Pentecost Sunday

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

SEASON: Pentecost Sunday
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: May 19, 2002

Holy Baptism
TEXT: 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. . . 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 – To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. . . . wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.

John 20:19-23 – When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

ISSUE: The Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles and they are sent to the world. It is a story of new beginning and birth of the church through the blowing of God’s breath upon the apostles. It is the Spirit of God blowing away the sin of the world. It is the empowerment of the disciples and calling them to awareness of their spiritual gifts. The Pentecost is the ultimate gift of God to his followers to be the ambassadors of his Christ in the world.
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Today we are celebrating in the church the major feast day of Pentecost. The Scriptures give us two accounts of the Pentecost experience for the early church. Apparently there were two traditions about Pentecost that circulated in the early Christian Community.
The earliest very basic account of the Pentecost experience is given in St. John’s Gospel account. According to John, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon some of the Apostles comes as early as Easter Day. The disciples are gathered in the upper room with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish and Roman authorities. Jesus appears. He says to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The symbolism in this event for the early church was that of creation. The event is reminiscent of the creation of Adam. “Then the Lord God formed a man (Adam) from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus, the man became a living creature.” (Gen. 2:7) Notice that the disciples are sort of entombed, or enwombed, themselves in this locked room, but Christ breathes life, The Holy Spirit of God into them. It is a birth story of the Christian community, of the church. The living Spirit of God, given through Christ is given to them.
The impact of the word ‘receive’ is, as in Receive the Holy Spirit, can also mean to “take, grab, or grasp” the Holy Spirit. The apostles are to initiate the taking of the Holy Spirit and take it to the world to which they are sent.
The apostles are given authority to forgive sins. Sin in the Gospel of John usually means to be unfaithful, to accept Christ as savior and Lord. If you don’t who will? Unless they proclaim Christ and the way of Christ, the world will be left with its sin of unbelief and without faith. For the Gospel of John, by the time he was writing, faithfulness in a time of anxiety and uncertain was an absolute necessity. Therefore, it was important to take Christ, to grasp the Holy Spirit of God to be your renewal or rebirth in the world, and to breakforth with hope and proclamation of the love and the glory of God revealed to the world.
The earlier story of the Pentecost experience is given in St. Luke’s story of The Acts of the Apostles. In Luke’s story the disciples have gathered at Jerusalem for the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. This feast occurred fifty days after the Passover, and celebrated the first harvest. It also celebrated the giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments to Moses. While the Law was given by God, now you have an account of the Holy Spirit of God being given to the early apostles and members of the early Christian Church. Gathered together, a mighty wind blows upon them and flames of fire appear above their heads. They are empowered to proclaim the love and glory and might acts of God in every language of the people gathered at Jerusalem for this feast.
It is fascinating to understand that in this period, people believed that there were many evil spirits that abounded. They stayed close to home at night. They avoided the wilderness areas. The sea was often seen as a place of evil spirits. People could become possessed by bad spirits, and cause them to sin and be separated from God. When, then, you see, the power of the mighty rushing wind was for what purpose? But, of course, the coming of the Holy Spirit was to blow the evil spirits all away! Allow the loving Spirit of God to be the permeating and infiltrating Spirit for the world.
We know too, that the apostles were still young in their effort and calling. They were like warm embers, but once the Spiritual Wind of God blows upon them, the flame up and become ‘on fire’ with Holy Spirit of God. They begin the process of vivid storytellers telling the stories of the Mighty Acts of God, who saves and delivers them from oppression and evil and they continue the work of Christ in the world, raising up the poor, addressing injustices, healing and caring for the sick, the widow, the orphaned, the disenfranchised and oppressed.
The story of their speaking in many languages seems to be an answer to the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel. In that story, the people build towers in order to storm heaven and become like gods. The Pentecost story is the coming of God’s Spirit upon the people on the earth, so that the Apostles and disciples of Jesus will become the agents of Christ proclaiming the message to all the nations uniting them into one community of the people of God. God’s Spirit and breath of life that has the power to recreate and blow evil away is proclaimed to the earth so that the Kingdom of God can eventually be fully realized.
St. Paul’s take on the coming of the Holy Spirit was that the Spirit of God gives spiritual gifts and/or abilities to all people. Some make good teachers. Others are particularly wise in certain areas. Still others are good at languages and tongues and at the interpretation of spiritual insights. Some are miracle workers, that is people empowered to change other people’s lives. For instance Annie Sullivan, who was Helen Keller’s teacher, and who gave Helen the ability to hear, speak, and use sign language. Dr. Jonas Salk found a cure for Polio, and helped to eliminate that dreaded disease. Paul saw in the early Christian community numbers of Christians with blessed abilities that could be used for the promulgation of the Gospel of Christ.
Look around this parish alone and there are many skills and abilities that can be put to use. There are organizers and pushers, who helped accomplish the building of the new ramp. There are teachers in the Sunday School, and young people committed to being our acolytes, and those who read well at the Services. We are rich with musicians who help raise our moral and give inspiration to the worship. There are many skilled and talented people here. These are they who have received the Spirit, taken the Spirit. We are baptizing children today, and their baptism is their experience of rebirth into the community of faith and of people of the Spirit of God. It is, of course, important that they be raised up in the faith of the church so that their spiritual gifts whatever they may be can be used in the concern for others, and as St. Paul put it, “their gifts may be used for the common good.” May God’s Holy Spirit blow away from the evil winds and spirits of the world that may draw them away from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Receiving, taking hold, or the grasping of the Spirit of God is a matter of helping the world to live, which is often committed to death, violence, terror, and vengeance. It is a matter of being indignant and deeply concerned over the starving children of the world. It is being appalled at racism, and abandoning forgotten elderly people to hopelessness in forlorn nursing homes. Abraham Lincoln at the end of the civil war did not hold a grudge, or attempt to punish the South, but made efforts before his assassination to rebuild the South. At the end of World War two, our nation did not wreak havoc in Europe or evoke a call to vengeance, but spent millions in the Marshall Plan to rebuild. These efforts were a far cry from continuing the pain and suffering, and intended to renew and reshape the world.
In all of these stories of the coming of the Spirit, what we have is a Presence of God, a spiritual presence of God that seeks to surround us, encompass us, that desires to indwell us in our work and recreation, and at whatever age we may be. It intends to empower us for ministry of God’s love in the world. Jesus appeared to the disciples and breathed upon them, renewing and empowering them, to allow the mighty wind of God to blow all the evil spirits and evil spiritedness of the world away.