When another birthday comes around it’s a good time to take stock. I’m another year older; how am I doing? Any changes to be made in my life? Pentecost is thought of as the birthday of the church. With the coming of the promised Holy Spirit the followers of Jesus moved out of a locked room to proclaiming their faith on the streets. Three thousand turned to Christ and a new community of faith was born. Today you and I are part of that community of faith. So Pentecost Sunday is a good time for us to take stock. We can do this as a church; we can ask ‘How are we doing?’ Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to bear fruit for the Kingdom? Are there changes to be made? And we can ask those questions too as individuals.
But before we do that let’s paint in some of the background to this festival, because it should help us to make a connection with what was happening at that first Pentecost described in Acts 2. Pentecost was a Jewish agricultural festival, Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. The 50th day after Passover, it was the time when farmers brought in the first-fruits of the harvest. The first sheaf of wheat was gathered and prayer offered for the rest of the harvest. But as well as connection with God’s work in his Creation there were links with His work in His created people. As Passover celebrated the rescue from death in Egypt so, 50 days later Moses received the law at Mount Sinai. God frees His people and gives them the code by which they will survive. So Pentecost celebrates God’s generous gifts of both creation (which sustains the body) and the law (which sustains the Body of People He has called to live as holy people, set apart people). Now Luke is implying a link. Just as Moses went up the mountain and returns with the law, so Jesus ascends to heaven and returns with something even better: he comes to His people not just with instructions on how they should live but with the power to live as He instructs. The Law is written on their hearts because His own Spirit is to be within them. ‘He abides with you and will be in you.’ And the first-fruits of what God gives comes with the gathering in of 3,000 who repent and confess the Lordship of Jesus. And the latter fruits? Well 2,000 years later you and I are part of the harvest God is gathering. Our birthing took place on that extraordinary day in Jerusalem. So, now on our birthday we can take stock. How true are we to our birth-right?
To assess that we are given certain clues which are useful reference points in taking stock, both for us a church and for us as individuals.
The first clue as to whether we living as the Spirit-filled people of God comes in the name of this festival. Although we may think of Pentecost as a strange time when the disciples supernaturally spoke other languages and heavenly power breaks on them dramatically, the festival is literally rooted in the earth. It celebrates the good things that come from the earth. Have another look at the Psalm the choir led us in earlier: “You send forth your Spirit and they are created.” Psalm 104 rejoices in the richness of all God has made. His Spirit is at work in all living things. Yes, there is decay and disease in nature (just as there is in us) but one day everything on earth will be renewed by heavenly power. For now, we cherish and nurture living things as care-takers of God’s gifts. So a question here might be: ‘How are we connecting with the living earth and thus working with the Spirit of Life?’ It is encouraging that within the next few weeks the cathedral will be inspected with a view to receiving the award as an eco-congregation. It will signal that in over thirty different ways we have committed to act green out of respect and care for natural resources. The application we submitted made encouraging reading. The process over three years has meant taking stock of our habits and actions as a church community; it has meant be willing to change to more sustainable ways of living, in other words, purifying our collective behaviour. ‘When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.’
Of course another way we connect with the Creator Spirit is through the creative spirit within us. So it’s wonderful that this inspiring art installation has opened this weekend with workshops available over the coming weeks. Do have a look at those.
So Pentecost is about the purifying power of God at work now, and one day at work so fully that it will transform the whole of the created order. And the signs of His power are wind and fire, two things which are not easily contained or controlled. I was reminded of that recently on a sailing holiday. Jennie and I were on a yacht that was part of a flotilla of eleven boats sailing around the Greek Isles. We kept in contact by radio and one morning heard a message that a yacht was in trouble. It was not part of our flotilla but we were nearby. As we sailed closer we could see light smoke coming from the cabin. Before long, tragically, black smoke and flames billowed from the yacht and it was beyond saving. We learned that the fire had started in the galley. Fire is useful, but the fire used to boil water yet had become dangerous. The couple on board escaped with injuries, but it was a sobering reminder of how powerful fire is, and how difficult to control. Likewise wind. One breezy day as we sailed the wind was gusting to a strength too great for our yacht to handle. We had to spill wind by reefing in the sails to make it safer. Of course the safest thing is to have no sail out at all and use the engine instead. And it occurs to me that that’s how some people prefer to live their lives. To let out the sails when the wind may blow is to be vulnerable; it is to take risks. But it is also exhilarating and powerful. To speed through the water on sail power alone is unbeatable. But we have no control over the strength of the wind, only on how to respond to its strength. This is the risk the disciples took. They were obedient to Jesus. They waited as He had told them, waited for the wind to blow, not knowing what it would mean. But they were willing to allow God to come to them, to overwhelm them. By contrast, the people in the land in Shinar were not willing, those who built the Tower of Babel. They did not want to be vulnerable: ‘Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’
As we take stock today, on our birthday, let’s quietly consider how willing we are to make ourselves vulnerable to the work of God in us and among us. Is there any danger we may seek to make a name for ourselves, either as a cathedral church, or as individuals? Pride blocks the work of the Holy Spirit. So does fear. It is only if we have unfurled our sails that we can catch the wind. We need to switch off the motor that is the drive our own self-will in order to allow God to fill us and empower us. A simple waiting and trusting in humility will allow God to come and do His work. As we prepare to come to the altar rail, let’s come with open hands and hearts, let’s release any pride or fear or any other blockage we may be aware of and receive all that God may have for us this day. Let us pray…
Come, Holy Spirit. Purify our hearts, forgive our pride and self-wills, pity our fears, and give us courage to let go. So come and fill us, and so may your Spirit transform us. Lord, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. Amen.
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