+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let's begin with our reading from The Acts of the Apostles (2:1-21), which was written by the same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke.
The disciples are gathered in the Upper Room, and Mary the mother of Jesus is there and some other women, in all about 120 (Acts 1:14-15), and they're just sitting, not doing anything, when suddenly God takes the initiative and the room is filled with a rush of wind, and tongues of fire appear on each of them, anticipating the tongues of language they will soon speak.
And Peter explains what's going on by telling them what the prophet Joel had said (2:28-29)— that the time would come when God would pour out his Spirit (and the verb "pour" reminds us how water is poured over us at our Baptism) on all flesh— on everyone— and that sons and daughters would prophesy (Pentecost is gender equal!), and young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams (Pentecost is age equal!), and even slaves would prophesy (Pentecost is economic and status free!).
I'm currently reading a wonderful book titled Living Reconciliation (Cincinnati: Forward Movement, 2014). Here's how the authors, Phil Groves and Angharad Parry Jones, sum up this morning's reading from Acts:
"On the Day of Pentecost, everyone heard the good news in their own language. No longer was there one special people with one language who were set apart: God is the God of the whole world, of Jew and Gentile, men and women, slave and free." (p. 18).
So, since all of you received the Holy Spirit when you were baptized, how many of you have prophesied recently?
{{Congregational Response}}
[no hands raised and several bemused smiles]
Well, okay, then let me ask this: how many of you have encouraged or supported someone recently?
{{Congregational Response}}
[almost all hands raised and happier smiles]
How many of you have consoled or comforted someone recently?
{{Congregational Response}}
[almost all hands raised and happier smiles]
Well, then, according to St. Paul in 1st Corinthians 14:3, you are prophesying all the time, and the Spirit is alive in you!
Now let's turn to our reading from St. John's Gospel (15:26-27; 16:4b-15).
"Jesus said to his disciples, 'When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.'"
So once again let me ask you: since all of you received the Holy Spirit when you were baptized, how many of you have testified recently?
{{Congregational Response}}
[no hands raised and another round of bemused smiles]
Well, then, how many of you have ever shared an Emmanuel Moment or a Point of Pentecost?
{{Congregational Response}}
[several hands go up with smiles!]
And how many of you have ever told someone how God has blessed you, or how God used you to bless someone else?
{{Congregational Response}}
[a lot more hands go up with smiles!]
Well, then, you all have testified!
Whenever you come across words in the Bible that seem alien and odd, like prophecy and testify, they almost always refer to common, ordinary, human, experiences. Please don't let Bible words intimidate you— find out their ordinary human meanings!
Speaking of the Bible, here's another passage from Living Reconciliation:
"The Rev. Mote Magomba, a priest in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, [tells this story]:
"A village woman used to walk around always carrying her Bible.
"'Why always the Bible?' her neighbors asked teasingly. 'There are so many books you can read.'"
"The woman knelt down, held the Bible above her head and said, 'Yes, of course there are many books I could read.
"'But there is only one book which reads me'" (p. 167).
The most poignant passage for me in this morning's Gospel is this one:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."
First of all, before I say something about my going away, here's what William Temple, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942 to 1944, wrote about this passage (Readings in St. John's Gospel (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Barlow, 1985), p. 268):
He begins by asking a question:
". . . what became of [the disciples'] faith which relied upon the Lord [during his earthly life] as an external Presence to whom they could turn at every moment of doubt or need?
(Readings in St. John's Gospel (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Barlow, 1985), p. 268).
"When the crisis came it all went to pieces. 'They all left him and fled' (St. Mark xiv, 54).
". . . Yet a few weeks later these same [disciples] are found confronting the rulers of their nation with a calm and unruffled courage. . . .
"What explains the transformation?
"[Jesus] has withdrawn from them as a visible, external Presence, [and now] the Spirit [is] the very breath of their lives."
And then Archbishop Temple adds this (p. 269):
"In the spiritual life it is of urgent importance that we remember from whom our strength comes— the Holy Spirit, the 'Giver of Life.'
"He is the Spirit of Christ, whom disciples receive through their companionship with Christ."
Keeping Archbishop Temples words in mind, here's what I'd like to say about my going away.
First of all, for those of you who don't think it's to your advantage that I go away (!), there are ways I know it won't be to my advantage either!
Ingrid and I will miss you terribly, and you will miss us, but Sunday by Sunday you will still have each other when you worship and sing and learn— and prophesy and testify!—but we will not.
And that will be hard for us.
Second, it is to your advantage that I go away because you will now have a chance to rediscover what I have always known is true—
that all the wonderful things we tried and did together were the work of the Holy Spirit among us—
and that same Holy Spirit will continue to work with you and through you in new and surprising ways.
So please remember: the Spirit does not come to us through a pipeline from the past— the Spirit comes to us a wind from the future!
Third, listen to St. John's version of the giving of the Spirit (20:19-22):
"When it was evening on that [Easter] day, . . . Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"
"As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then to empower them, Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit.
Listen once again to Living Reconciliation, and what the authors say about being sent:
"The eucharistic liturgy is a challenge as well as a blessing. . . .
"We can focus so much on inviting people in [to the Church], that we forget that the direction of the liturgy is sending people out."
In just a few minutes we will baptize Courtney and seal her with the Holy Spirit.
But before we do that, we will pray for Courtney, and one of our prayers will be this:
"Send her into the world in witness to your love."
You and I have been talking about my retirement for some time now, but this morning's celebration of Pentecost, and John's Gospel, and Courtney's baptism, suggest a change in vocabulary:
If it's true that twenty-seven years ago Jesus sent me (and Ingrid and Karen and James) to St. Gregory's "in witness to his love," I shouldn't really say that I'm retiring.
Instead, I should say that Jesus is sending me (and Ingrid) once again "in witness to his love."
So the question for Ingrid and me to answer is this— where is Jesus sending us now "in witness to his love?"
And of course that's also the question for each one of you— Where is Jesus sending you "in witness to his love?"
And that's also the question for St. Gregory's to answer as a parish— Where is Jesus sending you "in witness to his love," as the Spirit blows in from the future?
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your embrace. So clothe us with your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you, for the honor of your name. Amen.
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Notes:
1. An Emmanuel Moment is a time when God has been present [Emmanuel means "God with us"] and ministered to us, usually through another person.
A Point of Pentecost is a time when the Holy Spirit has used us to be present and minister to another person.
In other words, an Emmanuel Moment is a time when God has blessed us, and a Point of Pentecost is a time when God has used us to bless someone.
At St. Gregory's, for the last thousand or so Sundays, parishioners have been asked at the end of the Announcements whether anyone has an Emmanuel Moment or a Point of Pentecost to share, and we have had some wonderful testifying over the years!
2. In the entire Bible, the only reference to retirement as we know it is in Numbers 8:23-26:
"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall begin to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting; and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from the duty of the service and serve no more. They may assist their brothers in the tent of meeting in carrying out their duties, but they shall perform no service. Thus you shall do with the Levites in assigning their duties."
3. In case you missed the links within the sermon, click here for a link to Living Reconciliation.
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