Acts 2:1-21; Romans8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Today is the Day of Pentecost! Pentecost “literally means “fiftieth” andsignifies the celebration of the number of days which divides it from the lastfestival of Passover. The feast ofPentecost has its roots in Jewish tradition because it represented those whoawaited the promise of the Spirit’s coming and they did so by being present atthe usual appointed Jewish religious festival of that day.”2 In the Christian tradition, the Day of Pentecostis one of seven Principal Feasts of the Church along with Easter Day, AscensionDay, Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, Christmas Day, and the Epiphany.
The Day of Pentecost along with the Great Vigil ofEaster, The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, All Saints Day, the Sunday afterAll Saints and at the Bishop’s visitation are all the days especiallyappropriate for baptism. On this day,the liturgical color red is prominent. The nave is decorated with red banners, the vestments we clergy wear arered, and many of you today have donned your red to help us remember the visionof “tongues of fire” that fell upon the apostles nearly 2000 years ago on theDay of Pentecost. We commemorate thisprincipal feast as the day the Holy Spirit emerged on the scene and many folkshail this historical day as the birthday of the church.
Nowon that particular Pentecost, the disciples were gathered contemplating that OurLord had been crucified, lay in the tomb three days, was raised, had appearedto the disciples, and had ascended. There they were. This miraculous,life-changing, demonstration of God’s great work of salvation had come to apivotal point in the ascension and now, the disciples are alone.
Their leader was no longer present and they did not know whatto do. I wonder what went through theirminds. Maybe they proclaimed, “Well,he’s gone, now what do we do?” “We don’thave enough resources, we are just poor fisher people, there is only a few ofus, we can barely keep food on the table, oh, woe is me.” Scripture does not indicate this was whathappened, but it would not surprise us. When folks find themselves in difficult, new situations, it is notunusual to begin speaking the language of scarcity.
Then all of a sudden, the Spirit moved and breathed, asshe always does. In the midst ofuncertainty a forcible, violent wind or breath, filled the house in which theyabided. The same Spirit that broodedover the waters of creation, the same Spirit that breathed into the dry bonesand brought new life, the same Spirit that was active in the Incarnation, thatsame Spirit was now present and active in this new little community. The Spirit was as she always was, pushingforward the new life brought forth in the life, death, and resurrection ofJesus Christ. Then as a sign of the newage, a vision emerged. A world separatedby languages, culture, and division was now being restored in the power of theSpirit coming down on this little community. The imagery of “tongues of fire” represents the divine origin of theSpirit, the divine intervention in the speaking and declaring God’s Deeds ofPower. “The divine glory (was) receivedpassively and yet (was) experienced directly, in a manner that is apparent toothers. This is the primary significance of the tongues of fire.” Wind, breath, and language; these are theworks of the Spirit in that historical event, that event which, is stillmanifested today in and through the Church.
Life in Christian community is expressed in a tension, aparadox. Our common life together moves betweenthe divine glory of God revealed in and through us, and our human struggle toaccept that revelation and then, to respond. That tension is lived out in thehistory, present, and vision of the future, which, the Holy Spirit breathes inand through the church today. Severalyears ago, the possibility of establishing an Episcopal mission to serve alocal village was discussed with the vicar of a nearby church. Later that decade, (seven years to be exact)the first organizational meeting of the group was held and a petition was sentto the bishop requesting approval to establish a mission and yes, it wasapproved. The Spirit breathed and moved,and the people responded. The very next year, ground was broken for achurch building and the first services in that building took place the very yearafter the groundbreaking. Fourteen years later, the mortgages on that building wereburned. They next year, the littlemission became a parish. Soon, aplanning commission was formed, a new building plan was developed, and a newChurch building emerged. Seven yearslater, that mortgage was burned as well. The Spirit breathed and moved, and the people responded. Thelittle parish received and responded to the Spirit’s call throughout herhistory. She grew and took onprojects. She lived into the story ofGod’s economy, God’s abundance, God’s amazing, outlandish, out of the box callto go and proclaim the Good News. TheSpirit breathed and moved, and the people responded.
The same Spirit is active today. Yes, the Spirit that inspired that little communityhas not left it. She is still active inthat little community. By the way, thisstory is our history, yes, the little village is ours, and this is ourstory. The same Spirit that brooded overthe waters of creation, the same Spirit that breathed into the dry bones andbrought new life, the same Spirit that was active in the Incarnation, that sameSpirit present and active in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, that same Spirit activein the early 1950’s here in Englewood, is still active today. She is still breathing into us new breath tocontinue the proclamation of the Gospel here today; however, we need to be boldso that we proclaim the language of the Spirit. When the Spirit rushed in on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles werefilled with the Spirit such that all could hear the Works of God. Even so, there were some naysayers thatproclaimed a language of scarcity when they said, “They are full of wine.” We too can be bogged down with the languageof scarcity. Sometimes churches todaycan get discouraged and begin living into an old story that wants to proclaim,“We are not enough.” That story is not in St. David’s DNA. That is not our story. We have a history here in which we haveproclaimed the economy of God, the economy of possibility, and not the economyof scarcity.
Eachof us is confronted in the unmistakable words, the generative language of “Iwill pour out my Spirit … and they will (fill in the blank).” The Spirit moves and breathes and we willrespond. We are not called together tobe passive, resistant, unmoving and fearful. God is not the God of the tomb, a symbol of death, which would hinderus, stop us, or keeps us from moving forward. God turns everything upside down! Death is not the end. God is theGod of possibilities, and we are people of amazing possibilities.
Have you ever heard these words? "We can’t do that ministry. We do not have enough money or giving, ourbudget is too low, we do not have enough people, the demographics in the areaare foreboding, and we are merely a retirement community. We are not enough." Really? Where are the “tongues of fire,” the violent wind/breath of God, theGreat Commission in all that? I do nothear it do you. We need to shift fromscarcity and the story of scarcity, to the story of possibilities, abundance,and God’s grace. At a miraculousoccasion in Jesus’ ministry, the disciples witnessed the mighty works ofGod. Five thousand men, plus women andchildren were out for a day trip with Jesus. There was no food available as the day wore on, and the disciples wantedto send them away to the local town, declaring again, we don’t have enough, weare insufficient, we are incapable. TheSpirit on that day, declared an alternative story. Jesus said to the disciples,“You feed them!” Then a young boy’smeager lunch, became the means by which the crowds were fed. Jesus declared that with God, even thesmallest of hope (a few fish and two loaves) is sufficient for all.
We have everything we need to do the ministry we havebeen called to do. That is not an excusefor hoarding and holding back though. Itis an acknowledgement of the new story that God has graced us for ministry, fora big vision, for a wild, wooly, “tongues of fire,” violent rush of the Spiritmovement. We, like the early disciples,are empowered by the Spirit to go out and proclaim God’s mighty works ofsalvation, not just for a mere select few, not merely for those who show up atour doors, but to everyone within whom we come in contact. Paul Tillich, my favorite theologian oncewrote that on Pentecost “ (a) missionary drive of those who were grasped by theSpiritual Presence (became reality) … because the New Being would not be theNew Being were not mankind as a whole and even the universe itself included init.” P 280 (Paul Tillich: Theologian of the Boundaries” edited by Mark KlineTaylor, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN 1991) We are empowered, equipped,resourced, and driven by God’s Spirit, just as we were over 50 years ago, to goand make disciples. We have everythingwe need to fulfill this mission.
The Spiritbreathes into us life and hope. Thatsame Spirit who on that day breathed new life into that first Christiancommunity, that same Spirit that breathed new life into a group of people witha dream for a mission in this village, is actively breathing into ustoday. She is calling us into a newvision, a new life, and a new focus. Wemust live into the new possibilities God has for us, and we must shift thelanguage we use from one of scarcity and insufficiency, to “tongues of fire”through which God breathes, and with God’s help, we will respond … we will respond. . . we will respond. We cannot do thison our own effort as either individuals or select groups, but only when werecognize that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness . . . and that very Spirit intercedes with sighstoo deep for words.” The Spirit iscalling us, we must respond afresh.
2 http://www.festalpulpit.com/6.html
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder