Happy Pentecost Everyone! 

While we are resurrection people, and we always carry Easter in our hearts, Eastertide is now over, and today we celebrate one of the most important Sundays of the Church.

In fact, Pentecost & Easter were central to Christian communities for centuries, when Christmas wasn’t even a thing.  But, it seems in modern times that Pentecost has been lost to many in the church. It is such an important celebration, but the timing being as folks begin to head outdoors for mini-vacations, especially this year being on Memorial Day weekend, means that it is lost on many – not to mention, as I point out every year, that there sadly aren’t a whole lot of Pentecost cards in the Hallmark stores wishing you a windy day of fire dancing on your heads. 

Still, it is an important Feast day of the church, and a fantastic narrative in our scriptures.  On the day of Pentecost, the apostles being good Jewish men and women were in Jerusalem. Just a reminder about the setting – Jews from all over the world, gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Weeks and the giving of the law, one of three times they were required to make this pilgrimage – the other two being Passover and the ingathering of the harvest.  But for the followers of Jesus, this was a time of uncertainty.  They had experienced so much in such short time – the death of Jesus, his resurrection, and then his ascension. 

What will the future bring?

This we can understand.

Post-pandemic, this parish is facing our own challenges.  Having worked hard and followed the Holy Spirit, we had moved from nearly closing to thriving between 2014 and 2020.  But like many parishes, we were hit hard financially when our nursery school had to close during the pandemic, and our attendance in-person since our return from pandemic has been low. 

We had our near death, our resurrection, and now? 

Well, now we are having our Pentecost moment.

The question we need to be asking is the same one those earliest followers of Jesus likely had…what is next?

What will the Holy Spirit bring forward here?

Because we know from our past that the Spirit is at work in this place, and in us.  Where is She leading us now and how will each of us – you and me – be gifted for the work ahead? 

St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, told this fledgling faith community something that will help us.  To really get the message Paul is sending, we need to know why he is writing. 

Apparently, these folks knew they had been given spiritual gifts, but they were fighting about which one of these gifts was “the best.”  Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.  Yet there are not too many parishes in the world, ours included, who only wish our people were fighting about whose gift was more important – or at least understanding how valuable each gift is, and how very much that gift is needed for the life of the church’s ministry.

Anyway, St. Paul basically did a gentle smack down, using the metaphor of our physical bodies to make it clear that all gifts, no matter how big or how small they may seem, are important to the overall body of Christ.  Perhaps if they had really understood the gift these first apostles received, they would not be fighting in the first place… And it is a good place for us to start ourselves as we move forward together into our future.

When the apostles in Acts were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in other languages.  Now there are some folks today who believe that the point of Pentecost is to speak in tongues, or at least in some other languages.  There is nothing wrong with that, but that, I think, misses the larger point.  It isn’t about languages really, or at least not JUST about that anyway.

Now as the text makes clear, those who made this Jerusalem pilgrammage for this most important celebration of their faith, were people from all over the known world.  They were from differing nations, cultures, and languages.  So, what happened?  Well, as we heard “…suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Awesome!!!!

 The Spirit blew through this place where the disciples were…and here’s the really cool part (well, okay, it doesn’t get much cooler than dancing flames all over the place and a thunderous wind, but anyway)… The Spirit did more than pyrotechnics… the Spirit gave them all a gift.  The ability to speak the languages of people from all over the world.  I mean – this is the stuff of Hollywood mega-movies! 

But while really, really, amazing, the flames and wind were not the point – the languages were.   The Spirit was enabling the earliest followers of Jesus to be the church alive in that day – not by making all of the people of the world become like the apostles, but by giving the apostles the ability to communicate directly with those who were different. 

Think about it – the first gift the Spirit gives to these apostles was the ability to communicate with those that are different than they are.  I mean, it could have been the gift of prophesy, or healing, or flying for that matter – boy, now THAT would have turned a few heads, right? 

But no – God was making it clear that the first step for any body of Christ was to break down the barriers between people – not expect them to figure out how to be more like us – but allow them to be their uniquely created selves – inviting them in just the way they are. Because all of them – no matter what language they speak – are beloved by God. 

And the thing is – the Spirit is giving us that gift too, and it is the one we most need now.

Oh, ok – maybe we don’t speak multiple languages, though I do know that many of you do, because we have, in our wonderfully diverse parish, people who are from all over the world.  And today we are blessed to have Anne Watson here, signing the sermon. We will be launching in this Pentecost season lessons in American Sign Language, which Anne has graciously offered to teach – more about that soon, so stay tuned.

But whether you speak a language other than English, we all have the ability to meet people where they are – to listen to them – to make the effort to understand them.  It just takes intentional listening, the ministry of presence, and the willingness to follow the Holy Spirit.

The earliest apostles certainly did not expect to take their gospel to those who were so different than they – but that is where they were led.  They did not originally think it was a gospel for anyone but Jews, but Paul and Peter were led by God to show them otherwise. 

And now – well, we are the apostles the Holy Spirit is looking to fire up, because the world needs us to use the gifts She give us – now more than ever before. 

For there are people who hunger for the food of love, people who thirst for the cup of kindness, people who yearn to be seen and heard.  And the earth and all the creatures on it, cry out in distress from our abuse and neglect. 

Earlier I talked about the crossroads our own parish is in post-pandemic– we are not alone in that, to be sure.  However, this is not a time to hide in our proverbial room here, but instead follow the lead of the apostles – come together in prayer as the body of Christ, and allow the Spirit to awaken our gifts – not for this building, but for the sake of the gospel work God needs us to do from here!

We are in a Pentecost moment folks – and we can choose to shutter the doors of this meeting room we call the church and ignore the Spirit’s thundering at the windows, imploring us out into the world, because we bemoan our current circumstance and are weighed down by the injustice we see all around us.

Or we can throw open the doors, and proclaim loudly, in whatever language of love we can find, that everyone is beloved of God – and that we were charged by God to be good stewards of our planet.  We can step boldly forward and meet people where they are – listening to them, seeing them – just as those earliest apostles did.  We may not baptize 3000 as they did, but we will change lives…including our own!

A few years ago, I led a retreat for a group of postulants and candidates for ordination in our diocese.  And at that retreat, I told them to be brave.

Be brave enough to open your hearts, to invite the Spirit at work in the world in – to breathe deeply that holy breath of God. 

Be brave enough to stand up for the rights of all people to drink clean water, breath fresh air, eat food not filled with toxins, and live without fear of violence.

Be brave to tell the world that God loves everyone – gay, straight, Muslim, Jew, black, white, male, female, trans – everyone – no exceptions.

Be brave – because the world cannot wait anymore for someone else to speak – God needs you to use your prophetic voice.

Be brave – because the world cannot wait anymore for someone to listen – God needs you to use your gifts to hear others into speech, to listen to their unique voice, to listen to the groans of our earth.

So, breathe in, breathe deeply, and be the brave, Spirit led, Pentecost people we are  – in a world longing to be seen, to be heard, to feel peace, and to be loved.

Amen.

The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox

Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge

May 28, 2023

The Feast of Pentecost – Year A

1st Reading – Genesis 11:1-9

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

2nd Reading – Acts 2:1-21

Gospel – John 14:8-17, (25-27)