Sermon Preached by Rev Coralie McCluskey
at All Saints Datchworth

Sunday 8 May 2005

Easter 7, 2005

 Our need of the Spirit

 
Yesterday morning at the end of the regular Saturday prayer time at St Mary’s, I was chatting to Sir Philip Mawer about the celebration of the Ascension complete with choir and incense last Thursday evening and we reflected on how it’s good to have variety in worship.  We also had a deacon, sub deacon, crucifer and acolytes the only thing missing was the Sanctus bell.  I mentioned that non Eucharistic services for the whole church family seemed to be a good way into the Church for those who are not familiar with the traditions and trappings of Anglican Church services.   Without wishing to bore you with the rest of the conversation we then moved into our need of the Spirit in worship and that ritual does not always ensure a spiritual experience.

 

After the Ascension of Jesus the apostles went back to Jerusalem and joined in continuous prayer as they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We are gathered here to do the same thing.  Without the Holy Spirit we cannot truly live the life of a Christian.

 

The resurrection had revived the apostles’ faith in Jesus but they were not courageous and strong enough in spirit to face the world – a bit like us probably when we are challenged.  They needed the Holy Spirit to lift their spirits, to breathe new life in them.

 

Our spirit is very important it’s interesting how many times we use the term spirit when we are talking about people:

·        A person may be low in spirits or high spirits

·        Approaching a task in the right spirit or in the wrong spirit

·        A person giving a spirited performance

·        A person having a joyful spirit, a generous spirit, a mean spirit

·        Breaking of crushing a person’s spirit

 

These are just a few of the ways in which we acknowledge the importance of the spirit to us.  The human spirit is more powerful than any drug, it is our most precious possession, our greatest source of energy.  Our spirit I suppose is what wings are to a bird or roots to a tree.  However while the human spirit can be very strong it can also be very brittle, it can ascend to the heights or plumb to the depths.

 

It can be an oak unmoved in a storm or a little like some of the newly planted things in my garden that yesterday could easily have been uprooted by the wind.  It can be a piece of solid granite or a piece of fragile china.  The human spirit can be easily broken or crushed. It is what Christian saints through the ages relied upon, and all those who are subjected to torture today for their political, social or religious views must preserve if they are to hold onto life.  A broken spirit is devastating for the person, success for the oppressor.

 

Add a story at this point something from Amnesty, etc

 

Because the spirit is easily crushed, easily broken, it needs strengthening and nourishing every bit as much as the body does.  If strengthened and nourished it can recover.

 

So what are the things that strengthen and nourish the spirit, what enables it to soar, what causes it to sink ?

Sadness weighs it down; joy lifts it up.

Criticism erodes it; praise builds it up.

Failure shrinks it; success enlarges it.

Despair causes it to droop; hope breathes new life into it.

Rejection wounds it; acceptance heals it.

Hatred poisons it; love purifies it.

Fear cripples it; solitude calms it; prayer strengthens it.