Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35. 37B
Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-27 – 16:4b-15
Just before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told his followers to stay together and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Earlier in chapter fifteen of John’s gospel, he told them and us that he is the vine and they and we are the branches, that we and our Lord have a bond and a relationship that is like a living organism. We depend on him and each other for life itself.
Now he is going to leave them, and he tells them that, if he does not go to be with God, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, cannot come. And he tells them something else. He says that there are many tings he cannot tell us. And then he says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” That is one of our Lord’s statements that we can spend our whole lives thinking about and praying about.
In a profound sense, the Holy Spirit is now, day by day, guiding us into the truth that Jesus was not able to share fully when he was here on earth.
After the Ascension of our Lord, the apostles are in deep grief. How will they get along without him? What will they do? How will they make their decisions? Who will guide them? They are very sad, but they do what he told them to do. They stay in Jerusalem, they remain together and they pray and wait for the Spirit to come.
The city is full of people who are there to observe the Feast of Weeks, the celebration of the spring harvest fifty days after the Passover. This is why there are people from all over the known world in Jerusalem at that time, from all the areas surrounding the Mediterranean sea.
The apostles are gathered there, too, saddened but faithful, missing Jesus but doing exactly what he said to do—waiting and praying.
Suddenly, there is a powerful wind shaking the house where they are staying. It is the ruach, the desert wind, the wind of the Spirit. Tongues of fire dance over their heads and they burst out speaking all the languages in the known world, sharing the good news about Jesus so that everyone can hear and understand.
People flock there from the surrounding area, and they hear these simple men from Galilee speaking their own languages, speaking God’s peace and love heart to heart.
Some people think that Jesus’ followers are drunk. Peter explains what is happening and preaches and teaches from the prophets about the coming of the Spirit and about the ministry of Jesus. As a result, three thousand people are baptized. This is the beginning of what we now call the Church. This is the birthday of the Church.
Ever since that first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been guiding us. In our epistle for today, Paul tells us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”
Like Jesus’ followers two thousand years ago, we have stayed together, we have prayed together, and once again we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, the divine energy coursing through the vine and the branches, enlivening the Body of Christ, the Church. The Holy Spirit is God at work in us and in the world, Wherever we see a spirit of love, caring, unity, and respect, the Spirit is at work.
This has not been an easy journey. Thanks be to God for the grace that has guided us to this day. Thanks to each and every one of you for your faithfulness, determination, grace, patience, flexibility, resourcefulness, humor, love, gentleness. and caring.
Today, after over two thousand years, the Church celebrates the bestowing of the gifts of the Spirit, gifts of love, gifts of healing, gifts of energy to extend God’s love to all we meet, gifts of expressing that love from one heart to another so that we and others can feel and know God’s love.
Our Lord told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth, and each of us and all of us together are still learning more of that truth. One of the truths that Jesus was trying to tell us is that, because he has gone to be with God and because the Spirit has come to us, Jesus can be with everyone at once, all over the world, everywhere in the creation. Loving God, may your shalom touch every heart.
Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Shalom of God. Amen. Alleluia!
Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Acts 2:1-21, Feast of Weeks, Holy Spirit, John 15:26-27 - 16:4b-15, Psalm 104, Romans 8:22-27 | Leave a comment »
Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT) 