Acts 2: 1-21
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b
Romans 8: 22-27
John 15: 26-27; 16:4b-15

Have you ever listened to a group of people when everyone is trying to talk at once? Or been in a large airport where dozens of people are trying to be heard above the din, and none of them are speaking English, or so it seems. Yet, at the same time, opera fans will tell you that you don’t need to understand the language to know what is going on! Think confusion and bedlam; think Pentecost. Think of reaching an understanding beyond words and language; think Pentecost.

Sometimes though, we deliberately want at least someone to sing something different from the rest, as in the descant part or in a round. As we know, of course, ‘rounds’ do not always work. When it works they sound quite nice, especially those pieces that are designed for that kind of singing. Occasionally though, a round turns into chaos with members of each and every group not sure what line or verse they are supposed to be singing and even with members of the same group singing something different.

Today is Pentecost, the Sunday on which we mark the occasion on which some of Jesus followers experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in a powerful and life-changing way.

It was like Easter was yesterday. It was like a lifetime ago that come women reported that Jesus had risen and had appeared to the eleven. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? It had been a great 50 days! 50 days that had chaged their lives and would change the history of the world. We will remember that 53 days before this Pentecost experience the disciples had been in hiding; their leader executed and them left wondering how many of them would be rounded up as well. Then Jesus was certainly and unmistakably risen and present in their midst. For 50 days they were able to experience t his presence but then he was taken from them promising to return in a powerful but different way.

On the feast of Pentecost a group of followers had gathered together. What happened next would be told to others ever since. The festival of Pentecost was a harvest festival, celebrating the end of the spring harvest, 50 days after the Passover. At Pentecost all devout Jews gave thanks to God for God’s grace and bounty. It was a time to return to God a potion of what had been received and a time to commit oneself anew to the covenant.

It was the perfect moment of the fledgling group of followers to burst forth from their cocoon and to go from being disciples, followers and learners of the word, to being leaders and proclaimers of that same word. While we may consider it the birthday of the church we should not see it as the birthday of Holy Spirit Spirit. The Spirit of God had been alive and active throughout the lives of generations of people as recorded in their scriptures, from the moment of creation to the Exodus through the exile and the calling of prophets and leaders who led and challenged and comforted the people in good times and in bad.

The Spirit active at Pentecost had a new agenda though. Just as each prophet had his or her own message so the Spirit’s message at Pentecost was one of overcoming barriers and spreading out into the world. No longer was it a message for a certain groups of people, it was for all people. We are told that the Spirit enabled them to speak in all of the languages represented in Jerusalem that day. We are told that these gifts of the Spirit came upon all who were present, not just the men, not just the adults. We are reminded that the prophet Joel envisioned such a day long before. We get the sense though that this is good news, while the tone of Joel’s original words was much less joyous.

We are not sure exactly what happened or how. We can surmise that it was powerful enough to change their lives.. We know that from this time on the followers were given courage where there had been fear and eloquence and understanding where here had been confusion.

The day of Pentecost changed the church, not because it was a one time visitation of the Spirit, but because from that day on the church knew the Spirit to be in their midst. Not all experiences were as obvious, not all seemed as powerful, but we are told time and time again that they relied on the power of the Spirit to give them the words to speak and the ability to speak them, on the Spirit’s power to direct their ministry and give them hope and commitment in the face of opposition and defeat. It was to them an irresistible force, something they could not ignore, something they could not live the life of faith without.

The presence and power of the Spirit is not something for which we have to go looling as much as it is something we have to open ourselves to.

How and where do we experience the Spirit’s calling or strength or presence: in the hospital rook of a critically ill friend, where we get the feeling that we are not the only ones there; in the home of a young mother as we marvel at the miracle of life and the rebirth of age old hopes and dreams; around the campfire at a church camp where its ok to talk about God and where its ok to just sit and think and stare at the ocean, or listen to the wind and the water and where people will listen to you; when you get the urge from somewhere to call or visit a friend you have not thought of in ages and then you realize that your call or visit was much needed that day.

I think we discount the work of the Spirit in the everyday because we are looking for the legendary, the ‘great balls of fire’. On that day that was what the disciples needed. That was what the church needed to jump start it into action and faithfulness - no more and no less. What do we need? What will it take us to be where the Spirit is calling us to be?

Let us be open to the call of God’s Spirit. Let us open ourselves to the needs of those around us. Let us open ourselves the scriptures so that we can learn what God has done and is seeking to do in our lives.

Let us be prepared to be set on fire - not necessarily so that we will speak many languages and draw crowds and perform great feats of derring do, but so that God’s word will be proclaimed through our words and actions. What else can we hope for?

Amen! And Amen!

John 15: 26-27; 16: 4b-15
Psalm 104
Acts 2: 1-21

The Spirit Brings ....

“The world, part of God’s beloved creation. These are the voyages of the church. It’s mission, from the beginning, to go with boldness and proclaim and live the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth. “

I believe I have avoided the most well known split infinitive in recent history - but perhaps Sir Patrick Stewart would produce q better rendition.

Once again, “Happy Birthday”. the children’s story would have focussed on Pentecost as the church’s birthday

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

Happy Birthday Church!

Get out some more balloons, a BIG cake, some bright yellow, red and orange streamers. Let’s put a few steaks on the BBQ. Let’s have a party!

Let us not mistake this celebration for anything more than it is though; it’s the birthday of the church; it’s NOT the birthday of the Holy Spirt. The Holy Spirit was not created or invented at Pentecost.

In the first paragraph of Genesis this same Spirit is active, hovering over the dark water BEFORE anything was created. Throughout the stories in what we often call, “the old testament” the Spirit was active in calling and sustaining prophets and communities. What we talk about at Pentecost is not something “new”; we speak of a powerful experience, strong enough to transform and change the members of a discouraged community into becoming fearless evangelists.

When we look at images or ways of depicting the Spirit, two come to mind. The first is that of a bird, often a dove. Our United Church crest has at its top a depiction of the Spirit as a descending dove, and speaks to us of our Methodist heritage. Human beings have long envied the slight of birds - hummingbirds that can seem to hover, almost motionless in the air and then, in the blink of an eye, be gone. They migrate thousands of kilometres without stopping to refuel . Or we envy the massive birds of prey such as the Bald Eagle - strong, majestic fearsome bird, soaring in the sky seemingly without effort and as much at home in the sky as we are on land.

The second image is that of fire. Moses encountered a burning bush in the desert and soon knew he was encountering the living God. The image at the centre of that story became the symbol for the Presbyterian church and the reason for that symbol finding its way onto our church crest. Yet, it is on the level of metaphor that this image functions best. We have all sorts of expressions similar to being “on fire” for something and we know, what it means and what it looks like.

On of the best ways to express the action of the Holy Spirit is in song: somehow the union of poetry and song can take us to a reality that can happen in no other way.

While there are many familiar hymns that sing of the Holy Spirit there are many newer hymns in our book that also proclaim with great eloquence the reality of the Holy Spirit. The tunes are not usually in common metre, I think because they, like the Spirit, cannot be pinned down or predicted.

Close your eyes and imagine, “She comes sailing on the wind” -

“you blew through your people on the rush of the wind” -

“you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep”.

These hymns refer to the biblical stories of creation, of the visit of angels to people for whom life will change immensely and through the beautiful music our imagination takes us where we cannot go on our own.

Today’s passage is a mysterious one; an odd and dramatic tale of understanding in the midst of chaos and of courage in an atmosphere of fear.

The biblical story continues beyond this event because the Spirit was not yet done. The Spirit was working throughout the rest of the history of the early church that we find recorded in the Bible. But the Spirit continued to work in the lives of those who have sought to be faithful in the intervening two thousand years because even though they stopped adding to the Bible- the Spirt was not done.

I recall hearing the story about one of the tunes found in Voices United. It happened at a meeting of the committee charged with the responsibility of coming up with the new book and a tune was needed. As the rest of the committee went to lunch, a musician sat down and in short order the tune was composed - and he described it as nothing less than a “gift of the spirit”.

The most important thing for us to know today is this: the Spirit IS not done.

The Spirit pushes and prompts us to go beyond our comfort zone, to go into the strange new world of amalgamation

The Spirit goes with us as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus.

The Spirit gives voice where we have none and the ability to run like the wind when we fear that we will barely be able to walk.

Without the Spirit we can do nothing but with the Spirit, all things are possible.

Happy Birthday, Church.

Thanks be to God!.

Amen!