Where do my decisions come from?
Do you ever wonder about that?
How do we decide and choose? If we think about it, it can get pretty murky.
That place of decision making in us is called the will, the human will. What do I will?
When the scriptures and sacred tradition speak of the human heart it speaks of the place where our choices are born.
Which is different from the modern use of the word heart. When we say heart we think more in terms of desire, need and emotion.
The ancient heart is much bigger than that, it is more than desire, it is the will, our capacity to choose, it is the expression of our freedom and also the expression of our brokenness, the broken will, the will in bondage.
In the creeds when we say We Believe, or I Believe the word credo means I give my heart, I give my will.
I give my heart to God the Father.
I give my heart to God the Son.
I give my heart to God the Holy Spirit.
In the first paragraph of both Creeds God the Father is revealed in the choice to create.
In the second paragraph God the Son is revealed in choosing our humanity.
In the third paragraph God the Holy Spirit is revealed in the choice to fill the world through our humanity.
God believes in us, God gives God’s heart to us, God’s will is to be present and enlivening. Vivifying is the ancient word.
Jesus is that heart.
And the Holy Sprit is the life that flows through that heart into life itself, into us, into the church, into the Communion of Saints, into the freedom to forgive, into our bodies being freed from the powers of death and hell.
Today. Pentecost. Whitsunday. The feast of the Holy Spirit , the Lord the giver of life, to whom we give our hearts. Today we celebrate the will of God flooding the world, renewing our hearts, setting the captives free.
Life in the Holy Spirit, that is what the creedal third paragraph is about, that is our place in the story of God’s heart.
Freedom.
Forgiveness.
Life that never gives up, never gives in, never running dry.
That is life in the Spirit.
That is where we find our hearts, we give our heart, and our hearts are set free.
Where do God’s decisions come from?
Do you ever wonder about that?
How does God decide and choose? If we think about it, it can get pretty murky.
The choosing of one another, of choosing the other.
The heart of God, the will of God is that choosing.
Can you feel that pulse?
Beating through every moment, every breath, every choice,
The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of live.
What do we choose?