Directed by the Spirit

In the October 2018 issue of Give Us This Day, Professor Florence Gillman notes, “…believers should understand that their fundamental relationship with Christ Jesus, which would lead to inheriting the kingdom, is a life where one lives in and is directed by the Spirit.” At the October 2018 Senate meeting at the Mount, Dr. Edward Mulholland offered a beautiful example of what can happen when we allow ourselves to be directed by the Spirit.

Dr. Mulholland came across a video about refugees who were fleeing from Syria to the Greek island of Lesbos and felt called to spend his six-week summer break working in one of the camps there. By distributing food and clothing, Dr. Mulholland and other volunteers from around the world acknowledged the plight of the traumatized refugees and attempted to meet some of their basic needs. This response to direction by the Spirit led the volunteers and refugees to take their place in the kingdom of God, which is marked by compassion, dignity, and easing of suffering through shared relationships. In relating the story of his trip to us at the Mount, Dr. Mulholland helped us walk a while in the sandals of the refugees, widening the circle of the kingdom we are all called to inherit.

Living in the Spirit requires an openness to being upended, for that is a consequence of the dying to self that comes with having a fundamental relationship with Christ. We don’t know from day to day what direction the Spirit might give us, which can be disconcerting, but it also helps us stay awake to ways we can participate in the life of God, whom we seek.