Yesterday, I popped into one of our local pubs to pay the deposits and give preorders for the chapel Christmas meal. This year, the Christmas meal will come to us at the chapel, which is nice – only a few practicalities to iron out. And a few tables to decorate.
All these deposits made me think of something the Bible says about the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came as a human being to be “God-with-us” which in Hebrew is “Immanuel” – not God far away, God on a cloud, God looking down, God detached from us, but God-with-us, God getting hungry and thirsty and looking with compassion at us in our human condition with Godself chose to share, most intensely, you will remember, when Jesus took upon himself all our ailments, illnesses, mistakes, mischief and wickedness; our guilt, our shame, our tendency to go wrong, our unwillingness to surrender – all of what has ever been wrong with anyone, and carried it to the cross and dragged all of it into death with him, where it stayed, but Jesus did not.
Before that, Jesus had told his followers that he had to go back to God the Father but that he would send another helper so that the disciples (and all the rest of Jesus’ followers later too) would not be left as orphans. The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, would come alongside believers and would guide them into all truth.
What my trip to the pub reminded me of, was how the Holy Spirit is described as a down payment, a deposit. God gives us his own Spirit as a first instalment of a renewed togetherness which will be fully complete when we see God face to face at that ultimate coming of Christ which Advent also points to. We have been given a great spiritual blessing already by having that bond with Jesus. In fact, because Jesus returned and we received the Spirit, God is now even more with us in that the Spirit is both closer (within us) and more readily available (everywhere) than Jesus was in a human body.
We have had a menu on the table at the chapel for a few weeks for people to pick their 2 or 3 courses for the Christmas meal. Soup, salad, or skewers? Beef or Turkey? Christmas Pudding or something else? The Bible describes the fulfilment of everything in picture language as a Big Banquet. The Bible is full of promises that describe what will be on the table – restored relationship, incredible joy, renewed vocation and purpose, the ability to worship and praise God as we ought to and are made to – lots and lots of blessings on offer. The good thing about God’s Big Christmas Lunch Party, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the Banquet at the End of All Things is this: You do not have to choose between the luscious lemon cheesecake or the mouthwatering chocolate tart with raspberry coulis or the Christmas pudding with brandy sauce: You can have it all. All the promises that God has made is for everyone and you will have plenty of time to enjoy them all in good company.
Jesus has paid in full for the party and if you have put your faith in Him, God has put in you his own Spirit, as an advance payment on what is to come. Amazing what you can find in a pub, an inn – or a manger.