Greyfriars  PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

PASTORAL LETTER

My Dear Friends,

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2Cor. 3:17f

This month we remember and celebrate again the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church on the Day of Pentecost. We celebrate the fulfilment of the promise Jesus gave his disciples in the Upper Room of the Comforter who would come to strengthen them, to bear witness to Him, to remind them of His words. Together with the Cross and the Resurrection, the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit within the Church is the authentic sign of the Kingdom of God among us. We are familiar with some of the symbols associated with the Holy Spirit - fire for purifying and refining, water for cleansing, oil for consecration and anointing, the dove for gentleness, and the wind for energy and power. What about other images of life in the Spirit?

1. Freedom: We are certainly set free from all kinds of rules and regulations. It was Augustine who spoke of loving God and doing what we like! In former times the pious Jew could determine his righteousness in the light of the good or right things he did, and the evil or wrong things he avoided. The freedom motif is no accident. Its opposite is bondage and imprisonment, being confined and restricted in all kinds of ways. In the Bible that is the picture of sin. It is also a picture of institutional, formal religion. It is the extraordinary message of the Gospel that we are set free in Christ. We are free from guilt and condemnation. We are free too, from all kinds of codes and requirements. We are free to be ourselves before the Lord. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" [John 8:36]. Now Paul asserts that life in the Spirit means living in freedom, in an atmosphere of true spontaneity. We are living in the environment of the Spirit, which is rather like a spiritual springtime after a long, hard, icy winter. New life is springing up everywhere - around us and within us - and that leads to a whole new outlook on things. We are now free to live whole-heartedly and utterly for God. The refreshing breeze of the Holy Spirit is blowing through the Church - and blowing through our lives. It brings freshness and vitality. It is exhilarating. Is that true for you?
2. Relationship: The reference to the unveiled face looks back to the time Moses came down from the mountain-top after receiving the Law. His face shone with the reflection of the glory of God. He wore a veil in order that the people might not see the glory, or else might not see that it was fading as time passed. The unveiled face now speaks of our relationship with God in Christ through the Spirit. You recall how Abraham is described as the friend of God, with whom God spoke face to face as a friend. The Psalmist asks that God should not hide his face from him. The indwelling Spirit is the sign that we have been brought into God's family. We have been adopted in Christ. We fully belong to the family. We are not accepted on sufferance. We have been truly integrated into the family of God. We have been given all the rights and privileges of belonging to the family. What we have with the Father in Christ through the Spirit is no mere formal relationship, but rather intimacy. This is the full meaning of the unveiled face, or the face-to-face metaphor elsewhere. The writer to the Hebrews uses the metaphor of access to the presence of God, or freedom of speaking - not least when mentioning our privilege of coming to the throne of grace "with confidence, so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" [4:16]. We can come to God about anything. We can tell Him anything. We can come to God over everything. We can talk to Him about everything. As parents we would be disturbed if we felt our children - of whatever age - felt they could not come to us with their concerns, anxieties, difficulties, disappointments, successes, frustrations, and achievements. That is what it means to be parents. That is what belonging means, what family means, what relationship means. We don't have to bottle it up. We are free to speak, to talk it over. God is our Father. God relates to us like a mother. We belong to the family. Don't miss out on the intimacy.
3. Transformation: The outcome of our intimacy with God is that we are transformed. Living in the atmosphere of the Spirit changes us. Elsewhere [Galatians 5] Paul describes this outcome as the fruit of the Spirit. This is what it means to be a new creation. We are being changed more and moreinto the family likeness. We develop the family characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The more we behold or gaze upon the greatness, glory and character of God in Christ, the more in our own lives we reflect God's nature. That is the thrust of the mirror image in the verse. Mirrors are for looking at or looking into. They also reflect images. It is interesting how often the transformation idea comes up in Scripture. We have the picture of God constantly working away on us. We are his project. We are his field in which he is sowing good seed, and from which looking for a good harvest he clears the weeds. We are his building, which is for his glory, and so he wants it to be the best it can be. By the Spirit he is transforming us from weak, ineffective followers into strong believers - empowered and energised to do his will and fulfil his purposes. We are his holy people, bearing his likeness. Here is cause indeed for celebration and thanksgiving. We are indwelt by God's Spirit. It is our birthright in Christ. In the darkness of this present world we are the bearers and the community of the Holy Spirit. This same Spirit is the pledge and token of all that is to come for the future when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.

God bless you all.

J O EVANS