FEAST OF PENTECOST

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: FEAST OF PENTECOST
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 3, 2001

TEXT: John 20:19-23 – Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them . . .
Acts 2:1-11 – And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
I Corinthians 12:4-13 – For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

ISSUE: The scripture readings for this festive Sunday of the Pentecost make it clear that the disciples, and those who are part of the Christian Community have a calling, a mission. They are sent as Christ was sent to the world to work for the common good as his body in the world. For those being baptized we must keep them focused on their partnership and incorporation into the body of Jesus Christ, to embrace the Holy Spirit. For those of us who have been in the body of Christ, we need to reclaim the Spirit of God over mere apathy, haphazard participation in Christ’s Church, and reclaim our mission.
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This Feast of Pentecost is a pretty exciting day in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ. It marks the birthday of the Church. It is a unique day for Holy Baptism and Confirmation. In the Anglican-Episcopal traditions, this day was called Whitsunday, or White Sunday, because Baptism and Confirmation candidates wore white on this Sunday. The liturgical color is red highlighting the passion involved with this Sunday and the cloven tongues of fire that came upon the heads of the disciples at Jerusalem. The scripture readings themselves have real energy in them, which Jesus commissions his disciples and the violent wind and fire come upon them at Jerusalem.
The church really has two accounts of the Pentecost experience. In the Gospel of John, the Pentecostal experience occurs on Easter. Late in the evening when some of the disciples are all locked in a room fearing for their lives, Jesus appears to them. He calms their fears saying, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands and feet, then he strangely breathes on them, saying to them “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Then he sends them out having received the Holy Spirit, having received the breath of God to begin carrying on of Christ’s ministry restoring people to God’s love.
Notice here in this story it is a birthing experience. In the room, it is as if they are in the womb, and they are born to be God’s unique people in the world with a significant purpose and meaning to convey the healing, the love, the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. They are “born again.” They are the first fruits of God’s harvest. Pentecost was actually a celebration by the Jews of the renewal of the Temple and thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth in spring. The disciples are a new creation with purpose to participate in bringing a new spiritual food to the world.
In the Lukan account of the Pentecost experience takes place fifty days after Passover (or Easter) when the disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly, mystically, spiritually, they become empowered with the Spirit of God. Notice the images or metaphors. They are emblazoned set afire by the Holy Spirit. A violent mighty rushing wind comes upon them. Fire, water, wind are all very powerful images. Recent movies have conveyed the power in storms like The Perfect Storm and Tornado. There is great uncontrollable power in water, wind, and fire. Receiving this empowerment the disciples lose all sense of fear and begin to proclaim, tell, speak to the nations of the world of the mighty acts of God to heal, redeem, and love his people, as Jesus revealed in his healing ministry and his sacrificial devotion to God revealing the profoundest kind of love in his crucifixion. He died an awful death, a dishonorable death, but was fully honored by God in his joyful resurrection, giving the spirit of hope and renewal to the world. But mind you, the disciples were ordained and called to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. The church then had its mission and its purpose to continue the loving revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Church! What is church? People say that the church is a place you go to. You go and say your prayers, and make your requests of God, get baptized, married, and buried. It is a special place for being in the presence of God, and learning about God. Maybe so. Maybe to some extent that is or has some truth to it. No! No that’s all wrong! The basic premise is all wrong. You and I, We don’t go to church. We are the church. Wherever we are, we are the church. If we have been ordained as Christians, that is, baptized into the Holy Spirit of God, then we are the church and the ambassadors of Jesus Christ wherever we may be. We don’t go to church, we are the church that goes to the world! We have a mission.
Of course, we do come as a community into the church building to be strengthened for service in the sacraments. We come to church to learn and keep learning about God so that we know what we are talking about in the world. We come to this place we call the church building to be a part of a supportive community of people, who help to support us in being the church in the world. Unfortunately, we sometimes lose our focus as to who we are, and what we are to be doing. We are good at fellowship and learning (sometimes), and some are faithful worshippers, but we forget about or minimize our empowerment from the Spirit to be disciples, to be missionaries, to be evangelists in the world. We have to relearn how to stop going to church, and be the church going to the world! For that very reason we gather here for renewed empowerment to be the church in the world, renewed in the Spirit of God, in Jesus Christ, with discipleship, mission, and evangelistic efforts. St. Paul made it quite clear that the church was not a building or a Temple, but a body of people. The Church is headed by Jesus Christ and we are the body of Christ in the world. We are the members, the arms, the legs, the risen living presence of Jesus Christ in the world today. What’s that saying? Each one of us may be the only Gospel of love that some people will ever read.
Today, we are gathered here as a church community, the church is gathered, and in a little while we are going to be sent to the world. We have not come for solace only, for pardon only, but for renewal of God’s Spirit to empower us for ministry and discipleship. And God has given us all varieties of talents and abilities to serve in the world.
We are also gathered here to ordain lay persons for ministry. They are all today very little lay persons or ministers or ambassadors of Jesus, but they are being consecrated, set apart, for discipleship and ministry, along with the rest of us. Like us they need spiritual food that comes from God and the church community. They need to learn the story of the mighty acts of God in worship and Sunday School. They need the support and the witness of the Christian Community around them. But the Body of Christ, those folk gathered here today in this congregation, the parents of these children, the selected God parents, sponsors must be witness, must be an example for these children that we are Christian people with a purpose to proclaim, tell, reveal, the love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Christian Faith is not self-centered. It is not for us to simply gain what spiritual satisfaction and blessings that we can get from it. It is for the purpose of spreading the blessings and revealing the spiritual satisfactions of Christ’s love to the rest of the world. There is much violence, poverty, loneliness, sickness, grief, heartache in the world. There is much to be done and the laborers are sometimes few. The world needs the infusion and hope of God’s Holy Spirit, which begins with a life of training from one another.
The disciples of Jesus were afraid, hiding, grieving their loss and reminiscing about the past. But, The Spirit came upon them empowering them for service. The disciples left that small room and went to the world and began to heal and proclaim, to restore, to love, to raise up those who were fallen and lost. They told them of God and invited their participation in the body of Christ. Some and many responded; some did not. Some receive and respond; some do not. But there is no way that we the body of Christ called to go to the world can escape that great calling and mission for which we have been and are gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Embrace the empowerment and the renewal of your calling.