Air. Water. Fire. And Us. | A Sermon on the Holy Spirit
A Sermon by the Reverend Mother Crystal J. Hardin on the Day of Pentecost (A), May 28, 2023.
Acts 2:1-21, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23
The Day of Pentecost places the Holy Spirit front and center. That third person of the Blessed Trinity, alongside the Father and the Son, is, perhaps, the most mysterious, the most provocative, and the most elusive of the three.
And yet, we receive hints as to the Holy Spirit’s whereabouts, movement, and power as we move through Holy Scripture. There is the sense, for those looking, that she is right there behind and a part of the action and yet unable to be fully grasped or articulated.
C.S. Lewis, in his beloved Chronicles of Narnia, [1] respects these aspects of the Spirit, writing her into the narrative in a similar fashion to how she is portrayed in Scripture. The Spirit’s presence is evident, yet she is never named nor addressed. Never in direct communication nor a recipient of the same. She is merely hinted at and, as in Scripture, these hints often come in the form of the elements: particularly air, water, and fire. [2] So, let’s take these in turn.
Air.
First, the Holy Spirit as air.
In Lewis’ the Magician’s Nephew, the creation of Narnia is detailed. As Aslan appoints those creatures selected for rationality and speech, he breathes his warm breath over them as he says: “Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.” [3] In response, the creatures begin to stir. To speak. To claim life.
The very breath of Aslan, the Christ character, has differentiated them from all the rest of creation, giving them reason, free will, and the ability to speak purposefully –to be in relationship with him.
This act of intimacy and immediacy harkens back to the beginning of us all:
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen. 1:26, 2:7).
In the Bible, the words for wind or breath consistently translate as Spirit. In Genesis, the very Spirit of God is breathed into each of us, bringing us to blessed life in a manner consistent with our relationship with God: intimate and intermingled.
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-23).
The Holy Spirit as air, as breath, is life-giving, life-provoking, and life-sustaining. She is gentle, intimate, as close to us as our own breath. And she is powerful, immense, as far from us as the beginning of time itself.
When God began to create the heavens and the earth [we are told that] the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:1-2).
The Holy Spirit makes the earliest of appearances. Her form here is wind, and her presence is sweeping over the primordial waters at the very moment of creation. As wild and wonderful wind, she participates in the making and the unmaking of the world. She shapes and guides, pushes and pulls. She heralds the coming of all things new even as she participates in their becoming.
And on the day of Pentecost, suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting (Acts 2:1-4).
Violent wind or quiet breath, the impact of the Holy Spirit is adrenaline, anticipation, and abundant life.
Water.
The Holy Spirit is also known in water. Like air, water is essential. Christ speaks of living water time and again, and it is the presence of the Spirit that animates that water and brings it to life.
The Holy Spirit as water flows through us, flows through our veins, flows through our world, cleansing and refreshing, even as it carves a path through this life to the very heart of God. We know this best in Baptism, where we are anointed as God’s own and drawn into the eternal life of the Holy Trinity. And we know this at Pentecost, where the Spirit, like water, is poured out upon all flesh. We are called to drink deeply.
In the words of one author, “just as a glass filled with water leaves room for little else, the water being in full possession of the glass, when we are filled with the Spirit, we give her full possession of our lives.” [4]
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
Fire.
The Holy Spirit is also known in fire. Perhaps one of the best-known accounts is of Moses and the burning bush: There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up (Ex. 3:2).
The Holy Spirit also descended upon the tabernacle of the Israelites as smoke and fire during their Exodus. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night (Ex. 40:38).
And, of course, wind and fire join one another spectacularly in Acts at the descent of the Holy Spirit: as the sound of the rush of a mighty wind filled the house there then appeared among them divided tongues, as of fire, resting on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3).
Again, C.S. Lewis calls to attention the essence of this event in The Magician’s Nephew. After Aslan, the Lion, breathed on those creatures chosen by God, it reads, “There came a swift flash like fire (but it burnt nobody) either from the sky or from the Lion itself.” [5]
In the words of Cathy Michell:
The elemental power, glory, and beauty of fire –yes and its holy danger too –is one with the nature of God himself. The Spirit is not only God’s breath upon us, God’s living water pouring down into our hearts, it’s the fire of his energies, passion, love and desire, burning within us. [6]
Breath and fire. Wind and water. Through these familiar elements the Holy Spirit is seen and realized. Through these familiar elements the Holy Spirit is gifted to us. Bearing this Spirit is the purpose for which we were created.
Air. Water. Fire.
And Earth. We are that final element. Earth. Made of dust and becoming living beings, fully alive, only when the Holy Spirit, clothed in air, wind, and fire rests upon us, settles within us, and fills us with life eternal.
C.S. Lewis imbibed his Narnia with this Spirit, not just in The Magician’s Nephew, but throughout his acclaimed series. In Narnia, the Spirit strengthens, gives courage, protects, reinvigorates, motivates, and brings new life. Just as the Holy Spirit, working in this world, does the same.
And yet, the Spirit in Narnia remains mysterious, glimpsed only in metaphor, felt only in action before eluding us once again. Why? Because C.S. Lewis believed that the nature of the Holy Spirit was to remain invisible and mysterious. For the Holy Spirit is the aspect of God,” [7] the Christ.
Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit lives in us, just as Christ lives in us. The Holy Spirit points to Christ, glorying and magnifying, even as it overwhelms, invades, animates, soothes, and succors our own spirits. As air, wind, and water she is made familiar to us and yet cannot be fully grasped by us.
So, if you still have trouble characterizing this Holy Spirit, pinning her down, naming her once and for all, well, perhaps that’s as it should be.
Thomas Williams, a Lewis scholar, writes:
Just as a sentient, two-dimensional paper doll would be unable to visualize existence in three dimensions, we three-dimensional creatures are unable to visualize existence in the multiple dimensions of God. No doubt that is why he simplifies his nature for us by presenting himself in the singular as the one, true God. It’s as if he’s saying, “Don’t waste mental energy trying to figure out the complexities of my triune nature. Just address me as God.” We need not worry about how God works in us as long as we recognize that he works in us. God is to us as the sea is to fish. Just as the sea is not only outside but also inside the fish, God’s Holy Spirit both surrounds us and permeates us. She is our environment and our life. As the Apostle Paul told the Athenians, in him we live and move and have our being.
So, come, Holy Spirit. Come like breath in the lungs raising us to life. Come like a rush of wind silencing our distractions. Come like water, washing us clean, filling us with life eternal. Come like fire, convicting, converting, and consecrating the hearts of your people, dust made living, to our great good and to your great glory. Amen.
[1] Grateful for Thomas Williams’ reflections on C.S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Holy Spirit which inspired parts of this sermon and can be found here: https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=32-06-042-f&readcode=&readtherest=true#therest.
[2] Grateful for Malcom Guite’s lovely book, Sounding the Seasons (sonnets for the church year), and his exploration of Pentecost and the elements, which influenced this sermon: https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/pentecost-poem/
[3] C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew (New York: HarperTrophy, 1983).
[4] Thomas A. Tarrants, “Finding Power to Live a New Life: Discipleship and the Holy Spirit,” C.S. Lewis Institute, 4 March 2012, link here.
[5] Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew.
[6] Cathy Michell, “Meditation on Malcolm’s Poem: Pentecost,” https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2021/05/22/our-mother-tongue-is-love-a-sonnet-for-pentecost-9/
[7] Thomas Williams, “The Breath of the Lion,” Touchstone Magazine, November/December 2019, https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=32-06-042-f&readcode=&readtherest=true.
