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Pentecost Sunday, Year
C
The Rev. Vicki K.
Hesse,
Director of the
Whitaker Institute,
Episcopal Diocese of
Michigan
St. James Episcopal
Church, Dexter, MI
Sermon Preached on June 9, 2019
May
the words of my mouth
and the meditation of all our hearts
be
acceptable to you, O Lord,
our strength and our redeemer. Amen
Good
morning, St. James! What joy to be with you again.
My name
is The Rev. Vicki Hesse and I serve as
the
Director of the Whitaker Institute,
the
educational arm of the Diocese.
As you
may know, Mother Carol is on Sabbatical,
so it is
my honor to be with you today on this special feast day,
Pentecost!
At 8:15am – ask who knows what Pentecost means?
In the early church, “Pentecost” happened
when the Holy Spirit entered the community
after Jesus ascended to heaven.
Jesus promised to send “The Advocate” – the Holy Spirit –
to teach the gathered
community and
to remind them of
all that Jesus had done.
Literally, Pentecost translates to “the fiftieth day.”
-
in
both the Hebrew and Christian tradition.
The day marks a Jewish feast seven weeks after Passover
and marks a Christian feast 50 days after Easter, when
Jesus died, was resurrected and then ascended – that’s when
the Holy Spirit arrived (as we read infrom Acts).
At 8:15am – ask for us, what is the meaning of Pentecost?
Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit,
annually points us to God’s power of Love.
We say we are “filled with the Holy Spirit” when we are:
inspired, creative, argumentative yet persuadable,
or when we are:
broken at the suffering in the world
or moved to pity at the sight of loss and grief.
The Holy Spirit works through the mystery of sitting in
prayer and the power of inviting God’s unpredictable presence
to transform us as a community – like we did at the Bishop
election last Saturday. (Who was there?)
…. That is Pentecost –the birth // day of the Church!
The
reading in Acts today describes Peter’s Pentecost, that day
standing
among the disciples,
in the midst of that rush of
violent wind,
among all the devout people
hearing in their own languages
the testimony of God’s power. Can
you imagine?
Bishop
Gene Robinson[1]
tells the story of a time when
"…A
priest in a large church in Florida…
decided
to dramatize the Holy Spirit coming like wind
in a
spectacular way.
The
priest got [an] engine out of
one of
the boats used in the Everglades—
an
airplane propeller attached to a big gasoline engine—
and
mounted it in the choir loft high
in the
back of the church.
{The
idea was that} wind from the propeller
would
blow out across the congregation
when
the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit was read.
It
seemed like a great idea.
The
priest and an usher gave it a dry run
on
Saturday afternoon, and although it was noisy,
it
worked just fine, and promised
a
spectacular effect for Sunday morning.
So
when the great moment arrived,
and
the lector read,
"And
suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like
the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house,"
well,
at that moment, the engine coughed once and
then
howled into life.
But
the effect was a little different
than
it had been at rehearsal.
The
sudden screaming gust of wind sent sheet music
and
bulletins flying out over the congregation.
Coiffures
came undone and hair streamed out from faces.
The
preacher's sermon notes were gone with the wind…
Everything
was messy, and noisy, and
absolutely
unpredictable.”
P1 –
they were bewildered and asked what does this mean
Peter’s
first Pentecost must have been like that,
when the
disciples heard a sound like the rush
of a
violent wind, filling the entire house
and all began to speak in the native language
of each.
That Holy
Spirit shook things up;
just like Jesus did in his
testimony to the truth –
which, of course, got him in
trouble.
That
Holy Spirit prompted the disciples
“…to
make disturbing, disruptive,
and
world-changing testimony
and
call into question the values of the world.”[2]
That
Holy Spirit bewildered those present,
arriving
like a violent wind,
with
tongues of flame and
voices
speaking in many languages –
this
was a totally new moment for everyone!
That
Holy Spirit!
So of
course, they were bewildered, perplexed,
And asked,
“what does this mean?”
P2 –
we are bewildered and ask what does this mean
“…And
that's just the way it is with the Spirit.
[The
Spirit is] that part of God that
refuses
to be contained in the little boxes we create
for
God to live in,
safely
confined to the careful boundaries
we set
for God's Spirit.
The
problem is--and the possibility is—
God
just won't stay put.
And
God won't let you and me stay put,
content
to believe what we've always believed,
what
we've always been taught,
what
we've always assumed…”[3]
See, in
Greek, the word for Holy Spirit is “Paraclete,” which means one who “comes
alongside another.”[4]
So it
is, today, when *that Holy Spirit or Paraclete
comes
alongside to strengthen us or
to
rile us up for the work ahead or
to
prompt or invigorate us into action.
*That
Holy Spirit equips us
for
the work of ministry
with
a bewildering conviction.
*That
Holy Spirit pushes us
beyond
what we imagined and stirs things up.
*That
Holy Spirit reminds us that
God’s
way is different than the World’s way.
*That
Holy Spirit comes alongside
our
visceral anger at other’s incivility.
*That
Holy Spirit activates our hearts
with
compassionate grief
when
someone innocent suffers for no reason.
So of
course, we are bewildered, perplexed,
And ask,
“what does this mean?”
P3.
God surprised them with visions and dreams of what is possible
For
those disciples, that day,
*the
Holy Spirit promoted new visions and dreams
of
what could be possible
when
the Spirit moved in their hearts
and
fueled them forward.
God
surprised them with enormous possibility
through
the Holy Spirit.
P4.
God surprises us with visions and reams of what is possible
Nd,
God surprises us, today, with possibilities too!
The
Holy Spirit comes alongside us with newness:
new
stories to tell,
new
mercies to share,
new
love to spread,
new
anger to be fueled
new
voice to get us out of our box.
Are
you bewildered by your life or this world?
Great!
Because this Pentecost,
God promises
to surprise you and to mix things up!
Perhaps
the Holy Spirit might guide you to
·
Begin your meal by holding hands and
saying
to the person on your right,
“You
are the temple of God
and
the Holy Spirit dwells within you.”
OR
·
Find someone who “speaks” another “language” –
(literally
or metaphorically) and you take time
to
listen with the ear of your heart,
even
(or especially) when you disagree.
·
Invite family and friends to your
special
to
a Pentecost birth day party for the church!
Standing
in a circle you can share Holy Spirit bewilderments or blessings!
The
younger people may want to share visions,
and
the older people, dreams.
Then,
raise your goblets and toast "To the Holy Spirit"!
This
Pentecost, the good news is that
the
Holy Spirit wants you to experience the power of Love
the
possibility of Hope and the promise of Faith.
Happy
Birth Day, Church!
Amen
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