Festival of Pentecost

Pentecost 2010 - Rev'd Shann Craig
We most often celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the church …however it seems to me from our readings and from our theme gathered and scattered, that a better way to describe Pentecost may be Graduation day!
May of course, is the season for graduations, and in my reading for this week I found this advice to new graduates "Let there be no distance between who you are and what you do."
It could well be our theme!

In the readings we see 2 different interpretations or functions, of the many different ones the bible use to try to describe the Spirit: one from before Graduation and after (though the spirit is one and the same!)

From the gospel reading we see the Spirit as advocate, helper, Paraclete!

There are the disciples gathered with Jesus.
And Jesus is about to leave them.
They have had 3 years of teaching, theory and practice.
They have experienced Easter and the Resurrection, and are now having some more teaching, just before Jesus ascension.

And what happens?

Phillip says. ‘Just show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied.’
Just show us God, that’s all we need!!

We all have times when we have this sense of dislocation or homesickness, or deep loneliness - a need, a longing - when things just don’t come together, when we feel this is all so, so hard, and we want to cry ‘Will you please give us something to hold onto.’

Show me God!

Have you ever felt: ‘I know Jesus is good, but what about God?’

Jesus says to Phillip: Have you not seen me?
All this time I have been with you? If you have seen me, you have seen God!

The unknowable God becomes known in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who comes in Jesus name, is the one who shows us God, and will continue to do that.
The Spirit comes alongside not only as advocate, helper, comforter, but to make God known to us.
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And then comes Graduation Day, but it’s not a cap on the head, but noise and wind and tongues as of fire!

And the Spirit experienced in the Acts reading is a Spirit of prophecy.

If we listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church I think we may hear: There is a prophet among us!
There are prophets among us!
By prophecy I don’t mean fortunetelling. I mean - interpreting what God is doing in the world around us. Having eyes of faith to see meaning.

Prophecy is truth telling- where and how we are seeing God at work.. Where God I working - where is God not allowed to be .. where God needs to be .
And interpreting.. making meaning.. constantly making sense of our lives in the world.. and we do it through the eyes of faith - this gift of the Spirit.

Pentecost was graduation day for the disciples. From being gathered, even behind closed doors, they were scattered to the ends of the earth, to do the work of seeing and telling where God is at work and where God needs to be!
We too can be prophets! Noticing God at work, noticing where God is not at work and needs to be! Seeing and telling, letting there be no distance between who we are and what we do!

It is very encouraging to hear people talk about Holy Spirit in their lives, and so we are going to hear some stories now.

Michael, Michelle, Sandy. Amy. Amy - Thank you.

To finish: Why do we tell and listen to stories? Why do we read Scripture? Not just to know what happened in the past, not just to know our history, but to make sense of the here and now. We gather to read and study scripture to be reminded of who we are, to give us the language the ideas the images and the promises that help us to be bearers of hope and joy, workers for justice, carers of creation, as we are scattered in the world.
"Let there be no distance between who you are and what you do."
Amen!


Let us pray.

In nudges and whispers.
Like a seed growing, imperceptible at first.
Like wind, invisible, refreshing, transformative. Like water, cleansing, renewing, powerful.
Unpredictably. Uncontrollably.
Praying: for us, with us, in us, through us.
Convicting, like a judge in a courtroom. Comforting, like a mother with a frightened child in the middle of the night.
We know her work by experiencing it. She will not be pinned down, can only be described with analogies.
But wherever there is forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, grace, she leaves her fingerprints.
Always the one connecting, making us into the Body of Christ, God's hands in the world.
Amen