Online Sermons
The Day of Pentecost: May 31, Ellen Bruckner
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Today we celebrate Pentecost as a specific day and as the beginning of a season of the church year. It ranks right up there with Christmas and Easter as a major church Feast Day or day for celebration.
At Christmas we retell the stories of God incarnate as Jesus coming to live among us. We get to know Jesus through the gospel stories which share Jesus’ teachings to his followers and have the ability to speak these teachings to us today.
Jesus, in his time on earth with us, modeled and taught a way of life leading toward the kingdom of God. There were those who believed and followed Jesus in his earthly life, and of course there were also those who were threatened by the vision Jesus offered his followers.
We move through Lent becoming more aware of the cost of discipleship, more aware of the choice before us – choosing this world or God’s world. Jesus leads us through the realities of a way of life lived in God.
And as we near the end of Jesus’ earthly time, he teaches his disciples that after he departs, the Advocate will come – sent by God to continue guiding them toward the kingdom. I’m sure the disciples were not really ready to hear this being more concerned with losing Jesus. It is difficult to look at the future and try to figure out not only what might happen but also how to prepare for what might happen. I spent quite a bit of time trying to tell my children that they needed to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them as they got ready to live on their own, however, they didn’t pay much attention to this advice until the time was upon them. The disciples could not fully hear Jesus’ reassurances of the Advocate until they faced the crisis of Jesus being gone.
But Jesus, good shepherd that he is, tried to prepare them for the next phase of their journey. He gave them the knowledge and tools they would need to testify to the glory of God’s kingdom and he taught about the Advocate whom he and God would send to the faithful community left after Jesus’ death. This Advocate would guide them in their journey to follow Jesus. Hopefully someone would remember Jesus’ teaching and be on the look out for the Advocate.
The Gospel reading this morning is from a part of John called, “The Final Discourse”. It is the part of the Gospel in which Jesus tries to tell the disciples of his departure and where they will be headed as they continue their life as disciples. Several things become clearer. Jesus knows he must go away, but his teaching will continue when the Advocate comes to those who follow Jesus. It is the Spirit who will make it possible for the experience of God, made known and available through the incarnation, to be known after Jesus’ death. The Spirit is described as being sent by God and in several other places in this Final Discourse the Spirit is described as being a gift from God. These are some of the same words used to describe God’s gift of Jesus to the world. The gospel writer makes a real connection between Jesus’ ministry on earth and the Spirit’s ministry following Jesus’ death. The Spirit becomes the link between the historical ministry of Jesus and the future life of the church after Jesus’ death.
It becomes clear that because we have the promise of the Spirit, the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus is not the end for this small group of disciples or for us, but it is the beginning of a new era in the life of the believing community – the church.
It also becomes clear that we all now share in the incarnation. When Jesus speaks of his going away being to the disciples’ advantage, we realize that they and all future generations of the church are not left alone – it is the Spirit who takes the experience of God and extends it beyond the limits of Jesus’ life and death. The Spirit makes it possible for all of us – for all believers to share in the incarnation because the Spirit makes Jesus present to believers even though Jesus is physically absent. The love of God given to us in the gift of the incarnation continues into this life of the community through the gift of the Spirit.
It is necessary to remember that God and Jesus sent the Spirit to the community of believers, not to individuals. The Spirit keeps the community grounded in Jesus’ revelation of God and God’s kingdom. The Spirit unifies Christian community because it gives all believers access to Jesus. And the Spirit empowers the community for its work in the world.
In Advent we prepare ourselves to receive Jesus in our hearts and minds. During Lent we prepare ourselves to follow Jesus and now, at Pentecost, we rejoice knowing that the Spirit is with us and will never leave us alone as we seek to give testimony to our life in Christ. Oh, but let’s not forget that with the growing and maturing we experience in this relationship with God, Jesus and now the Spirit there is the knowledge that we are no longer ignorant and easily mystified. This Spirit has led Christians for over 2000 years and we, in this time and place, have access to all that has gone before us. We know the stories and we know how many saints before us have shown their courage to live as Jesus modeled. The Spirit challenges us to respond in our day to the injustices, to the poverty, to the corruption, to all those things that prevent us and others from drawing closer to God. We, as Christians gathered in a church, are called to actively work to reconcile this world to God. It is the Spirit’s job to inspire and empower us in this mission. It is our job, as individuals, to inspire and empower each other in this work of the church.
As I was reading and preparing for this sermon, my thoughts kept coming back to one phrase, “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” If we think about Christ Church, how do we, as a community, follow the Spirit? How do we know where God may be calling us? How do we identify our part in God’s mission in this world?
One thing we must do is continually reflect on our actions. We, as a congregation, must learn how to discern the Spirit’s voice and where that voice is leading us, we must practice listening together to that voice of the Spirit for it is through each other that the Spirit is heard. We must continue worshiping and praying together. There will be times ahead when it will be easy to tear us apart, but we must trust the Spirit to keep us strong and loving one another despite our differences. We must trust the Spirit to bind us together, to keep us rejoicing in the gifts we all bring to the community, and to lead us in healing our divisions.
We know we do many things well and these actions seem to fit us. We reach out to people in need in our community. We offer our space to those in need. We participate in activities that raise resources to help others.
We are pretty good about taking care of ourselves. We support each other’s ministries. We do try to provide worship that is meaningful and inspiring. We take the time to help clean or repair. We participate in activities that help strengthen the bonds of this community.
But we cannot rest on our accomplishments and in our safe community. We must keep asking the Spirit to lead us. We must trust enough to respond to that lead even if it looks different than we have always known. We must be willing to accept the diversity that will come as we reach out to welcome and share the Good News with those who have not heard it.
We have an opportunity at this point in our journey together to spend some time reflecting on where we have been and searching for those signs from the Spirit as to where we go. As Martha and Dave join us on our journey we have the opportunity to make sure we are headed in the direction God would have us go and to actively and intently beseech the Spirit for guidance in carrying out God’s mission in this place and time. Several years ago we worked on some visioning for Christ Church and did identify some areas where we wanted to grow internally in order to become stronger for our work in the world. Despite some of the roadblocks – the flood and the economy – we have continued to work in these areas of focus. The power of the Spirit is always with us, and with that power, we as community can accomplish so much more than we can imagine. Let us, on this Pentecost 2009, rejoice in the power we have been given and continue our work in reconciling this world to God.
We pray:
“Almighty God, at the feast of Pentecost you sent your Holy Spirit to the disciples filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel; send us out in the power of the same Spirit to witness to your redeeming love and draw all people to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever.” Amen