Trinity Episcopal Church |
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Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37b
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 7:37-39
The Collect of the Day
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And 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. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” ( Acts 2:1-21)
The Spirit of Community
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Earth Day, and I shared with you how it is our Christian duty to be good stewards of our planet and to protect its resources for future generations. Recycling, exercising care that what we purchase is environmentally friendly, and do what we can to help our planet heal all things you and I can do to exercise our calling as the caretakers of God’s creation.
Throughout the world, there are others who are exploring clean and efficient alternative energy sources to decrease our dependence on coal and oil. Many of you have probably seen fields of giant windmills in different areas of the country. Although wind currently produces just over 1% of world’s electricity, in some countries it is a major source of energy. In Denmark for example, it accounts for almost 20% of the energy produced. Globally, generation of electrical power from the wind increased more than fivefold between 2000 and 2007. That is good news for you and me.
However, although wind power is one of the most promising forms of renewable energy, it is notoriously difficult to catch.[1] One of the problems is that surface winds are not always strong or consistent. More consistent wind is found about six miles up, at the height of the jet stream, and the force of the wind at that altitude can generate up to one hundred times the amount of energy produced at ground level. The problem is that the tallest windmill is only about 220 yards high.
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One of the more inventive solutions comes from Sky WindPower, of San Diego.[2] Their solution: electricity generators that fly.
Sky WindPower has built machines that look like a cross between a kite and a helicopter (the picture is from the Sky WindPower web site) . The helicopter-like rotors provide lift, like the surface of a kite. As they lift the frame they also turn dynamos that generate electricity. This electricity is then transmitted to the ground through aluminum cables. And here is the best part: if the wind slows or stops, the dynamos reverse, and serve as electric motors to keep the machine aloft.
The lesson of this story is that it seems that if you want to catch the winds and harness its power, you have to put yourself where the wind is blowing.
When the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on Pentecost they were in the right place to tap into its power. And by “the right place” I mean that they were all gathered together in community. Their experience of Pentecost was a communal one, and it was because they were all together that they were empowered to be “filled with the Holy Spirit and … to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” It is difficult, if not impossible, to be a Christian in isolation. It requires the community experience to transform us individually and to unite us into a Body of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Church unity is not to be equated with conformity to one set of doctrines or practices – indeed one of the lessons of Pentecost is that the Body is strengthened and unified by the diversity of humanity that was all created in God’s image. When the disciples were empowered to speak the Gospel message to the people, they did not speak only to Galileans, but to everyone present. They spoke to Parthian, Mede, Elamite, Roman, Cretan, and Arabic Jews, proselytes, and Gentiles. They shared their stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, his death, resurrection, and ascension. The Holy Spirit provided them with skills and courage to communicate God’s love for all of God’s people.
One of the things I strongly believe that Church needs to do today is to speak and reach out to the community and make itself accessible so that The Story and the power it contains will reach other people. Without placing ourselves in the right place as a community of Christian people, we will not be able to catch the wind or tap its power. And it does not matter whether we all interpret The Story the same way; the fact that we have four different canonical Gospels speaks to the fact that our unity is in fact strengthened by the differences we might have in the meaning of the stories themselves.
Being an empowered community takes courage. It is always difficult to do something new, or to share ourselves with others. Like building a free-flying, power-generating windmill, we risk failure, and we risk being ridiculed by our neighbors. Look what happened to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost when they opened the doors and stepped out to speak: They were laughed at – people thought they were drunk. But Peter, who had denied Jesus three times just a few weeks previously, found the courage through the Spirit to speak about God’s deeds of power. As individuals we need to pull ourselves into community and work together to lift ourselves up where we will be poised to tap the power of the Spirit and become all that we can become. To do any less is to stay at ground level.
Being in community and being filled with the Holy Spirit gave all the disciples the courage to step forward as witnesses; it gave them sufficient wisdom to be heard and understood. It was their experience of Jesus and the power of the Spirit that led them to baptize people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as a way of demonstrating both the desire of the individual to transform their own lives, and the desire of the community of believers to support them in their new Christian vocation. As the 19 th Century Baptist Preacher A.J. Gordon, put it “Before Pentecost, the disciples found it hard to do the easy things; after Pentecost they found it easy to do the hard things.”
Today, there is a family among us who is filled with the Spirit, and has risen skyward to claim its power. Mary Moore and Ward Conville have captured the wind and they wish to share the love and power of God with their son, Rick. By word and example, they and Rick’s godparents will proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, just as Peter and the other disciples did on that first Day of Pentecost. It is up to all of us, in community, to teach and raise Rick to love God and his neighbor and to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to love our neighbor; to strive for justice and peace; and to respect the dignity of every human being.
The Pentecost story is a story of how the church caught the wind, and spread its power throughout the world. The church and its people became empowered to carry out its purpose. And today we continue that purpose as we baptize Rick in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The gospel of John tells is that “ Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” It is the living water of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and the unconditional love of God Almighty that as a community we will share with Rick, and all others we reach out to. As Rick grows in this community of believers, may he also become fired by the Spirit and have the courage to tell others about the transforming power of the man from Nazareth.
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When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And 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. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
Psalm 104:25-35, 37b, Benedic, anima mea
25 O LORD, how manifold are your works! *
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
26 Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number, *
creatures both small and great.
27 There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan, *
which you have made for the sport of it.
28 All of them look to you *
to give them their food in due season.
29 You give it to them; they gather it; *
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
30 You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
and so you renew the face of the earth.
32 May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; *
may the LORD rejoice in all his works.
33 He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
he touches the mountains and they smoke.
34 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; *
I will praise my God while I have my being.
35 May these words of mine please him; *
I will rejoice in the LORD.
37b Hallelujah!
No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] “Catching the Wind” Homiletics, May 11, 2008. Accessed 9 May 2008 from Homiletics OnLine at http://www.homileticsonline.com. The illustration of the use of wind power and its metaphorical adaptation to the Day of Pentecost was adapted from this source.
[2] “Getting Wind Farms Off the Ground.” The Economist, June 7, 2007. Accessed 9 May at http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9249242.
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Copyright © 2008, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
8 May 2008
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