How to See a Ghost!

Sermon for Whitsunday

Apparently, the British Isles is one of the most haunted countries in the world. Many of its historical sites are reputed to be visited by spirits, some of whom re-enact the manner of their demise. Others stare despondently through windows. Others are said to play pranks.

Apparently twenty-eight percent of British citizens claim to have seen a ghost. What do we think about that? Christians aren't supposed to believe in ghosts, are we?

[PAUSE]

Of course we are! We are supposed to believe in the Holy Ghost, and we remember that today. But have you ever seen the Holy Ghost?

It's a sad fact that the Holy Ghost is not perceived by many Christians as being very obvious as the Father and the Son. Even in the Bible, the Holy Ghost only seems to become prominent as being foretold by Our Lord and becoming present in the Acts of the Apostles. Yet, He is present throughout the entirety of Holy Scripture, moving on the face of the waters in the first verses of Genesis. We know that Scripture is God-breathed and we remember that the Hebrew word for breath is ruach which is the same as the word used for the Spirit of God.

We do see the Holy Ghost descending on Our Lord like a dove at His baptism. We see His fire upon the heads of the Apostles as they receive their ordination as bishops from God Himself on this day of Pentecost. They have already been baptised with the Holy Ghost when Our Lord breathes on them and tells them, "receive ye the Holy Ghost." This anointing with the Holy Ghost comes after Our Lord's ascension.

We believe that we too, like the apostles, are baptised with the Holy Ghost. Like the apostles, when we were baptised, we probably didn't see anything at that moment. We didn't see the Holy Ghost descend on us like a dove when we were at the font. Our Bishops probably didn't have a fire seen burning above their head when they were consecrated, though there are some reports of unusual and holy things happening for some.

That ought to worry us a bit, for Jesus does say to His disciples that the Holy Ghost "the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." If we don't see the Holy Ghost at our baptisms, confirmations or ordinations, then perhaps we aren't really receiving Him because we aren't seeing Him. Perhaps all of our sacraments are elaborate charades, just dress-up, smoke and mirrors.

You don't believe that, do you?

[PAUSE]

Of course, some people do believe that and will laugh at us for all our ritual, our strange dress, our focus on little actions which seem so insignificant as to be just silly. Guess what! It's these people who are of the world. They see only through the world's eye; they do not know God because they don't want to know God. Thus, they will be given exactly what they want - an absence of God. They can't receive Him because they won't receive Him.

Our Lord seems to be saying that there are two ways of seeing things, and this really does show up in our church life.

 What we see is wafer and wine, but we are looking with our eyes of the world. If we look again, this time bringing our belief and trust in Our Lord Jesus' promises, then we see His Body and Blood. Nothing changes with our eyes, but something does change in the way that we look at things because we look at them with God showing us His truth.

We see water on the baby's head and, trusting in God, we see a new member of the Church.
We see the hands of the Bishop upon the man's head and, trusting in God, we see a new priest at whose hands we may receive the true grace of God given for us through His love.

We see because we believe. This is the mistake that St Thomas makes and yet he is corrected. It's so sad that he is known as Doubting Thomas for this single instance of doubt when, receiving the Holy Ghost, he goes out and brings Christianity to India which still thrives to this day! We should be calling Him Believing Thomas because we see, trusting in God, a man who brings the faith to people who are hungry for salvation and tired of sin.

We see a church of millions arise from the work of a tiny handful of men and women and, trusting in God, we know it to be the work of the Holy Ghost.

[PAUSE]

Creation is literally nothing without its Creator. Many people try to disengage the world from God and in doing so lose out on what really is. They lose the light of the world and so things become dark. If we want to see God, then we must believe in Him and we will see Him at work. We can't just ask to see Him as if He were a spectacle like a fireworks show because that is not believing. That is putting Him to the test.

To believe means to love and, if we love, then we must obey His commandments. That's how we see the Holy Ghost!