Pentecost Sunday 2011

The Rev. J.W. Messer

Day of Pentecost
WhitsundayActs 2:1-21, Psalm 104:25-35, 37, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, John 20:19-23

PENTECOST 2011

I can’t believe it, but today is a special day for me.  Exactly one year ago, to this date, I was ordained to the transitional deaconate.  And one LITURGICAL year ago, I interviewed at Emmanuel, and knew I was called here.  I was on these beautiful grounds, had met with the clergy, vestry, staff, & many parishioners and recognized what a happy and healthy parish this was (and is). It was on that Pentecost Sunday one year ago, that the Holy Spirit called me to Emmanuel.

Pentecost is a very special day in the life of the Church.  Today, we celebrate the birth of the Church and the power of the Holy Spirit. Even after our readings today, understanding who the Holy Spirit is can sometimes be confusing. Perhaps a story will help. 

Once there was a Sunday school teacher, named Mrs. Smith, who was trying to explain to her class who and what the Holy Spirit is. Mrs. Smith talked about how the Holy Spirit can inspire people, even make leaders out of people who most would not think would be. She explained how the Holy Spirit even gave the followers of Christ the ability to speak in the native tongue of others. Mrs. Smith closed by saying that the Holy Spirit was moving and embodied in flame and wind but the Holy Spirit could also be invisible and inspiring, and could appear anywhere.

Little Tommy, who usually was up to trouble, was really listening to what the teacher had to say, and finally spoke up. “Mrs. Smith, the Holy Spirit sounds cool! It can make people do some awesome stuff, huh!” “Yes Tommy, the Holy Spirit does; that’s very good.”  Tommy went on to say “So if the Holy Spirit is God and God is everywhere and can be big and can be small, then the Holy Spirit is everywhere?” “Yes! Tommy that is right!” “So can the Holy Spirit be in this Church right now?” “Yes, the Holy Spirit can be and is in this church right now!” “Can the Holy Spirit be in this room?” he queried.   The teacher was really proud of Tommy and the fact that he was paying attention made her pretty sure that the Holy Spirit WAS indeed in that room at that moment.  So she affirmed that the Holy Spirit was in the room. Then Tommy held up a glass and said, “Can the Holy Spirit even be in this glass?”  A little more hesitant, Mrs. Smith still affirmed that the Holy Spirit could even be in the glass. SLAM! Covering the glass with his hand, Tommy gleefully looking around, smiling and said, “GOT HIM!”

The idea of a little boy wanting to capture and almost bottle the power of the Holy Spirit can be viewed as an amusing story.   But I think it also touches on an important point--we do not know how, when, where, or why the Holy Spirit inspires.  We just see the results.

We see this on the day that the Church was born, the day of Pentecost. As revealed to us in the First Lesson, Acts 2:1-21, a rush of a violent wind came into the house where the followers of Christ were sitting.  Then suddenly a flame appeared above the heads of everyone there and they were able to speak as if they were native speakers in other languages. 

The significance of the first act of God’s spirit at Pentecost, and at the creation of the Church, is that it honors the diversity and individuality of believers. Everyone is not going to hear or experience God in the same way. And God does not make everyone experience the Holy Spirit the same way.  The disciples came with their own life’s experiences and when they went out into the world, they all had their own unique experiences. 

We are all given battles to fight and abilities to reach others through our gifts and our experiences. Each of our own gifts and abilities work together to help build up the body of Christ, which we heard about in Corinthians. We hear that each of us have been given portions of the Spirit to use for the common good. But it is when individuals work together that the body becomes stronger. No gift is greater than another, no one way to use our gifts is greater than another way, as long as it is done to build up the Body of Christ and to build up each other.

As St. Teresa of Avila so aptly and poignantly wrote:

Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good
Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are His body
Christ has no body now on earth but yours

We are the body that must work together, and it’s not always the easiest of tasks. We are all scarred; we are all working through our own issues. We bring our issues to the table, just as we bring our gifts and abilities. We bring the ability to make dinners for the food kitchen or for each other at events.  We may have the ability to lay flooring for a house through the Faith Works Collation. We may have the gift of a green thumb that offers beauty and joy to all who see the flowers.  Whatever our call, or whatever our gifts, we are all guilty at some point of discrediting our gifts, by seeing them as nothing special, or seeing them as simple gifts.  Simple gifts are never simple. The call to use our gifts is a powerful one.  If used as God intended, our gifts will bring joy to us and those around us.  The want to share these gifts can set our hearts on fire.

No gift is greater than another; what is important is to try to discern what our gifts are, and how to be involved and participate in the life of the community. The Holy Spirit is a uniting force, which builds the Community of Christ together.  We may not know where our paths will go, but we are called to be open to the Holy Spirit.  Through the Holy Spirit we may be reached by God or we can reach others.  Being open to the Holy Spirit allows our gifts to be used to build up the body of Christ.  Our talents, our gifts, may not appear as we think, but can be shared by simply being present and being open to a ministry of presence. What we are called to do is to use our gifts in the world, to be able to be open and inspired. And we pray that our hearts may be set on fire. 

+In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.+

Sunday, June 12, 2011 - Year A