Open to the Holy Spirit

 Yesterday, I went to Colorado Springs with MSC colleagues to the Flying W Ranch, to attend this working ranch’s Christmas dinner and entertainment. With old saddles hanging from the ceiling and cowboy hats as the tree toppers on every Christmas tree, it was one more time when I realized how different my life is from eight years ago. This week, a Dance FB memory from 10 years ago popped up: Friends and I were wearing “tutus” as we participated in the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band’s Dance-Along Nutcracker.

This is what happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to break into our lives: we are led to places we hadn’t thought we’d ever go, to build relationships with people we never knew before, to grow in ways we hadn’t expected. The Holy Spirit keeps stretching us and our world, breaking barriers and borders, enlarging our world in blessed ways.

This week, the lectionary focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. A teenager who was betrothed to the carpenter Joseph, an angel announces to her that she will bear God’s son. I try to imagine what she must have felt, how she reacted when she was told this. Scripture says she had questions: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1: 34). Whether the angel’s response put her more at ease or not, what we know is that Mary said yes to carrying the Son of the Most High. Her life would take an unexpected turn, one she hadn’t planned, couldn’t even imagine, as she opened herself to the Holy Spirit and gave birth to a child who would change the world.

Do you leave yourself open to the Holy Spirit?

We know we are living a Spirit-led life when we find ourselves in community with people we never thought much about before, when we cross into new and unknown territories with eyes wide open, listening, learning, growing. We find ourselves relying less and less on our ego to make decisions and more on the Holy Spirit. We allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, so that we become extensions of Christ in the world. We find ourselves compelled to speak out, stand up, and stand with those who are oppressed and suffering.

This Advent season, keep yourself open to the Holy Spirit. You will find yourself (and those around you) blessed in ways you can’t even imagine.