Are You Guided By the Holy Spirit?

(Bible Teaching for Proper 13, 2013 by Rev. John Gishler)

1.     Paul is teaching us the difference between those who are guided by their selfish human nature and those who are guided by the Holy Spirit – applies to individuals and church congregations

Question is who or what do you really depend on for guidance in daily life?

·         Before we become a serious Christian we are naturally guided by a mixture of our fears, wants and ego – “the flesh” or “my way”

·         Hebrew people were mainly guided by the Teachings of Moses

     Galatians 5.1, 13-25 teaches us a new way to grow in love, control our       fears and selfishness and be guided by the Holy Spirit in daily life

Fathers Protect the Inheritance With Self-sacrificial Love

In our time many men, like King Ahab in the 1 Kings 21.1-10 Reading, have abdicated their role and responsibilities as protectors of the family inheritance. My generation matured in the 60’s when women were struggling for equal treatment as employees. Since then there has been a lot of male authority bashing as the excesses of male physical and sexual abuse have been exposed. The Lectionary Bible Readings help us understand the role and responsibilities of Jewish and Christian men as fathers.

1. The “vineyard” is a metaphor for spiritual life

A vineyard is a complex living creation that requires constant nourishment and protection – just like a human life and particularly like human spiritual life.

Reflection on Turkey, Greece & Albania Trip

This question “How Have You Changed As a Result of This Trip?” was proposed for us on the last day of our 23 day trip through Turkey, Greece and Albania. Everyone on the bus was too exhausted to discuss this after over 6,000 km of bus - but today is a new day. We have had a good sleep and are on our way back to Calgary. My day started with the Holy Spirit reminding me to reflect on how I had changed regarding contending for the Faith, the Orthodox Church and the importance of living life to the full.

Jesus Brings Us Out of Death into Life

The Readings and Prayers assigned for today all deal with the good news of coming out of death into life. Our Anglican (BAS) Eucharistic Prayer # 3 condenses the Good News of what Jesus does into three steps to personal spiritual life. In him we come:

• From error into truth (through teaching)
• From sin into righteousness (through forgiveness)
• From death into life (through salvation)

 1. The widow and her son faced death by starvation in a time of famine

1 Kings 17.8-16 tells us Elijah was directed by the Holy Spirit to visit and stay with a poor widow during a famine he had earlier prophesied. The verses preceding tell us God had fed him with ravens that carried food to him in the wilderness. Now he approaches a starving widow and asks for water and bread. She tells him she has only a small jar of flower and some oil – only enough for one last meal before she and her son starve to death.

• Step 1: Elijah teaches her a prophecy that the jar and oil will not fail
• Step 2: Widow believes the prophecy and is in right relationship
• Step 3: Widow and son are restored to physical and potentially spiritual life

Resurrection in Albania

We came to Albania very aware that we did not know what to expect. Albania was tagged on partly because we could not get into Syria and partly because the Apostle Paul claimed to have preached the word (in Acts) in Illyricum – modern Albania. The question was did Paul just get to the border with Greece or did he preach and establish churches inside Albania. Last night we had and amazing meeting with some monks and the Orthodox bishop of Tirana (after a 3.00 am wake-up and flight via Munich). In response to questioning the responded by observing that Paul would not have just gone to the border as there was no marked border. You were in Illyricum if you were in a town in Illyricum. They also helped us with many other questions we had about the Orthodox Church.

This was a particularly amazing experience as we had just spent an afternoon seeing and hearing about the economic and spiritual devastation of first Ottoman rule (1453-1912), Tyrannical rule 1913-1944) and Communist rule (1944-1991). Christianity was discouraged (you could not get a Government job) by the Ottoman rulers. Religion was banned by the Communists who destroyed many churches and mosques, converted others into museums or theatres and banished Orthodox clergy. Huge amounts of money was spent on 2,000 concrete and steel bunkers – ostensibly to protect Albania from foreign invaders; actually to protect the rulers. There was hardly any steel left to build houses. People starved to death – they made jokes about being so poor they had to eat grass. In the 1980s there was a lot of unrest, the Communists were voted out and democracy was established. It is still a very poor country – I walked down the street and found the cost of real espresso coffee was five cents in our money. I would be a lot more in the hotel where we are staying as we are in a new parallel tourism economy.

What was most amazing was the brand new (in 2012) Cathedral Church of the Resurrection in Tirana. It is a huge and very beautiful modern building with a beautifully finished auditorium downstairs where they do teaching and programs for young people. There are millions of people who have not had teaching for generations (like in Canada). The Orthodox Church has new special Offices for teachers and priests – like in Acts; which do Baptism and Marriage preparation in 3 to 6 months. New Offices have also been established for Youth Ministry, Woman’s  Ministry and Helping People. Religion is not taught in schools so the Church works with local schools to use classrooms for religious instruction. This is critical as parents have not had instruction for generations – as in Canada.

The takeaway – we have seen with our own eyes that Christ’s Church cannot be destroyed by political and economic oppression as tyranny always fails. We have seen a proud people lifting themselves out of poverty by embracing democracy and Christian values of love and service. For most of us this is our first exposure to the Orthodox Church – and it is impressive. There is a spiritual resurrection going on in Albania. Let us give thanks and continue to pray for Albania!

The Oldest Profession

Most people would say prostitution is the oldest profession but as our guide explained the ancient temple practices associated with the Oracle at Delphi, I realized priests have been around even longer. Human beings have deep seated fears about the future and probably even before sex became a commodity for sale, priests offered comfort in the form of assurance of divine favor. Delphi is possibly the most famous example of this.

Delphi is not easy to get to. It is in the middle of Greece two hours from Athens and four hours from Thessaloniki. The road in from the main highway winds around and over a mountain with spectacular – and frightening views. The temple site is about 1 sq. kilometer up the side of a mountain. It includes a Treasury where visitors could leave offerings to the gods, a theatre, the Temple of Apollo and a 5^th Century stadium for races and games. The current Museum includes statues, art and artifacts from the Temple.

In ancient times priests had set up an elaborate system to help people consult the Oracle at Delphi. Ancient people had a supernatural worldview that accepted personal experiences of the divine in the form of healing, ecstasy and prophecy. This is the worldview of the Bible which has been dismissed as ignorant superstition by many modern people. The only difference is that Christianity teaches us there is a dark side to the spiritual dimension so we all need to ‘discern the spirits’. In ancient times temple priests would select wise older women who would go into the Temple of Apollo to consult the gods. Archeologists have discovered caverns below the Temple which were likely filled with gases which would give these women an experience of ecstasy – a ‘high’. In this drugged state they would emerge, probably speaking fairly incoherently. The work of the priests was to interpret this for visitors. This would have been the equivalent of modern pastoral care when priests sometimes ‘adjust’ Biblical truth to give people what they want as opposed to the sometimes harsh truth. The game goes on with the consequence that many people do not respect or consult modern priests. This is a great tragedy as there is a whole spiritual dimension to life which many people are completely unaware of. The consequences have been devastating in terms of conflict, wars and personal suffering.

The take away after travelling across Turkey and Greece, retracing the route of Paul’s Second Journey, is that faith is a living thing. We have seen huge ruins as evidence of huge faith. In many places this faith has been either gradually lost or overrun by military conquest. The good news is that in some places, such as  Greece we can see churches which have not become museums where people are fed spiritually and lead richer lives. Now we understand the many Biblical references to conflict in churches and contending for the faith. Being a spiritual person is not supposed to be easy.

Finally God Moments (May 24-25)

As we crossed the border from Turkey into Greece we also crossed from an officially secular state where Christianity is under active persecution and limited to a small remnant of Greek Orthodox churches in Istanbul and Izmir plus an unknown number of house churches; to an officially Christian state where the danger is creeping secularism. It feels different. I found the daily calls to prayer oppressive. Often, by co-incidence I would be up early and spreading my own prayer mat – a large bath towel on a marble floor to do my 20 sit-ups and push-ups. We all have our rituals.

Greece feels different. As we had dinner on the top floor of our hotel in Kavala (where the Apostle Paul first landed in Europe) I noticed a small cross on top of the nearby mountain. It was later lit up and visible in the dark. In exploring the small (60,000) town of Kavala I went around and found the entrance to a small Orthodox church near our hotel. It was open at 6.30 pm on a Friday. There were real people praying and lighting candles inside. What a change from two weeks of being in churches that had been desecrated and turned into mosques and museums! I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was a beautifully decorated church with the same type of fresco's and mosaics that had been covered up or stolen from St. Sophia in Istanbul. Instead of empty frames where Christian and Muslim iconoclasts had removed or soldiers had stolen icons – there they were. There was a warm glow in the place and like the early evangelists I went out and shared the good news with my fellow travelers.