instincts! He orders the opposite meal he usually would. Which catches a women’s attention. When George realizes this, he approaches her and leans into his newly acquired antithetical approach to life. “My name is George.” he says. “I’m unemployed, and I live with my parents.” Looking intrigued, she flashes him a smirk, puts out her hand, and says, “I’m Victoria. Hi.”
I encourage you to try this! Of course, it’s a mixed bag out there in the world. For example, you might get passed over for a promotion. But you also might meet your best friend being honest like this! Who knows?
While it’s a gamble out there, though, you can’t go wrong with it in here!
This is how it goes when it comes to the Holy Spirit! We have to go against our instincts! Just look at the Creed! When it comes to the Holy Spirit, it’s doesn’t go the way we’d expect! We don’t say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, heroic feats, acts of self-denial, mystical experiences, and far-flung pilgrimages!
No! Instead, all there is, is talk of decidedly unholy things, mundane and boring things, all too human and earthly things. Things like the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting! Or, in other words, the Church, sins, fleshly bodies, and death! That’s it!
It’s as if the Creed is telling us that if you’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit, you have to talk about the Church. And, if you’re going to talk about the Church, you have to talk about sinners and dead people! In fact, that’s all the Creed seems to presume the Church is, the fellowship of the good as dead! The dead in their trespasses and good in Christ’s resurrection.
That’s a bit attention-grabbing. But don’t fail to notice how unexpected it is to say that the Holy Spirit is in cahoots with the Church in the first palce! Ask any bystander, and they’ll tell you, the Church isn’t holy. The Church is full of hypocrites. The Church is a sanctimonious and judgmental place. Not a holy one!
If we’re honest, we know there’s something to these accusations, too. We haven’t always done the best job representing the Church. And the Church has some dark moments in the past, too. Here’s the thing, though, none of that undermines what the Creed is confessing! In fact, if anything, it proves it!
The Church has never been perfect! But perfection has never been a precondition for the Holy Spirit! The Church started with a couple of dispirited disciples packing it in! And as Paul’s letters attest, the first generation of the Church was comprised of community after community beset with just about every problem imaginable! And some pretty unimaginable ones, too!
And in all the time since, the Church still hasn’t gotten its act together! But that’s never stopped the Holy Spirit, either! In fact, it’s only ever been the pitifully sinful and the downright dead that the Holy Spirit has seen fit to call into the safe confines of the Church!
That’s all the Church is, the communion of the dead. The dead in their trespasses and the really dead! And it’s precisely that motley crew the Holy Spirit has determined to bless time and time again!
Given that fact, it should come as no surprise that the Church has a checkered history. Frankly, the real surprise is that Church even exists at all! As it turns out, though, it’s precisely that shoddy track record that tells the tale of the Holy Spirit’s upside-down holiness!
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, we need to be more like George! We have to go against our instincts! So next time you find yourself nose to nose with the Holy Spirit, and it’ll happen sooner than you think, introduce yourself with the line, “Hi, I’m ______. And I’m a sinner. I can’t seem to get my act together.”
Try it! I bet you’d be surprised with how well it goes for you! You don’t meet the Holy Spirit when you don’t need it! As if such a moment ever occurred anyway. No, you only meet the Holy Spirit when your spirit is faint, even faltering! And that is right when the Holy Spirit flashes you a smile and sweeps you off your feet!
Could you use a little of that about now? Is your holiness project falling by the wayside? Do you feel like you don’t have much to offer? If so, that means the Holy Spirit’s gotten you right where the Holy Spirit wants you, the Church!
The Church isn’t a place to get your rear in gear. On the contrary, the Church is the place where something as risky as it is realistic takes place, the forgiveness of sins! In contrast to every other organization out there, the Church can be honest about sin. We’re all sinners.
Even better, though, the Church is the only organization that knows we don’t have to try and fix sin. Christ’s already done that by his crucifixion! Therefore, all we have to do with sin is forgive it! Forgive it in the name of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit!
That’s what the Holy Spirit’s holiness looks like, by the way! Giving away holiness! Giving us Christ’s holiness! Remaking us in God’s image all over again. Only this time, not marked by sin, but marked by Christ and his righteousness!
Let’s stop talking about it, though, and just go ahead and do it! + In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all your sins are forgiven! + And I know you’re used to these words. But the One who says them, is the One who knows your deepest shame and your darkest secrets, and forgives you yet!
With that, the most unexpected thing of all has taken place! That futile preoccupation with holiness has been put away! And that gives you half a shot of actually experiencing it. Meeting the Holy Spirit!
Holiness is not something you achieve. It’s something God gives to you. And gives to you in the most unlikely of places, like the rest of your life! The Church deals with Sin and Death, so your life out there might be filled with holiness and the life that truly is life!
So, I guess the only question left is, what are you waiting for?!? Get out there! Go experience it! And remember, your opening line goes like this, “Hi, my name is ________. And I’m a sinner.” That’ll be more than enough to pique the Holy Spirit’s interest in a catch like you.
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