Alleluia! We’re in the season that defines our Christian faith. The season in which God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, raised Him from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit. The LORD is Risen!! He is Risen, indeed!!!
As usual, as an Anglican Renewal Ministries Canada representative, I’d like to draw your attention to the presence and actions of the Holy Spirit in this season, as we will, or already have, heard — depending on when you read this — in the Sunday Scripture readings.
On the Sunday of the Resurrection, Easter Sunday, if we were worshipping according to The Book of Alternative Services, in the reading from Acts, we heard how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name (Acts 10:38-43).
Jesus was anointed with Holy Spirit power at His baptism. So were we who are baptized. Therefore, as followers of Jesus, we are anointed and called to follow His example by going about doing good and praying that all who are oppressed by the devil would be healed because, by virtue of our faith and our baptism and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God is with us, also.
Not only that, just as Peter and the other disciples were witnesses to the Resurrection and all that Jesus did in their day, God also ordained that you and I should exist at this time to witness, preach and testify today.
If your worship is according to The Book of Common Prayer, on April 12, “The Octave Day of Easter being the Sunday after Easter Sunday,” The Epistle is 1 John, Chapter 5, wherein we are told “it is the Spirit that beareth witness,” or testifies, “because the Spirit is truth” (BCP, p190; 1 John 5:6), or the truth — the truth being that Jesus is the Son of God and the faith of those who believe in Him will give them “the victory that overcometh,” or conquers, “the world” (BCP, p190; 1 John 5:5).
This is because, ultimately, “the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4.21): This is the great Eastertide narrative of Redemption, Resurrection and Salvation for which we have been commissioned as witnesses.
The Gospel for that same Sunday is John’s account of the Risen Jesus miraculously appearing to the frightened disciples huddled in a locked room, saying, “Peace be unto you,” showing them His hands and side and saying, As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive the Holy Ghost (BCP, p191).
And they did. Sent and breathed upon by the Risen Jesus Himself. The Holy-Spirit-filling breath of Jesus was also breathed on us when we were baptized and confirmed. We are the witnesses sent to be the actors in and tellers of the Salvation Story for our time in the power of the Holy Spirit of Truth.
In Eastertide, we are exposed to the very breath of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s empowering and impelling presence in both prayer books! So, some Eastertide homework:
- What good things might the Holy Spirit be calling me to do right now?
- For whom is the Holy Spirit calling me to pray for healing?
- How might the Holy Spirit be calling me to witness, to tell and act out the story of the Resurrection and all that Jesus did?
The LORD is Risen! He is Risen, indeed, Alleluia.
