Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21;
John 14: 8-17, 25-27
Preached by Rev. Dr. Jason
Haddox
“When the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all gathered together…”
They were gathered together for the feast, for the celebration, for the
remembrance.
Fifty Days after the
Passover, the feast of Pentecost was a spring thanksgiving festival, remembering
the giving of the Torah (The Teaching or Instruction, not “Law” in the way we
usually mean that word) at Mt. Sinai. God appeared in fire on the mountain, and
gave that teaching to Moses, and called the children of Israel as God’s chosen
people.
We see that gift commemorated
in our window here nearest the pulpit; the green and purple trumpets of the
prophets are lifted to call the people together; to hear the teaching of God
for the good of God’s people and God’s creation. To call them to instruction, symbolized by
the scrolls of the Torah there at the base of the window’s icon. To summon them to repentance (metanoia): to turn from the objects and
actions which distract and destroy, to bring them back to their Creator, the
giver of Life and all things.
The Day of Pentecost was
already a big day, one of the great pilgrimage occasions, so there were lots of
pilgrims in Jerusalem that year; lots of strangers double-booked in overcrowded
inns (perhaps some even sleeping in the barn with the animals); a veritable
Tower of Babble in the streets.
Suddenly, into this warm,
closely-packed, high-volume scene, with no warning whatsoever: Wind. Fire. Light and air, motion and sound, even greater
than the noise already in the streets.
The disciples have been waiting for something to happen—and happen it
does.
Today the Church is sent out
from the place where they have waited. Today
the closed doors of the Upper Room are blown off their hinges, and the
followers of Jesus are hurled out into those busy, babbling streets to become
witnesses of what they themselves have seen of God’s power over the powers of
death and destruction, messengers carrying words of hope, forgiveness, and new
life into the towns and countries into which they will go. They are infused with the breath and life and
words and power of God, through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And see—the green and purple
trumpets of the prophets are there too.
In our Pentecost window, beneath the descending dove and holy fire,
undergirding the whole scene, promising that the teaching, the wisdom, the way
of life that God has promised his people is still there. “In those days” says Peter, quoting the
prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people: young and old, men
and women, slave and free.” Not only for
those in Judea and Jerusalem, not only for the inner circle, no. The Way that leads to the life of God is now
available to all people, regardless of who they are or where they are. Or when.
They who have seen and
experienced the power, the mercy, and the love of God displayed in the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus, now take that experience with them into the
world, to share it with everyone they meet.
It has transformed their lives; now they will be agents and instruments
of transformation in the lives of others.
Whoever has seen Jesus, has
seen the Father. In the passage from
John’s gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that they too are “in God”, and that
they will do the works that they have seen Jesus do, and more. What have they seen? Water turned to wine; strangers welcomed and
blessed in order to bless their own communities and neighbors; thousands fed
with seemingly inadequate resources; the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame
walk, the dead are raised to new life.
But they will not—they
cannot—do any of these things on their own. They must be taught and guided by “the
Advocate” whom Jesus will send.
“Advocate”= “Helper, comforter”; from the Greek word Paraclete,
from para-, “for the purpose of” or
“with”; and kalao, “to call.” One who comes alongside, to guide and
direct. The disciples must “abide in
Christ” (John 15:4) that the life of Christ may be evident in them.
J. Philip Newell’s Listening For The Heartbeat Of God, our
Wisdom Wednesday discussion book recently, made much of the image of
listening—paying careful and constant attention to the voice of God present
among us and to each of us. That “still,
small voice” is an invitation to trust.
It is an invitation into faith…not faith in a series of propositional
statements ABOUT God, but into faith in the continuing presence and guidance OF
God, revealed through Scripture, and tradition, and human thought and
reflection on experience—listening for the breath of the Holy Spirit, which (as
the Gospel of John says earlier) “blows where it will, and you hear the sound
of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with those who are born of the
Spirit.”
As followers of Jesus we
believe that Spirit is given to each of us, and to all of us together. We remember in our baptism—even if we don’t
remember the baptism itself—that we were given gifts for ministry. Each one of us has a gift, or more than one,
for ministry in Christ’s name. How will
we make use of those gifts? For it is to
this that Jesus calls us, this day of Pentecost, in this town of Augusta, in
this year 2013.
From Paul Fromberg, rector of
St. Gregory of Nyssa, SF: Pentecost in a single line: Jesus says to us: “You are my beloved, do as I do, be as I am.”
My brothers and sisters, may
it be so with us. May it be so among us,
today and always.
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