A Sermon preached on 28 May 2023 (Pentecost) at St. Augustine’s, WI
Acts 2:1-21, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, John 7:37-39
Today we celebrate not only the Feast of Pentecost, but also the Baptism of Alexa ALVIA. That is appropriate for two reasons.
One is that our Church considers Holy Baptism to be especially appropriate on this Day of Pentecost, as well as at the Easter Vigil, on All Saints' Day and on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. And the reason why Pentecost is one of the preferred days is because it is the Feast of the Holy Spirit, and Holy Baptism is full initiation not just by water, but also by the Holy Spirit, the latter symbolised by what we call chrism, which is oil specially consecrated by our bishop for this use. We are told right from the beginning of the Gospels that baptism is by water and the Spirit, for example in Mark (1:8) when John the Baptist told his listeners “I have baptized you with water, but he (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
We certainly heard a lot about the Holy Spirit in today’s readings. In the Gospel Jesus compares the Spirit with rivers of living water that will flow out of the believer’s heart. But first we must receive and welcome God’s Spirit before we can share it. As one commentator said: “Only when we are filled with all the fullness of God can those living waters flow from us to water a thirsty, gasping world.”[1]
On the one hand, God’s Spirit is the breath of life that we all share, on the other – and that is the focus of the other readings and that fullness of God – it is a power and constant presence given to us to enable us to live God’s life and to share God’s word in and with the world.
That is what happened on that day of Pentecost when, as we heard in Acts, the disciples, not just the 12 apostles but all of Jesus’ followers, both women and men, were “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” (Acts. 2:4) The power they were given, and that they needed on that day, was the ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ in the languages of the “devout Jews from every nation.” That is a gift we still need today, the ability to share our faith in a form and language and cultural context that is easily understandable. In his sermon, Peter, quoting from the book of the prophet Joel, references other gifts of the Spirit: To see visions, to interpret dreams, to prophesy, and to perform signs. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul also lists a huge variety of gifts of the Spirit, but however varied, however different those gifts may be, they have two things in common.
Firstly, they are for the common good. None of these gifts are meant to make one person more important than another, and none of them are intended to be used for personal gain. Sadly, that has not been – and is not – always the case. I could list a number of modern-day preachers who seem to have become very wealthy! That is not what God’s gifts are for. They are for the building up of the Church and for the benefit of all God’s people.
We might hope, for example, that our leaders, lay and ordained, will be given the wisdom and knowledge to help our church adapt to the ever-changing context in which we work. We will want our leaders and teachers to be able to share the meaning and implications of our faith with seekers young and old. There is much that needs the work of healing in our world, not just physical illnesses, but also relationships and the consequences of prejudice and discrimination. Our book study group recently looked at how and where miracles are still experienced. We need prophetic voices to speak truth to society. And last, and certainly not least, we need those who can discern where God is calling us to go and what God is calling us to do – as individuals and as a community.
Secondly, they have one single source: “All these (gifts) are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.” (1 Cor. 12:11) They are not based on merit or skill. The Holy Spirit makes us unique and makes us one. Pentecost is also the feast of unity in diversity. God rejoices in our differences, God's gifts and God's love are for everyone regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, social status, or class, or politics. And God’s purposes are best served through a diverse community.
Paul uses the image of the one body with many members, each with their own function, to describe this unity in diversity. I also like to think of a mosaic, those beautiful patterns and pictures that are made of hundreds of small, often irregular pieces of coloured stone, glass or ceramic. There would be no picture if every piece of the mosaic were the same colour and shape, just a single monochrome, homogenous mass.
Our oneness, our unity is not in who we are or what we look like, but in whom we serve, “there are varieties of services, but the same Lord.” (12:5) The picture our mosaic needs to show, the one single image we should be projecting to the world is that of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the visible expression of God’s love.
Today with Alexa we will incorporate one more piece into God’s colourful, vibrant, and radiant mosaic, in the one Spirit she will be baptized into the one body. We don’t know what particular gift or gifts the Spirit has in store for, we don’t know where she will be called to serve, as we all are also in our daily lives, not just in church, and we don’t know what activities God has planned for her. That is all in God’s hands. As family and godparents your role is to help and support her as she grows into her own expression of the full stature of Christ. As a community our role is to support her in her life in Christ, in her particular role in the body we all belong to by virtue of our own baptism. And together we can rejoice that with Alexa the mosaic that is God’s people is just about to became a little brighter and a little more beautiful. Amen.
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