Acts 2.1-21
We have arrived at the
Feast of Pentecost. It is quite late this year, usually it occurs sometime in
May. I don’t think the excuse of its late arrival is why this important holiday
is often overlooked. If you missed last week’s announcement or the Wednesday
email, you might not have remembered that Pentecost existed at all. It is one
of those forgotten feast days of the Church year. Everyone knows Christmas and
Easter. For some Christians those feasts mark their only visits to a church in
any given year. That is not the case for you. You are here in mid-June, in the
heat and humidity of Washington, and in spite of the tantalizing lure of
beaches and water parks.
If Pentecost were to
catch on as a culturally important holiday (like Christmas and Easter), then
our major public places (and certainly our malls) would be decorated in red.
Instead, it is a major challenge to find a Pentecost themed greeting card.
Because it hasn’t caught the imagination of the marketers, doesn’t mean that it
isn’t important. If each of us sees ourselves in a continuum of renewal, and at
the same time we see our seasonal worship life nurturing our growth in faith,
then Pentecost is an essential celebration along that path.
Pentecost is the
birthday of the Church. There are some who consider the Church as
old-fashioned. And in some respects we are, which is why we must reinvent
ourselves in ways that respond to God’s vision. Unfortunately, there are many
who believe that growing spiritually is something done alone: by reading books
from the quiet of one’s sofa, by sleeping later to rest the body, and by making
ethical choices in ways that further our own personal dreams. I can’t argue
with any of those actions because they are important to a well-balanced person,
but I do believe that to really experience spiritual growth is to be in a
religious community, to challenge our beliefs and strengthen our faith, to
allow others into the deeper and darker areas of our existence, and to accept
others help and support and to offer it freely in return. This community is not
inspired by self or family, although it may serve their needs, a religious
community is inspired by God’s mission.
Pentecost points our
attention, prayers, and worship to the work of the Holy Spirit. In today’s
lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, which is the sequel to the Gospel of
Luke, we hear about the disciples, gathered together in a room, receiving the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Now the crowds who witnessed this gift thought that
the disciples were drunk. They had lost control and were making fools of
themselves. That is usually where Episcopalians stop reading. That can’t be our
call. Not saying that the drinking is such a bad thing, but attracting bad PR
and being held in suspicion is something to avoid at all costs.
Other Christians embrace
the Holy Spirit and monopolize the word’s cultural context. You might hear
someone say, “I’m consumed by the Spirit” or “The Spirit made me do it.”
Episcopalians, generally, are uncomfortable speaking of anything taking over
the body. For us, God is not a puppet master manipulating humans like Angela
Lansbury does the Manchurian Candidate. An Episcopalian might wonder how to
tell the difference between the Spirit and the moral compass passed down to us
by our parents and our culture. We picture the Holy Spirit as the angel on our
shoulder offering advice about the righteous path of each of our decisions. For
those of us who want testable proof, the mystical nature of the Spirit can
cause us to stumble in our faith. The underlying issue is that God can only be
glimpsed. One of the reasons that we gather in community to kindle faith is
because we need the support of others to help glimpse more clearly how we are
grounded through God.
The Church is that
place, born from the work of faithful disciples filled with the Holy Spirit,
that provides growth and development to its members and channels that energy to
serve the needs of the world outside the walls of the church building but
certainly not outside the Church.
If you consider the
passage from the Acts of the Apostles carefully, you will come to a grander
understanding of the Church. The Holy Spirit was not sent to empower those on
the inside, but to force those disciples out of their closed places to reach
out to “all flesh.” This great gift was not something to be hoarded, but
something to be shared freely. Those disciples were gathered together, but they
were changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and others noticed this
transformation. So the questions you must ask yourself in your prayers and
reflections on this Pentecost Sunday are:
1.
“Are you ready to be noticed?”
2.
“Are you ready to step out of the comfortable to stand up for what you
believe?”
3.
“Are you willing to support the Church in doing something transformational?”
In last Sunday’s sermon,
Andrea told stories of the power of the church to transform lives in ways we
cannot do alone, but only as we are fulfilling God’s mission in the world. She
told us about the Chaplains serving in the Armed Forces, the intentional
communities of young adults known as the Episcopal Service Corps, and the
far-ranging arm of Episcopal Relief and Development.
There are so many ways
that we can step out in service to others. We are not doing this alone. We
support a wide variety of ministries in the wider Church through our support of
the Diocese of Washington. The 91 Parishes that make up this Diocese can serve
in powerful ways through mission and ministry that none of us alone could
support. The Diocese supports educational institutions, ministries for
immigrants, the blind, the sick, the elderly, and human rights around the
world. And the Diocese sends its support to the greater Episcopal Church. And
the Episcopal Church supports the Anglican Communion. We are integrally
involved in a worldwide Church. Next Saturday, St. Patrick’s will join others
from around the Diocese in electing a new Bishop to provide new vision and
support for the parishes and the clergy of this Diocese. The Diocese and the
wider communion of the Church is important but we are also involved in many
ministries of service through this parish.
Last week, the Bishop
was here to break ground on a new playing field for our Day School. Our Day
School’s mission is to open up educational opportunities in the Episcopal
tradition to the children of Washington, DC. The School is also a way to
introduce St. Patrick’s and the Gospel to the wider world. There will always be
new ways to expand our mission through the life of this parish’s Day School.
We have been on the
forefront for years in our outreach to Haiti. Before it was commonplace, St.
Patrick’s was there building communities through the Holy Spirit with St.
Etienne, our partner parish. As much as we have given in resources, we have
received much more in return. My hope is that we will soon be able to organize
a return visit to continue building strong connections with our long-time
friends in the community of St. Etienne. In addition to Haiti ministries, we
have brought food and collected money and supplies for many ministries around
Washington. We have been partners with Samaritan Ministries, with So Others
Might Eat, and with the St. Phillip’s Food Pantry. Recently, we partnered with
Horizons Greater Washington to provide summer enrichment programs for young
people at our partner DC public school. But we can’t be content with what we
have done. Being filled with the Holy Spirit enables us to dream of new
possibilities and to reach out in new ways.
We might consider
sponsoring an Episcopal Service Corps chapter here at St. Patrick’s. It would
capitalize on our proven gifts of mentorship and open up new opportunities to
serve the needs of the greater Washington area. We might try a different kind
of worship service to attract others to our community on Sunday evenings. Maybe
that would allow people to grow in Spirit when other commitments get in their
way on Sunday morning and maybe we would attract new disciples and servants
from George Washington University and from the neighborhood. Maybe we could organize
a Parish mission trip to a desperate part of West Virginia to open our eyes to
the needs of the world within a few hours of our home. All of these things call
us to reach beyond normal, to feel the Spirit of God burning within all people.
It asks us to step out and maybe even be noticed. Maybe we can call this being
consumed by the Holy Spirit, but in the way of inspiration and in response to
God’s call.
On this Pentecost,
consider the work of the Church. Don’t marvel at past accomplishments, but
consider how the church might reimagine service to all people. Remember the
many gifts and talents that we possess as a community and consider how we might
accomplish a synergy of these gifts as we gather in a God inspired community.
That is why we celebrate this day as a major holiday. Not because it is the
only day we consider the work of the Holy Spirit, but because we need to be
reminded of how important our Church is to the fulfillment of all of our
spiritual lives. We cannot do this alone. As we asked in our collect this
morning: Shed abroad the gift of the Holy Spirit throughout the world so that
it may reach to the ends of the earth.
Washington, DC
June 12, 2011
(Pentecost)
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