I (Bronwyn) have mentioned before that I was introduced to Jesus by a Sunday school teacher when I was 6 years old. What you might not know is that it was in a very charismatic church, where people talked as much about water baptism as they did “being baptized in the Spirit” and worship on a Sunday morning was frequently interrupted by long spells of people singing in tongues on their own. I thought that was normal… until I got to College and started dating a very buttoned-up traditionalist guy (where worship was all hymns on the organ), and there certainly was no mention of the Holy Spirit. Ever.
By the time I entered seminary, I was one very confused Christian. I’d been in different churches with radically different language, practices, and expectations about the Holy Spirit – and yet I also knew that each of these communities were submitted to Jesus and the Scriptures. Over the past 25 years I’ve wrestled with those different experiences and teachings: I want to “keep in step with the Spirit”, as Galatians 5:25 tells us to do. I don’t want to lag behind by underestimating or ignoring Him as if there were only two members to the Godhead, but I also don’t want to race ahead and make more of spiritual gifts or experiences of God’s presence than I should. I’ve longed for faithful, biblical, practical dialog and practice on this.
In the 20 years I’ve been at FBC, I’ve seen evidence of the Holy Spirit at work among our church. I’ve seen the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control abounding. I’ve seen people convicted and commissioned (which is clearly something only the Spirit does - see John 16:7-9). I’ve seen evidence of the Spirit’s gifting as people have exercised gifts of mercy, teaching, faith, intercession, administration, wisdom, and even prophetic words.
But until this current Everyday Presence series in our Sunday sermons and home group discussions, I can’t remember us giving this much focused attention on teaching and equipping the church to understand, and thus be better able to pay attention to, who the Holy Spirit is and how He leads and works. I’ve found this series comforting, challenging, and clarifying. I’ve found it humbling (leading me to pray!) and helpful (giving me language to make sense of some of those very divergent experiences). I hope it has encouraged you to feel you are better able to “keep in step with the Spirit”, too.
We would love to hear from you how you are experiencing the Everyday Presence of the Holy Spirit differently. If you have a story or an “a-ha!” moment you’d like to share, or if you have a question you’d like to explore - the pastoral staff and I would love to hear from you. Drop us an email. And, if you missed any of the sermons along the way and want to listen (or relisten! Or share with someone and discuss with them), a reminder that we have all our sermons recorded on YouTube as well as uploaded as podcasts on spotify, apple podcasts and other platforms.
Grateful to walk with you—and the Holy Spirit—step by step,
Pastor Bronwyn
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