God With Us
AM Psalm 5, 6 • PM Psalm 10, 11
Exod. 15:1-21 • 1 Pet. 1:13-25 • John 14:18-31
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,
and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Today is the third and final day in which the Daily Office works its way through the beloved 14th chapter of John. Here Jesus continues his final teaching to the disciples before his death. On the night before he died, Jesus tells them gently that he must return to the Father, but says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many dwelling places.” The disciples, as in so many situations before, don’t get it, but in the two millennia since then Christians around the world have understood these words to be for them as well as for the disciples.
In our passage for today Jesus tells them that after he has gone, they will continue to receive his teachings, and his love: “I have said these things to you while I am with you. But the Advocate [“Comforter” in the KJV], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
When we are fully attentive or when we least expect it, God the Holy Spirit is with us, each in our own way. I’m sure my way is different from yours, and both are probably far different from that of the great 12th century mystic, theologian, writer, and composer, Hildegard of Bingen, who saw visions and who referred to the Holy Spirit as caritas (love/compassion), Sapientia (wisdom), and She.
Here is Hildegard’s “Hymn to the Holy Spirit:”
O fiery Spirit, praise to you,
who on the tympana and lyre
work and play!
By you the human mind is set ablaze,
the tabernacle of its soul
Contains its strength.
So mounts the will
and grants the soul to taste—
desire is its lamp.
In sweetest sound the intellect upon you calls,
a dwelling-place prepares for you,
with reason sweating in the golden labor.
Written by Bob McMath
I remember with gratitude the bidding prayer that Lowell Grisham prays before his sermons, which serves as the epigraph for this reflection. It is an ancient prayer which in its modern form is the alternative Collect for the Feast of Pentecost in the Book of Common Prayer.