Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
It is difficult to write a sermon about the Holy Spirit, because it is THE part of the Trinity that is the most difficult to understand, yet, ironically, it is the manifestation of God that is with us all the time. Jesus himself said that after his earthly ministry was over — after he ascended to heaven, as we read in the first chapter of Acts — he said that his newly founded church would receive the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate to lead them into all truth. Even though we are told not to make any graven images of God, the history of western art has furnished us with numerous images of God the Father and more of Jesus. Just look at the work of Michelangelo, Rubens, and William Blake among countless others. However, depictions of the Holy Spirit are much harder to come by. When we do see them, the Holy Spirit is typically represented as a dove. As I’ve mentioned before, when the Holy Spirit appears in the Bible (the Old Testament as well as the New), it typically is depicted in one of five forms: a bird (typically a dove), as we just mentioned, as well as fire, oil, wind (or breath), or water. Aside from a bird, we do not see these as living, animate things. Seriously, God appearing as oil or water?
Yes, it is difficult to write a sermon about the Holy Spirit.
Maybe it is not about physicality. After all, it is the Holy Spirit. Maybe we get a better understanding of who or what the Holy Spirit is if we try to understand it with our hearts instead of our physical senses.
I remember a professor I had in seminary, Dr. Elizabeth Nordbeck. She taught Church History primarily and was an expert in Congregational polity — polity is all about church governance and structure. I took a class in polity with Dr. Nordbeck my last year at Andover Newton. We discussed boundary issues between pastors and their parishioners and how pastors should never, ever meet alone with children, and male pastors should never be alone in the church building with a female parishioner. Mind you, all of this was in the wake of the widely reported clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Nordbeck went over all the rules regarding such practices, but then she said (off the record): Trust your gut. There will be people that you feel totally comfortable meeting with alone, and others that you don’t. Intuition goes a long way.
Her words remained with me ever since, and not about the topic at hand (meaning, not about who you are safe to meet with alone and who is questionable). It was the whole “trust your gut” statement. Looking back, I realize that every time I trusted my gut in a potentially difficult situation, I was glad that I did. Conversely, when I didn’t trust my instincts, I regretted it. Psychologists claim that our intuition is shaped by past experiences. While that is true, it is an incomplete understanding of where our “gut feelings” come from. Theologians often say that our instincts and intuition are the way that the Holy Spirit speaks to us. I agree wholeheartedly. However, we must be careful. We must discern that it is actually the Holy Spirit speaking to us rather than an unreliable emotion. In the First Letter of John, we read quite clearly, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1).
But when that voice isn’t a false spirit, or a flight of fancy, or even the remnant of what you had for dinner last night, then you’re onto something good. You are tuned in to the living Spirit of the living God. Indeed, God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, touching the deepest recesses of our souls. If we listen carefully — and that is hard to do with all the other voices clamoring around us, vying for our attention — if we listen carefully, then that voice will lead us into all that is true, and good, and righteous.
We may trip along the way. We may get things wrong, but even those are teaching moments — moments when we look back on what we’ve done (or what we shouldn’t have done) and know that we need to trust our instincts: that God is with us as our spiritual, moral, and practical compass. But again, we’re not always listening. Shirley Desmond Jackson writes, “As Spirit-led people, we don’t always know what is best. But we can learn to trust the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Later, when we process the situation with Him, He will lead us to a deeper understanding. The key is to remain open and attentive to His prompts.”[1]
That Spirit was with Jesus, and he trusted it. His life was rooted in prayer — one in which he was guided by the very spiritual presence of the Father. It guided his thoughts and actions, and it offers us the same support. Bible Connections, an online resource published by Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Publishers, puts it quite astutely: “Scripture tells us that the only Guide worth trusting is the Holy Spirit. He is the One who knows our pasts completely, from the moment we were conceived to the present, and who also knows our futures, from this day to eternity. He knows God’s plans and purposes for us today and for each day of our lives.”
Let your spirit be saturated by God’s Spirit. Let it infuse you. Stop before you act. Pray before you decide. That living Spirit will provide you with everything you need for a life well-lived, one that will lead you to all truth and light. Amen.
[1] Shirley Desmond Jackson, “Learning How to Trust the Promptings of the Holy Spirit,” May 7, 2025.