Pentecost

June 9, 2019

 Acts 2.1-21

+ In case you might not have guessed, today—Pentecost Sunday—is an important day in the life of the Church. Important like Christmas and Easter are important.

Today, we commemorate the end of the Easter season today, which is important.   At the end of Mass today, we will process the Paschal Candle back to its place in the Baptistery, where it will stand by the baptismal font until next year.  Back in April, we processed the Paschal Candle in at the Easter Vigil. So, this is a fitting end to the season.

It’s been a good Easter season.  And it’s sad to see it go.

But, of course, most importantly, we commemorate today  the descent of the Holy Spirit on those first followers of Jesus.  What’s surprising is that, as important as this day is, there still is not a whole lot of writers who write about the Holy Spirit.

In fact, one of the best writers I’ve found who writes the best about the Holy Spirit, isn’t even a Christian. The Vietnamese Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has some very powerful things to say about the Holy Spirit and his belief that there is a connection between the Holy Spirit and the Zen concept of mindfulness.

Another writer that I admire greatly wrote a wonderful book about the Holy Spirit.  The late great Episcopal writer, Phyllis Tickle, wrote a wonderful book called The Age of the Spirit; How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church.  In an interview she gave while promoting that book, Tickle said this:

“…we’re seeing a need to experience the Spirit everyday and a belief in the accessibility of the Spirit. Most Christians 100 years ago would have prayed to Jesus. Today, people are actually praying to the Spirit with regularity. So, there is greater engagement with the Spirit in a way that would not have been true in years past.”

That may be true. But I think many Christians still don’t quite “get” the Holy Spirit.

As you probably notice, Christians think A LOT about Jesus.  Which is very good!  BUT….although they think VERY much about Jesus, and pray to Jesus a lot, there isn’t always a lot of following of Jesus. There isn’t a lot of being Jesus in the world. And that isn’t just sad or unfortunate. That is detrimental to the Church as a whole.

Sadly, the Holy Spirit just doesn’t capture the imagination of most Christians like Jesus does.  After all, the Spirit is usually depicted as a dove. Not an exciting symbol for most people.

But, let me tell you, the Holy Spirit is VERY important.  Vitally important.  

Essential.

In fact, the Spirit is probably that one aspect of God that we experience in our own lives more than any other aspect of God.  Every time we feel God’s  Presence in our life, every time we feel a sense of the Holy, that is the Spirit. And everything we do as a Church is done in the Spirit of God.

Even here in the Holy Eucharist, when we partake of the Bread and the Wine, we are partaking in the Spirit of God.  We actually call down the Spirit in this Eucharist.

15 years ago this coming Tuesday, I was ordained to the Priesthood. On that day, the Bishop laid hands upon my had and prayed this prayer:

Therefore, Father, through Jesus Christ your Son, give your Holy Spirit to Jamie; fill him with grace and power, and make him a priest in your Church.

And let me tell you: I felt the Spirit at the moment very powerfully!  In fact, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life! Most importantly the Spirit works in other amazing ways in the Church.

Whenever anyone asks me. What is the secret of our success here at St. Stephen’s? How has your congregation grown and become so vital and alive? What do I say?  I always say: The Holy Spirit.

It is God’s living Spirit that is responsible for growth and vitality and holiness. It the Spirit that many of us feel when we enter this church and gather together. It is that wonderful kind of disconcerting energy we feel in the air, that reaches right down into us and grabs us in our core. THAT is the Spirit.

So, see, the Spirit is very active in our lives.  And by being active in life, we know that God is active in our lives.

Today we are reminded of how the Holy Spirit continues to move in our lives.  We are reminded that the Holy Spirit is in the collective Church.  And in us, as individuals.   And that moving of the Holy Spirit within us, has changed us and made us a wonderful force of good and love in the world. I think most of us—I hope most of us—have felt this moving of the Holy Spirit within us as some point.  

Still, even if we haven’t, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, we all find ourselves grasping and struggling to define who and what the Spirit is in our lives.    The Spirit can be elusive and strange and sometimes we might have a hard time wrapping our minds around the Spirit.

But it is clear from the words of Jesus before he ascends back into heaven what the role of the Spirit is:   Although Jesus might no longer be with us physically as he was when he walked with the disciples, God’s spirit that was in Jesus will always remain with us.   Jesus will leave—we will not be able to touch him and feel him and listen to his human voice again.   But God is leaving something amazing in Jesus’ place.

And this is not just some nice, pleasant gift. It is a gift that makes us live up to our full potential as lovers of God.

In a sense what happens with the Descent of God’s Spirit upon us is the fact that we now have the potential to be prophets, as you’ve heard me say many, many times. The same Spirit which spoke to Ezekiel, which spoke to Isaiah, which spoke to Jeremiah, which spoke to Moses, also can now speak to us and be revealed to us just as it spoke and was revealed to those prophets from the Hebrew Scripture.

That is who the Spirit is in our midst. The Spirit we celebrate today—and hopefully every day—is truly the Spirit of the God that came to us and continues to come to us—first to those prophets in our Hebrew past, then in the Word who is Jesus and finally in that rushing wind and in that rain of burning flames. It is through this Spirit that we come to know God in ways we might never have before.

The Spirit is God with us NOW.

Right here.

Right now.

Always.

So, how do we know the Spirit is working in our lives?   Well, as Jesus said, we know the tree by its fruit.   In our case, we know the Spirit best through the fruits God’s Spirit gives us.    It was on the feast of Pentecost in Jewish culture on which the first fruit were offered to God.   In fact, today is the feast of Shavuot, which is wheat harvest in Israel.

In a sense, what happens on our Pentecost, is God returning those fruits to us.  On the feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the fruits the Spirit of God gives to us and we can be thankful for them.    The Spirit comes to us and manifests itself to us in the fruits given to us by the Spirit.

But, we must not let the Holy Spirit do all the work. It is important that we actually DO the work the Holy Spirit gives us. We must cultivate those fruits of the Spirit.

Yes, we can pray for them. Yes, we can pray novenas and ask the Spirit to come and convict and convert us. But we have to be ready for that first.  We have to be doing the work already—we have to be out there, getting the ground ready for those fruits first.

But unless we work to make fertile ground in which those fruits grow and flourish, we are not doing OUR part.

The Spirit works with us, not for us. We can’t manipulate the Spirit. We can’t force the Spirit to do anything—especially  what we want that Spirit to do.  We can’t control that Spirit any more than we can control the wind.  We have to do part of the work ourselves.  This is the way the Spirit works.

Our job as followers of Jesus is to be open to God’s Spirit, the same way he was open to God’s Spirit, just the way his mother Mary was open to God’s Spirit, just the way those first followers in that upper room were open to God’s Spirit.  Our job is to allow the Spirit to be present and to do what the Spirit does.

For us collectively here at St. Stephen’s, we’ve been doing that all along. How do we know that? Well, just take a look at our fruits. Take a look at the fruits of the Holy Spirit flourishing here at St. Stephen’s. And when we do, let’s not be critical, let’s not be proud, let’s not say to ourselves, “well, of course.”

Rather, let us be thankful to the Spirit of God with us, to the Spirit who dwells with us here.  And let us continue to welcome that Spirit into our midst to continue to the work begun here. 

So, this week of Pentecost, let us look for the gifts of the Spirit in our lives and in those around us.   Let us open ourselves to God’s Spirit and let it flow through us like a caressing wind.    And let us remember the true message of the Spirit to all of us—whenever it seems like God is distant or nonexistent, that is when God’s Spirit might possibly be closest of all, dwelling within us, being breathed unto as it was those first disciples.   

On this feast of Pentecost—this feast of the fruits of God—let us feel the Holy Spirit move within us and let us give thanks to God for all the many fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

 Let us pray.

Come Holy Spirit: come as the wind and cleanse; come as the fire and burn; convict, convert, consecrate the lives of the members of St. Stephen’s, to our great good and your greater glory. Let us know your Presence here and let the gift of your fruits flourish in our midst. Amen.