I am convinced that our beloved Rector looks at the readings before he decides when to take his holidays and the fact tomorrow is his birthday has nothing to do with it!  Today is a good example; he knows that I look upon the writings of St John with trepidation.  St John is not the easiest person to interpret and the more I looked at the Gospel reading as well as the Epistle, the more I asked myself who is the God that is being talked about.

In the Bible we read that God is the all powerful, personal, spiritual being, who is beyond our understanding.  But who has revealed himself to mankind in his work of creation and in his continuing activity in history.  He created all life and he is the one who keeps it all going.  We can see him at work time and time again in the Old Testament as he helps his people, Israel.  In the New Testament, we see him at work especially in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  He also continues to work in a personal way in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

The Bible tells us what God is like by telling us what he does.  What the Bible does not do is give us abstract philosophical descriptions of his nature.  But it is clear that God is all seeing and all knowing, and present everywhere.  His nature is both holy and just, loving and forgiving.  The Bible takes the existence of God as a fact that needs no proof. We only have to look at how it opens; it begins with one simple statement …

In the beginning God created …

So God is to be seen as God the creator.  The one who fist started things off. T he one, who in a manner of speaking, pressed the button that started the ball rolling.  God created everything that we can see or think about and much more beyond that.  Everything that was created in the order set down by science today was created by God and set down in his holy word thousands of years ago and the two agree.  Regardless of how we think of God, we learn that Yahweh – the Hebrew name for God – is the only true God.  He is the creator and king over all there is.

The name, Yahweh, is the personal name for God that is often found in the Old Testament, in English we often render it as Jehovah.  Traditionally, the Jewish people avoid using this divine name out of reverence and substitute a word meaning Lord.  This scruple has been perpetuated by most English translations of the Bible.  But if we forget to look beyond the substitute name to the personal intimate name of God himself, we lose much in our bible reading. 

In telling his people his personal name, God intends to reveal to them his inner most character.  As a word by itself, the word Yahweh is related to the Hebrew verb to be. This verb goes beyond the meaning that most people normally attach to it, that of to exist. It means, rather, to be actively present.  Yahweh In the third chapter of the book of Exodus, is the God actively present with his people, but the moment he chose to make himself  known was when his people, as doomed slaves, needed to be redeemed.

In other words, this idea of the active presence tells us that God is with us, but not what sort of God he is.  In choosing the time of the Exodus to reveal the meaning of his name, he identifies himself as the God who saves his people and overthrows his adversaries.

God’s holiness lies at the root of his self revelation as Yahweh; the I AM WHO I AM. This can be seen working out in the holy redemption and holy wrath of the events of the Passover.

In another Passover, several centuries later, we learn of God as saviour and redeemer of his people.  Who came and lived among his people as one of them.  Who for the forgiveness of their sins, died upon  a cross as a Messiah used, abused and rejected by the people he had come to save and serve in the form of Jesus, our Lord.  By redeeming our sins with a once and for all sacrifice, Jesus brought us back so we can again walk with God.  It is often said that man is a slave to sin and that if we want to give up sinning, we cannot do so completely.  However, by his life, death and resurrection, Jesus paid the price that would set us free.

Without the life death and resurrection of Jesus, our faith has no meaning and validity.  By our faith in Him we can now be saved.  This free gift is offered to all, no matter what their religious, racial or social, because everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.  Christians are saved as they have asked for forgiveness and set out on a new life set out for the by Jesus.

We must remember that salvation goes farther than affecting a person’s spiritual life. It concerns his or her whole person.  When a person becomes a Christian, Christ’s salvation affects the whole of life, physical as well as spiritual.

Also in the New Testament, God is seen at work as God the life-giver, through the activity of his holy spirit.  However, it should not be taken for granted that the Holy Spirit of God was at work only during New Testament times as the Holy Spirit has been at work throughout the history of God’s work and God’s people.  The Spirit of God was active in the creation of the world, and as God is present everywhere, there is nowhere in the whole of creation outside of his domain.  Repeatedly we read of the Spirit of God giving his people the power needed for the special service that he requires.  It was the Spirit of God that gave the prophets their inspiration and communicated the word of God through them.  But the Old Testament looked forward to the day when the Spirit of God would be poured out on all people.

It is this longing that comes to a head in the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit was present at the day of Pentecost where the disciples were baptised in its power.  We too can share in this outpouring and baptism … for when we accept God into our lives as a living presence and commit ourselves to live our lives by living by the example set out for us by Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and lives within us, giving us a new understanding and direction to our lives and at the same time makes us aware that we are really children of God.

The Holy Spirit helps the Christian to realise his oneness with others in Jesus. The Spirit works to reproduce the character of Jesus in the life of every Christian … the qualities of love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.

So let us allow the Spirit of God to change our lives in the power of the redemption and salvation of the death and resurrection of our Saviour, so that we may be able to work and serve God in the various ways in which he wants us to and for which he created us.