A Sermon preached at Pentecost June 5, 2022, at St. Augustine’s and St. Christoph
Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17, 25-27
Today we celebrate the church’s birthday, Pentecost. Before Pentecost there was no church, just a small group of men and women who could all fit into a single house. By the end of that day, there would be more followers of Jesus than could fit into a single room, and they never would again. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, calls Pentecost something like the Big Bang, as all Christianity radiates outward from this moment of creation. Another commentator said that “without the Holy Spirit there would be no prophecy, no preaching, no mission, and no Christian Movement” and no St. Augustine’s Church either.
It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that drives the church out into the world, which is something we celebrate not only at Pentecost but at every baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. Water is very visible, and tangible, the spirit on the other hand is neither visible nor tangible. At the baptism it is symbolised by the special oil, blessed by a bishop, that I use for anointing.
Luke, the author of Acts, can’t really describe it either. He writes of “a sound like the rush of a violent wind,” but not the wind and of “divided tongues, as of fire,” but not real fire. (Acts 2:2-3) The violent wind and the fire recalls Elijah’s encounter with God (1 Kings 19:11-12) when there “was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.” And fire also reminds us of John’s prophecy just before Jesus’ Baptism that “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16)
But however difficult it is to describe the Spirit we still notice its effects – for if we are open to the Spirit’s influence it will make a significant change in our lives. For the men and women on that day of Pentecost the first change came with their ability to speak in tongues. Some commentators call this the reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis when humans try to become greater than God: “Come [says the Lord], let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.” (Genesis 11:7-8) In the Acts reading we hear instead how people have come from all over the face of the known earth to the city of Jerusalem where they hear the disciples “in our own languages (…) speaking about God's deeds of power." (Acts 2:11)
This is an ability we still need today. Just like the disciples, we receive the spirit to be able to share the good news with more people in a better way. We need to speak, we need to translate our language about God and God's deeds of power into a language that can be understood by all people, and not just those who regularly come to church. They need to hear how God has made a difference in our lives, and how God can make a difference in their lives too.
The second change that the Spirit brought about that day was the ability to prophesy as Peter explained, citing the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18) The Spirit goes where the Spirit chooses; it knows no boundaries neither gender nor age nor social class. All flesh can receive the spirit and speak truth.
To speak the truth is another ability we still need today. We need to identify what is broken and what is harmful in the world, anything that denies our common humanity, anything that puts one person, group or nation above another, any attempt to use force and power for personal gain, anything that stands between us and the love of God. We need to name and work on changing it – with all like-minded people of faith, any faith, and all people with good intentions. This is when the “Advocate” who Jesus describes in John’s Gospel works in us, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." (John 14:17)
Finally – for today – we have that much more intimate, individual effect of the Spirit that Paul and Jesus depict in the extracts from Romans and from John’s Gospel. Paul emphasises the role of the Spirit in establishing our relationship as adopted children of God and co-heirs with Christ. The Spirit binds us together and with God and lets us encounter God not with fear, but with loving trust. Jesus focuses on the role of the Spirit as advocate. The word advocate is one we really only know from its legal usage. But it could also be translated as 'helper', 'defender', comforter', or 'supporter'. Someone who stands by your side, who argues your case in front of others and who has your back. The Spirit makes a difference in our lives by being with and in us, by the peace it brings, by the assurance of God’s presence in our lives. The Father will give us another advocate, Jesus says, because Jesus himself is the first one. “The Spirit, not bound by the physical limitations of Jesus of Nazareth, who could only be in one place and one time, is therefore one who is sent to us to continue the ministry of Jesus – God with us.”[1]
I think one reason why the Spirit brings so many different gifts, and even today we have heard of only a few, is because there are so many different needs to be met in our lives and in the lives of those we encounter. At its core the Spirit is simply God’s personal presence abiding in us, helping and guiding us, and empowering us to do the works that Jesus does and, in fact, even greater works than these. (John 14:12)
Amen.
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