Pentecost Sunday
John 15: 26-27, 16: 4b-15
"The Unknown God"
26 ¶ But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me;
27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ’Where are you going?’
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.
7 ¶ Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more;
11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.
Who’s birthday is it you might be wondering, well it is all of our, for today is the birthday of the church, today is Pentecost.
Are you excited? Does this day fill you with joy and happiness? Have you planned a celebration, our you friend, neighbor, and family coming over to celebrate?
Or maybe you are like King George in the following:
On July 4, 1776, the members of the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia signed the Declaration of Independence. With this action, the American Revolution was launched and a new nation was born.
It is ironic that on that very day George III, King of England, made this entry in his diary: "Nothing of any importance happened today. "
On the day of Pentecost, 120 followers of a Jesus were gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly the Spirit of God filled each one of them and marked them with tongues of fire. On that day the Church was born. But no historian of the time saw anything significant in that event.
For many Christians, the events of Pentecost, the events of God’s Spirit coming to this earth is like what King George said on the day the Declaration of Independence was signed,"nothing of any importance happened today."
Today is Pentecost, one of the 4 major festivals of the church year. Today we celebrate the coming of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit into the lives of men and woman, today we celebrate the birthday of the church.
But, if you didn’t come to church today, if you maybe hadn’t read your daily devotional booklet, or perhaps if you hadn’t looked at the church calendar, you would have not known this was a major festival of the church year. Today is just as important as Christmas, just as important as Easter, just as important as the festival of the Ascension, but for some unknown reason, this festival, this holiday in the church year goes by almost unnoticed. Why is that??
Pentecost and the Spirit seems like the Unknown God. We know about God the father who was the creator as we look at nature all around us, we know about God the Son, Jesus Christ, the one who was born in a manager, died on a cross and rose on Easter Sunday. But what about this Unknown God, God the Holy Spirit.
Why do we have a such difficult time getting a handle on the Spirit of God? Maybe we don’t understand what exactly happened on this day. Maybe, talk about the Spirit is not so sweet as talk about a baby born in a manager, angels singing in the heavens, gifts being passed about and shepherds tending their sheep on quiet hillsides.
Maybe we don’t get excited about Pentecost like we do Easter because there is nothing to do. No eggs to color, no clothes to buy for the Easter Parade, no empty tomb.
But Pentecost is important because it is now that the Spirit of God Himself comes into the earth and into our lives. It is the same Spirit of God which created the earth that come now on Pentecost to us.
This Spirit is in each of our lives . God’s Spirit comes to us in our Baptism, and remains with us as we grow in the knowledge and truth of the God who loves us.
Yes, the Spirit of God comes to us in our Baptism, and remains with us, calling us to worship, calling us to service, gathering us together as a body, enlightening us abut the truth of God and continually making us holy before God.
All this happens day in and day out in our lives. This Spirit is quietly at work each day you live. The Spirit is there with you as you plant your corn, beans and oats, it is there with you as you manage your business, as you raise your family, as you work for another person. This Spirit of God is there in all that we do.
The Holy Spirit brings his power into our lives in a quiet and unobtrusive way.
"The Spirit is like a good pair of eyeglasses. If our eyeglasses fit comfortably and do their work well we hardly notice them. They are there, not to be noticed, but to enable us to notice.
They are not to be seen, but to be seen through. When we misplace them we are doubly troubled, for we have not only lost them, but cannot see to find them. " 1
The Spirit inside of us goes abut its work quietly like our eye glasses. Most of the time we don’t even know that they are there, nor do we notice the work of the Spirit, but the Spirit is there guiding us, leading us, allowing us to see the world through the eyes of God.
The Spirit of God fills our lives daily so that we might be the kind of people God intended us to be. People who look at the world differently, people who see the world filled with the power of God, people who see the needs of others, people who see the world as a glass half full, not half empty. People who are faithful to the calling of God to love Him and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We are Spirit filled people who are guided by the Spirit as we see the world through the eye glasses of God’ s Holy Spirit.
A closing story reminds of us of the gentle, almost unknowing nudging of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
When he grew up, Simon was going to be a great football player. He had decided this at a very young age, as soon as he was big enough to kick a football. He practiced and practiced not only kicking his football, but controlling it with his feet. He’d often go to the playing field by himself, in all kinds of weather, and dribble the ball up and down the field. He became so proficient that when he played at school, the rest of the team thought the ball must be stuck to his boot.
Simon always returned from the playing field the same way. He’d run across the field, with the ball at his feet, then when he reached the far side he would pick up the ball, cross the road, run round the corner, down a couple of side streets and home.
On this occasion, he found himself taking a different route. He was quite surprised, for he didn’t recall making a conscious decision to go home a different way, but here he was at the back end of the playing field in a tangle of streets which he hardly knew, and rather further from his home than usual.
Simon shrugged his shoulders and went into a sweet shop for a packet of sweets. Then he took his time about going home, looking around him at the new surroundings. The streets were much quieter here than in his own neighbourhood. There were no children playing, and not many cars moving about.
Then Simon thought he heard an unusual sound. He listened again more intently, and sure enough it was someone sobbing. Simon followed the sound, moving slowly and carefully so as not to alarm whoever was crying. As he rounded a corner, he came upon an elderly lady leaning against the wall.
"Can I help you?" Simon asked politely.
The old lady seemed to shrink into herself and looked at him with terror in her eyes. "Don’t hurt me again, oh please don’t hurt me again," she quavered, trembling.
Simon was horrified. "I wouldn’t hurt you," he said, very gently. Then he added, "What happened? Where are you hurt?"
As the old lady turned her face fully towards him, Simon could see she was bruised and bleeding. "Where do you live?" he asked. The old lady didn’t seem to know, and she wasn’t able to tell him her name. Simon thought quickly, then he said, "Can you walk?"
When the old lady nodded, he took her arm and walking very slowly guided her down the street and along the next one until they reached the police station. Then he went in with her and explained how he had found her. He asked the police to ring his home so that his parents wouldn’t be worried about him, then he sat with the old lady as the police gently questioned her and a doctor came to examine her.
It turned out that the old lady lived in a residential home, and had been out shopping when two teenage boys had set upon her, knocked her to the ground, hit her around the face and run off with her money and her shopping. She wasn’t badly hurt, but she was very shocked and shaken. When the police took her back to her home, Simon went with her.
They became good friends after that, and Simon often used to visit after he had played football in the park. The old lady often remarked how fortunate it was that Simon had chosen to go that way home on that particular day, otherwise her injuries might have been much more serious.
Simon just smiled and said nothing, for he knew he hadn’t made any decision himself but had been guided by the Holy Spirit within him. And he knew the Holy Spirit had guided him in another way too
"How strange the way things turn out," he thought to himself, "and how lucky I am that God moved me in that direction. May I always follow his guidance."2
The gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit is in all of our lives.
Happy Birthday
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale June 2, 2003
1--- R. Maurice Boyd, The Fine Art of Being Imperfect And Other Broadcast Talks (Nashville: Abingdon Press), 1998. from WWW.SERMONS.COM a service of DYNAMIC PREACHING
2 Revd. Janice Scott http://www.sermons-stories.co.uk/
