A Letter to Jay
Neil Macdonald, 2001
A few years ago, I had to vote in an election for the General Synod, the governing body of my church. The candidates, all of whom were laity, had prepared resumes that included detail of the parish work they had done, the posts they had held within the church, as well as their skills and interests. In most cases these documents included a brief statement of their beliefs. Reading these, I could not help noticing that while all eleven candidates mentioned God, only one mentioned the Holy Spirit. I am not sure how representative these statements were of the membership of my church as a whole, but they do suggest that Christians may be failing to appreciate the importance of the third person of the Trinity.
“Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick faith”. These words begin the Athanasian Creed, or Quicunque Vult, and are taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Strictly, this is not a creed at all, and it was written not by St Athanasius, but by a theologian living in Southern Gaul, or perhaps in Spain, in the second half of the fifth century. Yet it deserves to be more widely read. The “Catholick” faith, according to the writer, includes acknowledgement that every person of the Trinity is “God and Lord”, and that the “whole three persons are co-eternal together: and coequal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity”.
So what exactly is the Holy Spirit? The Athanasian Creed says that he “is of the Father, and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding”. Another definition comes from the theologian, Hans Kung. “The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. He is God himself, as gracious power and force, gaining dominion over the mind and heart of man, in fact the whole man, becoming inwardly present to man and giving effective testimony of himself to man’s spirit” (On being a Christian, p471). St Paul gives us a guide to the “fruit of the Spirit”, which includes love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. “Against such”, Paul reminds us “there is no law”. (Gal 5:23).
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:8). The story of Isaiah’s call by God is often associated with the service for Ordination to the Priesthood, but many Christians will be aware of the way in which God, through his Spirit, catches up with them and influences their lives. For some years before I became involved with Christian Care Association, I had been aware of its existence. I knew that it was an organisation that was supported by churches in the Chichester area – indeed it was a clear example of practical Christianity. Yet I did not see that I had a role to play within it. The name kept appearing in papers I read, and was heard at meetings I attended, but I had other commitments, and did not feel the need to get involved. One day I happened to be at a meeting, at which it became apparent that the organisation had no Treasurer, and that the two Trustees present lacked the accounting skills that I possessed. I was still hesitant to make a commitment, but by the end of the meeting I had done so. I could of course have said no, but that would have meant hardening my heart to the clear prompting of love.
The Spirit can be very persistent. A nun once described to me how she had sought to avoid her call from God for many years: she had her own life, her own flat – even her own cat - and she had no intention of entering the religious life. He can also be subtle. You are familiar with the example of Inigo of Loyola, who came to recognise through a series of daydreams that a life spent in emulating the saints, however hard, was the road to his spiritual fulfilment. Inigo’s experience also shows us that the Spirit is like the leaven that works its way through the dough of our ministry to others: by the time of his death, the Society of Jesus had grown from his eight initial companions to comprise a membership in excess of a thousand. The Spirit’s influence is not limited to our hearts and minds. Whilst it would be a misconception to see the Healing Ministry of the Church as being primarily about curing people, there is considerable contemporary testimony that the power of the Spirit does heal people physically. Yet how many Christian believe, like the characters in Star Wars, that this gracious “force” is really with them?
So what is the best way for us to engage the Spirit more effectively in our lives. The answer, as ever, lies in our effective relationship with Jesus Christ. As Hans Kung rightly states “No hierarchy, no theology, no fanaticism, seeking to involve the “Spirit” without regard to Jesus, to his word, his behaviour, and his fate, can in fact lay claim to the Spirit of Jesus Christ”. He continues “It is the person who truly submits in faith to the message and thus to God and his Christ who receives the Holy Spirit” (On Being a Christian, p 471). Significantly, only six of the eleven candidates mentioned Jesus, who is the central figure – indeed the reason – for their faith. The Athanasian Creed includes a substantial section on the importance of the Incarnation, “for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and Man is one Christ”. Sadly, there are people who have sat in a church for years, yet who have not found their lives touched by Jesus in any meaningful way. Yet it is through getting to know him, and walking in his way, as the two disciples did on the road to Emmaus, that we find his Spirit can enter our lives, guide us, and sustain us.
“Whosoever will be saved…”. We live in an age that is wary of such absolute statements, and the Athanasian Creed has fallen out of the regular Liturgy. Yet its message is as vital as ever. We need to recognise the importance of each Person of the Trinity, and the way in which we respond to them. If we do not, our faith remains either one or two-dimensional, and will, in consequence, be flat and lifeless. The psalmist knew this, and pleaded with God accordingly: “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Ps 51:11). We above all people should know that we are able to do absolutely nothing of ourselves. There can be no effective ministry, either for us or for others, if we do not allow the power of the Holy Spirit to be alive and effective amongst us. Only then can we bring the peace of God and the healing that comes with it to this troubled and divided World
