Today is the day of Pentecost, a day when we think about the Holy Spirit.

The word Trinity never appears in the Bible. Nevertheless, the bible is a book about the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and these three are one. The earliest known use of the actual word Trinity is found in the works of Theophilus of Antioch who wrote around AD 180. So now you know, whether you wanted to or not. But the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit are in the Bible from the beginning, as we see in these opening words of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible; although the three persons of the Trinity are not in the usual order. The Son, who appears here as the creative word, comes third and the Spirit is second.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

This is a translation from the original Hebrew into English. It’s from a translation of the Bible we often use in this church, the NIV, which is a good translation, but this, I think, is not it’s finest hour - which is a shame since it’s right at the beginning. The Spirit was hovering? It’s accurate but missing something. Gravity, dignity, panache, elan. Take your pick; but whatever it is, it’s not there. This is not helped by the fact that my eyesight is not as good as it once was and I can’t help seeing the word hoovering there which is definitely not what’s intended.

The traditional version does better.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

A definite improvement. But the word translated hovered or moved can also mean brooded. Here is the other place that word is used in the OT.

.. like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft. (Deuteronomy 32:11)

Here clearly hovering means brooding. What is brooding? Raising a brood, I guess. Here’s a quote about eagles. ‘Brooding is a dynamic and active process, crucial for the growth, survival, and eventual fledging of young eagles. It combines warmth, protection, and parental care, ensuring that the next generation of eagles develops safely and successfully’.

So, in the beginning the Spirit of God hovered, moved, fluttered, brooded over creation.

The Holy Spirit appears frequently in the OT but only at certain times when he comes only upon certain people. One of those people would be the prophet Joel. We know almost nothing about the prophet Joel not even which century he lived in. We don’t know how many hundreds of years before Christ he lived but it was hundreds. We do know that he wrote a book of the Bible in which prophesied that the day will come when the Spirit will not come only on a select few but will be poured out on all God’s people.

As we heard from the reading from book of Acts, in which St Luke tells the story of the first Christians, St Peter declares exactly fifty days after the death of Christ on the cross: that day is now here.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say … This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy. (Acts 2:14-18)

The Holy Spirit has come upon all the believers, both men and women, and empowered them. Empowered them to do what? To translate. You were wondering where all that translation business was going, weren’t you. It is the great Jewish festival of Pentecost, the festival of weeks, and people have come from all over the world, both Jews and proselytes, that is people who were not Jewish but who followed the Jewish faith. They all hear the wonders of God spoken in their own language. The meaning is plain enough. The Old Testament was for the Jews and New Testament is for peoples of all nations and languages.

Well, that was then – what about now. Will the Holy Spirit help you with your French, German, or Spanish GCSE or indeed your biblical Hebrew – yeah, you can do that for GCSE. Sadly though, you probably won’t be getting any miraculous help for any of those. Good old blood, sweat and tears is the only way, but you knew that.

Some people really do have a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit. I friend of mine at clergy training college was not religious at all and then suddenly – in his words it was like a spotlight shining down on him - and within days had decided became a priest. Up until recently he was Rural Dean of Sherbourne, but I think he must have retired by now. Well good for him.

For most others conversion is a much gentler, slower process, and even if you do have a sudden conversion experience that is not an end but a beginning. I had a conversion experience in the sense that I called myself atheist for first twenty years of my life and then one day I started to call myself a Christian, and that seemed pretty significant at the time; but nowadays, looking back, I don’t see it as a conversion but more as a step on the road to a gradual realisation that He has always been there. As it says in the psalms:

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea, …

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well. (Psalm 139)

If you don’t get the Big Bang conversion experience, or for that matter even if you do, what signs can you look out for that the Holy Spirit is at work in you? St Paul names these as the fruits of spirit:

… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith[fulness], gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23).

Over time, if you live by the spirit, these should grow in you more and more.

A way to remember the fruits of the spirit is to notice that they come in three groups of three.

• love, joy, peace (one syllable)
• patience, kindness, goodness (two syllables)
• faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (three syllables)