Welcome to our Mass on the Grass…with Brass!

What a joy it is to be out worshiping with all of you here in the midst of God’s beautiful creation.  When we started this annual outdoor service back in 2015, we couldn’t imagine how popular it would become.  Perhaps it is beloved because it is followed by a picnic with lots of food, but I think it is more likely that folks sense something profound in the setting. 

Now, our church building is, I think, one of the most beautiful anywhere – its imposing neo-gothic stonework, the Romanesque main tower that soars above the altar, the Tiffany stained glass windows that rain down an array of sparkling colored lights across the worship space, the large labyrinth that beckons you to a journey in the narthex, the carvings in the wood that harken to another age – it all captivates the heart and centers our very souls on the sacred.  So why do we leave it to come here?

Well, just look around you?  There is sacredness in creation too, for while the church is the work of human hands dedicated to God, this is God’s direct handiwork – and how alive it is too.  The sounds, the smells, the feel of the grass…and yeah, even the occasional bite of a mosquito or annoyance of gnats flying by – it is all so active and full of life.  And I can’t think of a better Sunday for us to be out here than on the Feast of Pentecost, for on this day, and forevermore, the promise Jesus made to his disciples in the passage from the gospel we read this morning came into being…and the world has never been the same since.

So, let’s start with what happened, as we hear it in the passage from Acts read every year on this Sunday.  On the day of Pentecost, the apostles being good Jewish men and women were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Weeks and the giving of the law, one of three times faithful Jews were required to make pilgrimage and gather – the other two being Passover and the ingathering of the harvest.  But for the followers of Jesus, this was a time of uncertainty.  Jesus had departed, telling them, as we heard in the gospel today, that the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, would be with them always – but what would that look like?  What did that mean? 

In that house in Jerusalem, they found out – a rush of wind, and tongues of fire rested on each of them – they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages – speech that was unfamiliar to them.  It was all so strange that when they began to speak to the crowds that had gathered outside of the house in response to the noise, folks thought they were drunk. As I say every year, that led to perhaps one of the funniest lines in all of scripture, as Peter says to them “…listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.”  You gotta love it, right?

The story of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit makes a wild, noisy, entry – not like a gentle dove – but a blow the church doors open sort of experience, which is absolutely amazing, but what does it mean for us now?

First, those earliest followers of Jesus didn’t do anything to bring about this gift of grace.  To be sure, they were a very mixed bag of folks – none of the rich or powerful, all of them not exactly the model of perfection in any sense of the word.  Of the men anyway, one denied him, two others competed with one another for his affection, and most of the others were generally clueless.  Yet the Holy Spirit alighted on them all the same. 

God works through the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.  God chooses to work through us not because we are perfect, but because through the cracks of our imperfections God’s light shines brightly.

It is also a reminder that God works within the context of diversity – people gathered in Jerusalem from all over the known world are met by followers of Jesus who are able to not only speak to them, but most especially to listen to them. Which tells us that “Pentecost isn’t about speaking incomprehensible languages.  Pentecost is about hearing incomprehensible languages,”1 because all are welcome into the kingdom of God.

Now, hold that for a moment, while we look at what we heard in the gospel and in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

In the gospel, Jesus is giving his followers some final guidance before he leaves them, commonly called the farewell discourse.  He tells them “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 

And then he added, that he would ask God to send another – the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. Who will abide with you and be in you.  Then he finishes with – “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Hold all that for a moment and remember the words of St. Paul in the letter to the Romans we heard, where he also says “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption…we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Folks, these are scriptures for our troubled times, are they not? 

Yes, the world is difficult and dangerous now, particularly for many vulnerable communities.

Yet, let’s remember what we heard today.

First – the Holy Spirit not only walks alongside us, but is within us!

The Spirit may not come with fire blazing on our heads or the instant power to speak a multitude of languages, but is very much present at our baptism – anointing us in no less a way than those earliest apostles – always present, always guiding, always burning within our hearts.

We must also remember what Jesus said – to keep his commandments, most especially he would say the one he gave at his final supper with his followers: that we are to love one another as he loved us.

And finally – as St. Paul tell us, that we are children of God, heirs alongside Christ – which means we are part of a larger global family.

A family rooted in love – God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for one another.

As we move through the days ahead, when our nation is facing a constitutional and moral crises, when people are being arrested and shipped to prisons in other countries because of the color of their skin, when LGBTQ+ people are pushed further to the margins, when women’s rights and their very lives are threatened every day, when people who are speaking out are being arrested and imprisoned because our government is deploying troops against them, and when war ravages across the world, we have to remember all we heard today.

We must remember, because fear is the tool of those who seek to destroy, and in the midst of all this darkness we can begin to feel anxiety rising up in our hearts, or all around us.

I get it – I really do!

We are tired, worn, angry, frustrated.  And that is where fear will take root if we forget who we are.  If we forget that we are the children of God – loved for all time.

And love will always defeat fear, God’s love most especially.

God’s love for us – and us for one another – is how we will overcome in the days ahead. That is why Jesus told them to keep his commandments.  He knew that they would need to love – deeply and unconditionally, if they were to do the work they were called to do.

And we must remember too that we will not be alone in this.  The Holy Spirit didn’t drop in on those apostles and then leave.  She has existed since the dawn of creation, and is here now, today, with us.

Jesus said that the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, will not only abide in us – but is within us.

Today truth is a precious commodity, isn’t it?

Some are trying to convince us that there are alternative facts.  It’s like 1984 and we are being told not to believe what we see or hear, but that 2+2=5.

That is when we need to reach inward and allow that Spirit of Truth to rise up and light our way, before we instead allow our paths to be gaslighted.

Folks, we are in a Pentecost moment – we can choose to close the shutters, and hunker down, or follow the Spirit out into the world.

Christ hopes we breathe in that divine Spirit of Truth and live as the beloved children of God we are –

And then head into the world with ears able to hear what others are saying, and words that meet hate with love, fear with hope, darkness with light.

For just like those apostles, who faced an uncertain future, were fearful, and worn from all that had happened, we too were made for such a time as this.  And like them, we need to live our own version of the Acts of the Apostles.

We, the people of Jesus, are grounded in hope, rooted in God’s love, and alive in the Spirit. 

And make no mistake about it –  we are a force to be reckoned with!

So, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

For when we truly live into who we are, when we love as Jesus loved, when we allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of Truth…

There are no chains of injustice we cannot break.

There are no walls of oppression we cannot tear down.

There are no prisons of poverty we cannot burst open.

There are no governments that can stop us, no armies that can defeat us, no tyranny that will divide us. 

For we are filled with God’s love, strengthened in our union with Christ, and lifted up by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are a Pentecost people – a wind of change blowing through the world, ready to set it on fire – to ignite all of  creation with the restorative power of God’s all inclusive love.

Happy Pentecost Everyone!

Amen.

[1] Bob Eldan. https://preachingtip.com/archives-year-c/pentecost-year-c/pentecost-day-year-c/

The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox

Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge

June 8, 2025

The Feast of Pentecost – Year C

1st Reading – Genesis 11:1-9

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

2nd Reading – Acts 2:1-21

Gospel – John 14:8-17, (25-27)