Rev Gav

How can we be led by the Spirit

Go read Acts 16.9–15.

I love this story. It’s a story of the Holy Spirit prompting and leading Paul and his companions into the unknown, and it’s a story of heaven and earth working together — a collaboration between God and us — that leads to lives transformed.

The first thing of which to take note is that Paul is completely open and obedient to God. Paul’s life is God’s to direct and he will go wherever the Spirit leads and do whatever God asks of him. Sure, he’s in the favourable position of being a full-time missionary and has the time and means to simply drop everything, but never-the-less, it was still his choice to be expectant, open, and obedient to the Spirit’s leading.

Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia pleading with him to come, and he discerned that this vision was from God and heeded the appeal. God prompted, but it was still up to Paul how to get to Macedonia, and it involved what we might call the unspiritual and very human tasks of planning, tickets, travel, and accommodation. Then, when Paul arrived at his destination he used his initiative to go to a place on the Sabbath where God-fearing people might gather to pray, and at this place he simply started chatting to people. This led him to talk with a woman called Lydia who then responded to God and became a follower of Jesus. How cool is that?

I love how the Spirit works. During our communion at St. Mark’s we sing the beautiful song ‘Remember Me’. Well, I would like to tell you the story of how Helen and I came to bring that song to St. Mark’s? I think it’s a wonderful story about how the Spirit leads and about how God works!

Helen and I had a short vacation trip planned to Toronto and before we left, a guy started following me on social media. His name was Jamie and he was an artist. I clicked on his profile and noticed he lived in Toronto, which I thought was a bit strange as we were due to go there in two week’s time. On Jamie’s social media page he had posted up a video from a church called MCC Toronto, and I remembered that I knew of a priest in that church called June who I had chatted to some years previously. I went to MCC Toronto’s web page to see if June was still a priest there and she still was. I also noticed that the church was looking for a new minister.

A couple of days later, June was on social media and shared a post that she was going through a rough time and so I reached out to her and we had a chat and I prayed for her. I also told her we would be visiting Toronto in a couple of week’s time and we might pop along on a Sunday and if we did so we would say hello.

Just before we left for Toronto, Canon Anne, from a sister church in Bermuda said I should look up her friend, Revd Randy WIlliams, but, to be honest, this was our vacation and I did not want to be visiting clergy!

After we arrived in Toronto, Helen and I were wondering whether to go to MCC Toronto on the coming Sunday but were undecided, and on our second day there we were in the downtown area and stopped in a cafe to have some breakfast. At the next table two men were having a loud discussion with one of the men talking to his friend about the church of which he was a member. Our ears pricked up! The man talking about his church said that his pastor was leaving and before the man left the cafe I leaned over and apologised for eavesdropping and asked which church he went to. It was MCC Toronto and I told him that Helen and I were thinking of going along. It turned out he was in the choir and he said, “Well this is your personal invite to come along!”

It was a sign and Helen and I were determined to go to MCC Toronto that Sunday. Looking it up on a Google Maps, it was a 30 minute walk from our hotel.

Sunday came and we walked to the church. We both felt that we were supposed to be there, but didn’t know why. Then during communion, June, the priest I knew online and two other priests sang the communion song, ‘Remember Me’ and we loved it. After the worship, we said a quick hello to June before leaving and walking back to the hotel. As we walked back, I asked Helen why we felt so strongly that the Lord had led us to that church on that Sunday and Helen replied, “If nothing else it was for that communion song! We should do it at St. Mark’s!”

As we walked I had a nagging feeling that I should respond to Canon Anne’s request and see if we could meet up with her clergy friend. I messaged him but had no reply. Later that afternoon we had walked west of the city and had found ourselves in a mall. It was then that Revd Randy messaged back to say that the traffic would be too bad to drive into downtown at that time of day. I messaged back that we were in the west of the city and told him the mall we were in. He replied, “You’re there? I can get there! Stay where you are, I’ll be there in ten minutes!”

We met up with Randy and hit it off straight away. I explained the whole story of how we ended up at MCC and worked backwards — the encounter in the cafe, the MCC website, the video I had seen, and so on, to the point where I told him that some random artist had followed me on social media. “Not Jamie Rae?” he asked. I replied, “Yes, that’s the one!” Randy laughed, “That’s my partner!”

Was it all simply a series of coincidences? Perhaps. Or perhaps we simply listened to the Holy Spirit and were obedient.

Was it a coincidence that Lydia was by the river that day when Paul decided to rock up? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was all part of God’s plan.

So, what’s the faith lesson for us?

The question I’d like to ask you is, how open are you to receiving visions from God — and by visions I mean allowing your mind to wander and to imagine or consider future possibilities?

I remember once, someone telling me they were trying to hear from God, and each time they prayed they would concentrate on emptying their mind so they could be an empty vessel ready to be filled with visions or messages. Despite doing this repeatedly, they had never had a single divinely-inspired message. I gently pointed out that perhaps God would be unable to speak through their imagination if they didn’t allow themselves to imagine!

God-given visions happen when we give permission for the Spirit of God to speak to us — i.e. we open ourselves to God — and we allow ourselves to imagine how things could be in the future.

We all have imaginations and all we need to do is be open to God inspiring them. Christians such as Wilberforce had to imagine a world without slavery, and Martin Luther King had to imagine a world of equal rights. We too can imagine the hungry being fed, the lonely finding companionship, the bereaved being comforted, the marginalised being upheld, the poor being supported, and the sick in body and mind being healed — because only when we imagine these things are we able to make them become a reality.

Go. Be people who are open to God and let your imaginations run wild!

Amen.