Barneyisfat

I get really angry when people blame the Holy Spirit for their lack of planning, perseverance, and preparation.

The sad reality is that this is a common occurrence in Ukrainian churches.  Lazy pastors choose to not put any effort into preparing anything for a worship service - and then they simply rationalize the abject failure on the fact that the Holy Spirit didn't show up.  The thought process behind this is that after a couple of songs, the spirit will come and everyone will get very emotional and then anything the pastor says will be understood perfectly.

I hate when "the Holy Spirit" and "emotionalism" are used synonymously.  How sad it must be to only understand the Holy Spirit within the context and framework of your own petty emotions.  When people are happy and energetic the Holy Spirit is present and when people are sad or bored the Holy Spirit is absent.

Let me begin by stating for the record that I pray in tongues.

I don't know if this is something I've ever blogged about before.  This might surprise some people.  I believe very strongly in the gift of tongues and I am fully aware of what a beautiful and amazing gift it is.  In times of sorrow and pain, this gift pulls me forward.  In times of uncertainty this gift is miraculous.  It builds me up.  It prepares me for any conversation (even the difficult ones in languages that are still difficult for me) or any situation. It's also a gift that I simply don't talk about all that often.  It's a personal, spiritual discipline - and if I tried to make it public it could easily distract or divide.  It's the gift that comes into play least often in my ministry.

I have almost no musical ability.  I have no rhythm, I can't play any instrument, and I get so nervous standing in front of people trying to lead in singing that it usually ends badly.  But, through the Holy Spirit, I have had and continue to have a wonderful ministry of music.  I've arranged pieces, written new words, found ways to connect hymns with sermons to invigorate them in new ways, and even written a few songs with my mother.

I experience the Holy Spirit most strongly when I sit down with the lectionary or Bible and begin to plan through worship experiences.  As I look through songs, scriptures, and liturgy I feel the sweet breeze of the Holy Spirit's breath.  Every time I preach I pray the single, solitary prayer, "That thing that you do between my mouth and their ears - do it again today."  God's Holy Spirit interprets the muddling, fumbling disconnected words that form in my brain into something meaningful, simple, and life-changing.  This happens routinely.  I have left the pulpit and thought, "Well, I think I'm done writing sermons for a while" only to be greeted by someone with tears in their eyes and a story of a changed heart.

The Holy Spirit is like water being poured from a pitcher - our planning and preparation is like the cup that can receive the water.  Either the cup is there (we plan and prepare) and the water is able to be received and enjoyed or the cup is absent and the water is spilled all over the floor.  Or like wind and a sailboat.  If you don't put up the sail, it doesn't matter how much the wind blows.  The reason that the Methodist movement spread quickly and lasted for centuries is that the structures, methods, and systems created by the Methodists were able to receive the goodness of the Holy Spirit and to push the church forward.  The water went into the cup and nourished the body - it didn't fall needlessly to the floor.

Yesterday I tried to sit down with one of our pastors and plan for a worship service.  He was disgusted that I wanted to plan the service - and that I wasn't willing to let the Holy Spirit plan the service.

God, like most pastors, works more than one day a week!  I'm so thankful that God honors the time we put into preparing and planning our acts of worship.  It's hard to convey that idea without simply doing it.