There is a double occasion for celebration this holiday weekend. It is a holiday weekend because we are celebrating Victoria Day today. For those who are not Canadian, and perhaps some who are, the Victoria Day holiday weekend celebrated the birthday of Queen Victoria whose birthday is May 24th. The holiday Monday was designated as Victoria Day even though it doesn’t necessarily fall on that date. The 2-4 weekend - as it is called colloquially – is the opening of summer in much of Canada and many a case of 24 beers are purchased and consumed on the weekend. The weekend is celebrated on the Monday before May 25th and was declared a holiday after Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 to honour the “Queen of Confederation.”
The other occasion is about a different kind of spirit than
the spirit in the case of 24 beers – yesterday we celebrated the Day of
Pentecost in which the Holy spirit alighted on the Christians gathered in
Jerusalem and a fire descended on them and was lit under them and gave birth to
the Christian church. Pentecost is the day
in which the church celebrates the third Person in the Holy Trinity and gives
it its due. Unfortunately, from my perspective,
the organized church – or the part I am experienced with - does not actually give
the Holy Spirit the due it deserves. My
little joke about this is that the Holy Spirit is the Rodney Dangerfield of the
Holy Trinity – it doesn’t get any respect - or more accurately, it “don’t get
no respect.” I hope most of you are old
enough to get the reference.
I believe hat the problem with the Holy Spirit – from the perspective
of the organized church – is that it has a mind of its own that the power of the
Holy Spirit cannot be control. As it
says in the Gospel of John, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear
the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So
it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
If people have direct access to the Holy Spirit – or more accurately, the
Holy Spirit has access to them, who knows what the Spirit might encourage them
to do and be.
One area where I know the spirit is at work in people today
is through their dreams. I know that God
does speak to us in and through our dreams and can give us guidance about how we
can live our lives more fully as God intends us to live. However, to give the church leaders some credit,
there can be a problem if people misunderstand what the Spirit is telling them. There may also be other spirit that try and
influence people and lead them astray.
In another forum I have been reviewing some rules that can help us
understand if what we are being told is actually from God. There are nine questions which can help us in
discerning if it is God’s will or another source.
When a course of action seems to present itself through
dreams, prayer, or synchronicity, how do we know if it is indeed Divine Will?
The following questions applied separately may not give us a definitive answer,
but applied collectively they can help determine who or what is truly calling
us to action. They may help us discern God’s will:
1.
Is it harmful? God’s will is man and woman’s
well-being. Do I feel free or compelled? The Spirit is not compulsive; we have
a choice. A sense of urgency may signal neurotic compulsion, rather than
freedom of choice in God.
2.
Does the course of action take into account the
obvious facts of my situation? Does it acknowledge my other responsibilities?
Do circumstances seem to be shifting of their own accord to accommodate this
course of action?
3.
Does the course of action feel natural − do I
feel “at home” with it? Can I look back at my life to date and see this new
development as a positive, natural extension of my life’s journey? Does it seem
to “fit?”
4.
In retrospect, what have been the fruits of my
choice? If we experience consistent failure or disappointment in a course of
action, perhaps our true gifts lie elsewhere.
5.
Even though individuation sometimes means going
against mainstream culture, is this a decision I can put before the broader
community, at least for discussion? If no one in my Christian community can support
my course of action, I may need to re-think it.
6.
Is the message persistent? Am I hearing it from
a number of sources?
7.
Is the action required of me, or of other
persons? God’s will for our lives usually requires us to do our own footwork.
8.
Do I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of
time and thought “building a case” for this course of action? Could I be
rationalizing some compulsive behavior?
9.
Am I willing to take “no” for an answer? Do I
feel like everything depends on this particular course of action being carried
out? Or that this is the only “right” way?
I hope that you are blessed to be able to listen to the Holy
Spirit and discern God’s truth on your journey.
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