"I will pour out my Spirit on all people"

Joel 2:28

Each year, we have a Bible verse which is aimed at helping to focus our hearts and minds on what we believe God is wanting to do in our Churches in the year ahead. So what do we think God is saying this year - you can read below some of the Rector's thoughts about 2009!

According to the financial experts 2009 is not going to be an easy year. The fear generated by a recession is running deep and will, no doubt have knock-on effects in all parts of life. So tighten your belt, watch your step – and welcome to 2009! What a contrast to the Verse we have for this coming year - a verse which, incidentally, God gave me a long time before the financial crisis took hold. It is a verse which reeks of the abundance of God’s unconditional generosity and love...

“I will pour out”. This is not an impersonal statement that God’s Spirit will be poured out but that it is God himself who seeks to give us the Holy Spirit.

“I will pour out”. God always keeps his promises and what happened at Pentecost, when He poured out His Spirit on the early Church was a fulfilment of this promise in Joel. Down the years, the Church has seen this promise renewed and refreshed over and over again and in our generation the Church is grasping the reality afresh – that God WILL pour out His Spirit on us!

“I will pour out”. Unlike us, God doesn’t begrudgingly fulfil his promises with a feeble effort – when God “pours out” he does so “in abundance”! We only need to look at the wine at the wedding in Cana to know that God doesn’t do things by halves.

“My Spirit”. We have just heard again the story of Christmas and the way God has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:19 tells us that “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him”. When God gave himself for us, he did so completely and utterly in Jesus’ death on the Cross. God is wanting to give us something of Himself and there is nothing more that anyone can possibly give to us.

“On all people”. One of the biggest deceptions of the Devil that the Church has fallen for is the suggestion that the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the Gifts which the early church experienced and used were for that time, and that time alone. How can that possibly fit with the abundant love and generosity we see in this verse? I believe that God wants to pour out his Spirit on all people in all generations – even ours!

This year will see many things happen in the life of our Churches in the midst of a world which is in financial turmoil and it may affect us as a Church and members of our community. Being engulfed by God’s Spirit is not going to immunise us from the reality of the problems around us, but knowing that he wants to pour out his Spirit is surely the best thing we can look forward to in the months ahead. In our Sunday worship, in our Home Groups and at our Parish Weekend, we have opportunities to come expectantly, wanting to receive Him afresh. If there is one New Years Resolution that is worth making, it is that we will all be praying for this outpouring each and every day of 2009.

Tim Storey

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