RonBlog

Sunday 23rd May, 2010 Pentecost - Whit Sunday

Sentence
God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us
Romans 5:5

Collect
O God, Who taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending to them the light of Your Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore rejoice in His holy comfort; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour, Who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever Amen

First Lesson Acts 2: 1 – 21

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: 26 - 36

Lord, how various are all your works: in wisdom you have made them all, and the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the wide, immeasurable sea: there move living things without number, great and small.
There go the ships to and fro: and there is that Leviathan whom you formed to sport in the deep
These all look to you: to give them their food in due season
When you give it to them, they gather it: when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face, they are troubled: when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit they are created: and you renew the face of the earth
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
If he look upon the earth, it shall tremble: if he but touch the mountains, they shall smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will praise my God while I have any being
May my meditation be pleasing to Him: for my joy shall be in the Lord
May sinners perish from the earth, let the wicked be no more: bless the Lord o my soul, O praise the Lord

Epistle Romans 8: 14 – 17

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

GOSPEL John 14: 8 – 17(25-27)

Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

NOTES ON THE READINGS

First Lesson
There may be but few readers of this material who have not stopped to realize the Biblical emphasis of this event and its record, but sadly the tale has been bent somewhat out of shape over the matter of the languages of the story. Here, if you will see it, is the reversal of Babel, the healing of division between people, and something that has been longed for by humans of all manner of persuasions emphasising the need for peace. It has nothing to do with the ‘modern’ stress on ‘tongues’ and their use, abuse and division and separation.
It needs also to be said, (and made obvious in the words of Joel,) that this removal of division and restoration of oneness has always been in the mind of God, and has always been one of the chief emphases of both Hebrew and Christian Faith. And that reconciliation had been made concrete, incarnated, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. So from this point on, it had been made clear to all humans who want to know. Pentecost is far more than a religious festival; it is life-giving for all humanity. Or at least that is its potential – for it remains for humans to embrace the enormous gift.

Psalm
Do not be bemused by the words of this psalm which might appear to wander all over the place. It is part of the genius of Jewish faith that God is to be found in all aspects of life and history, in the natural world as well. Not only is God to be found in the ‘sensible’ aspects of nature but also in the different, weird, and unexpected. And you will note the reference to the spirit in the 32nd verse. It may be as well to note that in Jewish Scripture, ‘spirit’ has to do with life, breath, wisdom and all those aspects of life that require a little more attention than is often given. (See notes elsewhere about ruarch and pneuma, the Hebrew and Greek words translated as spirit – and breath and wind, and life actually.)
There is always joy in pondering God, Who gives life, sense and direction to living in a world that many often feel lacks those essentials for balanced living.

Epistle
I find it strange that rather too many people find any reference to the Spirit as either vague or to be internalised and spiritualised. The reality is that all humans, dare they stop and look, are aware of inner promptings when faced by choices and challenges. The fact of the Spirit of God is a common human experience, even if the source is unacknowledged. You may well have heard of or even experienced what many call ‘inspiration,’ whether that has to do with the arts, or invention or whatever. It is all of a piece, but sadly, these days (and this is not unusual!) people tend to refuse to listen to that inner voice.
My main emphasis here is that the spirit is not some exclusive gift or benefit to believers.
GOSPEL
And here, dare you think about it, is even Jesus making the observation as above. Philip was not seeing that the very evidence of the truth of Jesus’ ministry is contained in it. It resonates with all that God is, in His nature. And – perhaps it is wisdom from hindsight – but the picture Jesus offered of His Father resonates very soundly with what people must surely feel ‘is the way it should be,’ if you follow me.

When Jesus mentioned ‘the Spirit of God, Whom the world cannot receive,’ He was not saying that the Spirit is or was unavailable; the reality is that any human can close their ears to the promptings of the Spirit. ‘It is not that God is dumb; it is that we chose to be deaf.’ And there is a world of difference between that observation and the other which says that the Holy Spirit is unavailable to any human being. The very sad truth is that when a human closes their ears totally and determinedly, then the outcome for that person and those around them becomes traumatic in the extreme. Just read your newspaper or watch the TV news.

For those who do listen to the Spirit, there is peace, because there is that sense of truth and reality of where the Spirit leads a person. (Mind you, there remains great sadness when there are instances of people certain that the Spirit is taking them in oddball and even dangerous directions. Sadly, there will always be, I fear, an idiotic fringe.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

If ever there was a subject where it is possible for preachers to go off with the fairies, the subject of Pentecost Sunday is one of them. However, if you watch Scripture closely, or even re-read the passages set for today’s readings, you would have to note that there is nothing oddball, queer or even irrational about any of the subjects. In fact, the real point of Pentecost is to remind everyone of the perfectly normal, perfectly natural experience of conscience in all of us. Conscience is not the Holy Spirit of course, but is certainly a channel of connection, regardless of whether people ‘believe’ or not.

Yo will have heard this one before, but it is worth repetition. It comes from a Primary School RI Lesson in a NSW country school; where kids are as sceptical as anywhere. The lesson was about hearing God speak, and a brash young 6th Class boy threw up his hand and declared that God had never spoken to him! The class laughed as one might expect, so I wandered across to the lad’s desk and asked a series of questions. (I suspect that he anticipated some sort of order to be silent, but that was not what he got.)
I asked the lad when was the last time he had argued with his parents: the response was a sideways smile, for he had come to that only that very morning! Assuring the lad that I was not interested in the subject of the brawl, but in the process. ‘When you were arguing, what was going on inside of you?’ I asked. He said he did not know what I was talking about. ‘Right in the middle of the argument, were you aware of being untrue or false in your argument?’ ‘Oh!’ he responded, by which time the class noise level had dropped to a deep silence. ‘Yes, I knew that I was trying to bluff them, he responded. ‘So who told you that?’ I asked, to which he had no answer. ‘Was it Mum or Dad? Brother or sister? Grandma or Grandpa?’ I explored with him. The reply was finally drawn out of him. ‘None of them’ was all he could say. So I asked where else it might have come, to this 11 or 12 year old kid. He had no answer. So I pointed out to him that he had had God speak to him, as have we all, for that was the source of the urging. And I also suggested to the rest of the class that, far from having no clue of what we had been speaking, it was all common experience for them. And it came as considerable surprise, but it resonated without exception.

And that is the point: God does not leave Himself without witness in the world, and we of all people need to be completely aware of that. People may switch off listening to the promptings, but they become the poorer for it. The final outcome of refusal to listen is a heightening rise of anger and evil from such a person and rising danger to anyone around the vicinity!

Still people describe this Faith as irrelevant in the modern age. Both history and reality make it perfectly clear that little could be further from the truth. In a way it has nothing at all to do with ‘religion,’ and in fact any source of angst from anyone ‘religious’ tends to stem from their own refusal to listen to the truth. Truth and bigotry can never go hand in hand, can never be soulmates. And that is what Pentecost reminds us, year after year after year.