There’s an old African-American spiritual that starts in the first verse with “I’m gonna sing when the Spirit says ‘sing.’“ Then in following verses we have “I’m gonna pray when the Spirit says pray,” and then “shout when the Spirit says shout.” I’m pretty sure it can go on for as many verses as the singers can come up with verbs to insert in it.
There must be a verse somewhere in this song that says, “I’m gonna speak when the Spirit says speak“ because that is what the theme for the week turns out to be. When the Holy Spirit tells you to speak then it is time for you to stand up and speak.
I’ll be using bits from three of today’s lectionary readings—first from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, and then from Luke’s gospel account and finally from Paul’s first letter to the people of the Greek city of Corinth. So rather than one reading before my message, there will be at least these three scattered throughout it. Taken all together they give us an interesting picture of the Spirit working among God’s people down through the generations and the centuries.
We’re going to begin with Jeremiah, who lived in Judah and ended up speaking for God in the latter years of the sixth century and the early years of the fifth century. This reading comes when he was still very young, but sets him up for the rest of his long life:
This is how it began for Jeremiah—with him unwilling and frightened and God quite insistent. It made no difference that Jeremiah didn’t feel at all capable of this job. God assured Jeremiah that he was indeed the one God wanted for this task and, furthermore, God had it all covered.
It wasn’t an easy time to be a prophet of God. The people did not at all want to hear what Jeremiah had to say to them. They had wandered quite far from God’s worship and many were openly worshiping other gods and following their ungodly practices. The priests of these other gods hounded Jeremiah—“prophesying” against him--and tried many times to kill him, but he lived a long life—through the reigns of three different kings and even, ultimately, through the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar--speaking always whenever the Spirit said speak.
The second reading for today is the gospel reading from Luke, chapter 4:16-19. Jesus, having just come out of the wilderness after the forty days alone and following his baptism, has returned to his home territory in Galilee—and there he begins his public ministry. The one the locals had only ever known as Joseph and Mary’s son, now following that inner voice that would direct him for the rest of his human life, began to speak in a way that others now listened to him and began to follow him in order to hear more. Luke tells us:
Jesus was/is The Word, present from the very beginning, come to share his Father’s word with a world sorely in need of that word. In quoting Isaiah he spoke the truth of his Spirit and reminded the world that he was here to bring good news to the poor – and, in Isaiah’s words, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He was here to tell us we are loved and that there is always a place in God’s heart for each of us.
The third person we are hearing from today is Paul who once was Saul, but was filled with a new Spirit and learned a new way to be. Paul spoke out to remind us there one very important aspect of the Spirit’s word for us. He wrote it in his first letter to the people of Corinth:
We may speak when the Spirit says speak, and we may think we are doing so in the voices of angel/messengers. But if there is not love in what we speak then the words are not God’s words.
There are so many in the wider church today who claim they are speaking for God and yet, so many listeners hear only anger and selfishness and fear. How can those be words spoken at the Spirit’s urging? How can anyone claim those words belong to God? Someone needs to speak out and say that those words are not God’s. Perhaps “someone” is you?
God’s Spirit speaks through us across the ages. We are still, today, two thousand years later, likely to be moved by the Spirit to speak out God’s words where and when they are needed.
Most of us, most likely, like Jeremiah, will respond at first with something like, “Who? Me? Not me, Lord! I can’t do that! Get someone else!” But – are we really ready to tell God that they don’t know what they are doing? Hopefully, not.
And hopefully, we won’t have to be struck blind, like Paul, before we accept that the Spirit is indeed calling us to speak out.
If it makes you feel better, few of us are ever likely to be called to stand before kings and other leaders to speak. But we may be called to speak to friends and neighbors when the truth needs to be spoken. We can be called upon at town hall meetings, at the office, or church social hour, or school board meetings--anywhere untruths are being spoken and harmful actions are being planned.
Speaking when the Spirit says ‘speak’ is not always as dramatic as Jeremiah preaching to kings, or Paul traveling around Europe introducing strangers there to Jesus.
But whenever, and wherever, the Spirit calls, may we be brave enough stand up and say “no, your joke is not funny, your plan is discriminatory, that idea is hurting people...” To do so is speaking when the Spirit says speak – and doing it with love.
There must be a verse somewhere in this song that says, “I’m gonna speak when the Spirit says speak“ because that is what the theme for the week turns out to be. When the Holy Spirit tells you to speak then it is time for you to stand up and speak.
I’ll be using bits from three of today’s lectionary readings—first from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, and then from Luke’s gospel account and finally from Paul’s first letter to the people of the Greek city of Corinth. So rather than one reading before my message, there will be at least these three scattered throughout it. Taken all together they give us an interesting picture of the Spirit working among God’s people down through the generations and the centuries.
We’re going to begin with Jeremiah, who lived in Judah and ended up speaking for God in the latter years of the sixth century and the early years of the fifth century. This reading comes when he was still very young, but sets him up for the rest of his long life:
- Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
- ”Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”
- But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”
- Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:4-9)
This is how it began for Jeremiah—with him unwilling and frightened and God quite insistent. It made no difference that Jeremiah didn’t feel at all capable of this job. God assured Jeremiah that he was indeed the one God wanted for this task and, furthermore, God had it all covered.
It wasn’t an easy time to be a prophet of God. The people did not at all want to hear what Jeremiah had to say to them. They had wandered quite far from God’s worship and many were openly worshiping other gods and following their ungodly practices. The priests of these other gods hounded Jeremiah—“prophesying” against him--and tried many times to kill him, but he lived a long life—through the reigns of three different kings and even, ultimately, through the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar--speaking always whenever the Spirit said speak.
The second reading for today is the gospel reading from Luke, chapter 4:16-19. Jesus, having just come out of the wilderness after the forty days alone and following his baptism, has returned to his home territory in Galilee—and there he begins his public ministry. The one the locals had only ever known as Joseph and Mary’s son, now following that inner voice that would direct him for the rest of his human life, began to speak in a way that others now listened to him and began to follow him in order to hear more. Luke tells us:
- He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus was/is The Word, present from the very beginning, come to share his Father’s word with a world sorely in need of that word. In quoting Isaiah he spoke the truth of his Spirit and reminded the world that he was here to bring good news to the poor – and, in Isaiah’s words, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He was here to tell us we are loved and that there is always a place in God’s heart for each of us.
The third person we are hearing from today is Paul who once was Saul, but was filled with a new Spirit and learned a new way to be. Paul spoke out to remind us there one very important aspect of the Spirit’s word for us. He wrote it in his first letter to the people of Corinth:
- If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-2)
We may speak when the Spirit says speak, and we may think we are doing so in the voices of angel/messengers. But if there is not love in what we speak then the words are not God’s words.
There are so many in the wider church today who claim they are speaking for God and yet, so many listeners hear only anger and selfishness and fear. How can those be words spoken at the Spirit’s urging? How can anyone claim those words belong to God? Someone needs to speak out and say that those words are not God’s. Perhaps “someone” is you?
God’s Spirit speaks through us across the ages. We are still, today, two thousand years later, likely to be moved by the Spirit to speak out God’s words where and when they are needed.
Most of us, most likely, like Jeremiah, will respond at first with something like, “Who? Me? Not me, Lord! I can’t do that! Get someone else!” But – are we really ready to tell God that they don’t know what they are doing? Hopefully, not.
And hopefully, we won’t have to be struck blind, like Paul, before we accept that the Spirit is indeed calling us to speak out.
If it makes you feel better, few of us are ever likely to be called to stand before kings and other leaders to speak. But we may be called to speak to friends and neighbors when the truth needs to be spoken. We can be called upon at town hall meetings, at the office, or church social hour, or school board meetings--anywhere untruths are being spoken and harmful actions are being planned.
Speaking when the Spirit says ‘speak’ is not always as dramatic as Jeremiah preaching to kings, or Paul traveling around Europe introducing strangers there to Jesus.
But whenever, and wherever, the Spirit calls, may we be brave enough stand up and say “no, your joke is not funny, your plan is discriminatory, that idea is hurting people...” To do so is speaking when the Spirit says speak – and doing it with love.
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