The Day of Pentecost, June 8, 2003 "Series B"
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, on this day we humbly give you thanks for the gift of your Holy Spirit, poured out upon the church that it might be empowered to proclaim the good news of Christ’s victory over sin and death, and enable us to come to faith in your gift of redemption. Kindle in us the fire of your love, and strengthen our lives for service in your kingdom; through your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
In all honesty, there has been a debate among Biblical scholars as to just when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred. According to the Gospel of John, it happened on Easter evening, when our risen Lord first appeared to his disciples as they were gathered in the upper room behind locked doors, fearing for their lives.
John tells us that Jesus, whom the disciples had seen die on a Roman cross and buried in a rock-hewn tomb, suddenly appeared among them, saying "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, "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."
But according to Luke, as we read in our first lesson for this morning, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred forty-nine days later, on the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Again, the disciples were huddled together in one place, perhaps still fearing for their lives, certainly still trying to understand their experience of Christ’s death and resurrection, when the Spirit of God came upon them.
And even if one might question Luke’s dramatic description of the rush of a mighty wind and the divided tongues of fire resting on each disciple, or the actual date that the gift of God’s Holy Spirit was given, something profound took place that enabled that frightened cadre of persons to begin to comprehend God’s gift of redemption in Christ’s death and resurrection, something which empowered them to unbolt the doors behind which they hid, and go out into the street to proclaim the Gospel.
Just think of the irony, the reversal of expectation that the Holy Spirit brought into the life of Peter. Here was a man, who, on the night our Lord was betrayed, arrested, and taken off on a course of events that would result in his crucifixion, was so afraid for his own life, that he denied three times that he even knew Jesus.
But through the power of the Holy Spirit, this same man who cowered in fear for his own life, became the first person to publicly proclaim that through Christ’s death and resurrection, God had acted to redeem the world from sin and death. He preached the first Christian sermon, and as a result of the inspiration he received, the Christian church was born.
Today we celebrate God’s gift of his Spirit. All of our lessons for this morning focus on the gift of God’s Spirit – from our Lord’s promise that the Spirit would comfort, lead and empower his disciples following his return to the Father – to Luke’s description of how our Lord’s promise came to be fulfilled in the lives of his disciples.
Too often, as we read these lessons from Scripture, we read them as history, as something that took place thousands of years ago. And in fact, Christ’s life, death and resurrection was a life lived in history, which can be historically dated, an event upon which we look back in time and remember as unique.
But the gift of the Holy Spirit is not an event that can be relegated to the annuls of history. According to one of the commentaries that I read on the significance of this day, it stated, "Pentecost is a festival of the Gospel, but the giving of the Holy Spirit is not confined to one time, one place, or one group of people. God continues to pour out his Spirit upon believers in and through the word and the sacraments, and sometimes in ways that are stranger than the story that Luke relates in our lesson from Acts." End quote.
How true this is! The fact that the church has been empowered to proclaim the message of God’s redemption and saving grace in Christ’s death and resurrection ever since Peter’s first sermon, is witness to the ongoing presence of God’s Spirit still at work among us.
In fact, I stand before you this morning in testimony to the power of God’s Spirit. Even after twenty-five years of ordained ministry, I am still amazed that I am standing here, in a pulpit. As my mother will assert, my childhood would certainly not have led her to believe that I would be standing before you today, proclaiming God’s word. Let it suffice to say that I gave her my share of heart aches and worries as a child.
Even when I think back upon the last twenty-five years, I can only credit the power of God’s Spirit for seeing me through some difficult times, and for helping me to grow, not only as a pastor, but also through the grace of God, to accept his forgiveness and to grow in faith. As I have continued to experience God’s Spirit at work in my life, I cannot say that the day I was ordained provided me with some magical confirmation of divine gifts, as it was the beginning of a journey in which God’s Spirit would lead me and mold me to become a pastor. And that process, I pray, is still ongoing.
And over these past years, I have also witnessed how the power of God’s Spirit has touched the lives of many persons through the sacraments. How many times persons have expressed to me how they had come to experience a sense of peace and a realization of our Lord’s presence in their life, after receiving communion - especially when they were facing surgery or some difficult situation in life.
I don’t believe that it is something magical about a piece of bread and a
sip of wine that conveys this calming peace of God, but the power of God’s Spirit that brings to reality the promise of our crucified and risen Lord to be present to us through this meal. It is the Spirit that opens our hearts to embrace God’s grace in the sacraments.
And finally, I honestly believe that God’s Spirit will be poured out upon Rachel Moroco, as she receives the sacrament of baptism, in which God embraces her as his own, redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
Again, I don’t believe that there is anything magical about the water that will be poured over her head that accomplishes this gift of God’s Spirit, but with the water, accompanied by the word and promise of our risen Lord, God’s Spirit will embrace her, non-the-less, and unite her to the family of Christ’s church.
And as she grows in years, comes to hear the word of God contained in Scripture, grows in fellowship with the church, receives the sacrament of communion, who knows where the Spirit might lead her. Perhaps she will be led to become a pastor of Christ’s church. Perhaps she will become a gifted teacher of the faith. Perhaps she will be blessed with the gift of music.
Regardless of what gifts she might possess, through the power of God’s word, working through Christ’s church, the Spirit of God will lead her to faith. For the work of the Spirit continues. Amen.
