Pentecost

Summary

Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of Christ’s followers on the 50^th day after his death.

And what a fifty days they were for Christ’s disciples.  First they experienced Jesus’ joyous resurrection, then those happy days of seeing the risen Lord in their midst which were too quickly followed by his miraculous ascension to heaven.  But at his ascension Jesus had said to his followers, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In the days following Jesus’ ascension the disciples must have felt alone and apprehensive.  I can imagine them discussing their plight, “It feels like its over, but he said it isn’t, so what?  We’re supposed to wait for the Holy Spirit, but what does that mean?  Will we even know if the Spirit’s come?”

Think about it.  They have no idea what to expect next.  Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit as a guide and counselor who will bring power, but what did he mean?  They must have wondered how they would know the Holy Spirit had come?

In retrospect, it would have been a funny question, because on the day of Pentecost, WHAM!  They knew the Holy Spirit had arrived!  The Holy Spirit came through and blew their socks, or sandals or whatever they wore, right off!  The Holy Spirit not only filled them but gave them new languages to be understood in, so as to speak Jesus’ name to those who heard them speaking.

They went from fearful waiting to powerful action in an instant.  They couldn’t keep their mouths shut, they could only speak out what was flowing through them!  The truth could not be contained, it had to be spoken and heard.

Let’s hear from John about the Spirit, his 14^th chapter, 26^th verse reads, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

The Holy Spirit is God alive in the world and in the lives of all believers.  Just look at how the Holy Spirit impelled the disciples into action by telling the truth of Jesus to all who would listen, which because it was Pentecost was thousands of people from all corners of the Roman Empire.  But it was not just for a day.  No, the Holy Spirit moved the disciples to action from that point in time forward.

After Pentecost, Peter and John were moved to heal the lame beggar and then preached boldly in the temple of eternal salvation found in the Messiah, Jesus.  Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch the good news and then baptized him in a roadside pond.  Stephen, the first martyr, preached the truth to the Pharisees so boldly that they stoned him to death.  Saul the persecutor was called to faith by Jesus and driven by the Holy Spirit into a life of preaching and teaching to the gentiles, he was so changed that from thereafter he went by the name Paul.  Lydia upon hearing of Jesus Christ was moved by the Holy Spirit to start a church in her home in the city of Philippi. And there are so many other stories too.  All of these followers of Jesus’ were led by the Spirit into greater voice, action and belief on behalf of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ.

The Holy Spirit still moves in our lives, often gently, sometimes strongly but always in a powerful way.  For the Holy Spirit is God.

I want to share again from, “The Jesus Storybook Bible.”  As we heard, this Bible puts things in such a way that makes our Christian faith so easy to understand.  I want to read again the moment from the Pentecost story, when the Holy Spirit has appeared.

“How it happened they didn’t know, but they knew God’s power had struck their hearts ablaze – and Jesus himself was coming to live inside them.

They had seen Jesus go away, but now he was closer than he had ever been – inside their hearts.  And this time nothing could ever separate them.  Jesus would always be there. With them.   Loving them.  Whispering the promise that would get rid of the poison and terrible lie and sickness in their hearts.  God’s wonderful promise to them: ‘You are my child. And I love you.’

‘Make your home in me, as I make my home in you.’ Jesus had said.

Could it be?  Heaven was coming in to their hearts?”

Wow!  That is exactly what the Holy Spirit does, the Spirit is God, Jesus, entering in to our lives to live.  Entering our lives to teach.  Entering our lives to move us.  Entering our lives with new life.

The writer Kathleen Norris shares an image from the early church writer Tertullian concerning the Trinity, and thus the Holy Spirit.  “It’s an image of the Trinity as a plant, with the Father as a deep root, the Son as the shoot that breaks forth into the world, the Spirit as that which spreads beauty and fragrance, ‘fructifying the earth with flower and fruit.”

How do we know that the Holy Spirit is present?  In the book of Galatians we learn that the fruits of the Spirit are, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

I am made aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in person after person through the reality of the Spirit’s fruit experienced in my relationship with them.

When I receive the beauty of kindness shared with me by one of you, I encounter the Holy Spirit.  When your patience calms me, or your generosity overwhelms me I know the Holy Spirit.  When I feel your joy or experience your gentleness, I am touched by the Holy Spirit. When I know you are praying for me, and so am grounded in your faithfulness I am held by the Holy Spirit.

And I am moved by the Holy Spirit when confronted with what God’s love is, and what is and what it can do. Bishop Curry, preaching yesterday at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding prophesied of what God’s love can do, when he preached,

“When love is the way, unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive, when love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again. When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook. When love is the way, poverty will become history. When love is the way, the Earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more. When love is the way, there’s plenty good room, plenty good room, for all of god’s children because when love is the way, we actually treat each other well, like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all, and we are brothers and sisters, children of God. My brothers and sisters, that’s a new heaven, a new earth, a new world, a new human family.”

Yes, the Holy Spirit was moving through the wedding yesterday, blowing through the dust of tradition, and showing what new life in Jesus looks like.  Yes, the Spirit was truly blowing!

When I experience the Spirit’s fruits, I then feel the Holy Spirit blow through my life, I then catch a taste of what the disciples experienced on Pentecost.  And then I know that God is still moving in the world today, for he is moving in my heart in the most powerful of ways.  Blow Spirit, blow!

Amen.

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