A few years ago, I became fascinated with digital assistants. Britton bought me one for my birthday and set it up to control all sorts of things around my house. When I walk in the door, I say, “Alexa turn on the lights,” and she does! When I want to listen to music, I ask Alexa to play me a song. If I need to add something to a shopping list, she’ll do it without question. If I need a joke, she always has one. When I wake up in the morning, I say, “Alexa start my day,” and she tells me what’s happening in the world, what the forecast is for the day and reads me a Bible verse. When my day is over, I say, “Alexa, goodnight,” and she wishes me sweet dreams and sometimes sings me a lullaby before I fall asleep.
I became so enamoured with digital assistants or smart speakers that I bought one for almost every room; no matter where you go in my house, you can talk to Alexa, and the best part is that she just does what you say without arguing! (even our dog doesn’t do that) Do you have a digital assistant or smart speaker in your home? Maybe you have an Alexa, a Siri or a Nest device that helps you with your day.
I was thinking about my Alexa devices recently, and I realized that sometimes Christians are guilty of treating the Holy Spirit like our digital personal assistants. Sometimes we treat the Spirit as if he is an impersonal force waiting for us to call out and ask him to do something. Have you ever treated the Spirit like Alexa, Siri or Heh Google?
This weekend, as part of our Creed series, we will begin to look at the Holy Spirit. Over the next four weeks, we will explore who Holy Spirit is, all he has done, and will do for us. As we begin our exploration, we are going to start looking at whether Holy Spirit is a force or if he is a person. I hope you’ll join us as Rev. Dr. Bernie Van De Walle speaks about the fundamental belief that Holy Spirit is a person.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Kirk
