Sermon for Pentecost – Year A RCL
June
4, 2017
When it was evening on that day, the first
day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were
locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace
be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then
the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace
be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this,
he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive
the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
are retained.”
Happy Birthday!
Today is frequently referred to as the birthday of the church. There is a little Sunday School Hymn that got
stuck in my head this week that commemorates today – and perhaps it is one that
you remember from sometime in your past.
It's lyrics go “Pentecost, Whitsunday, you may call it what you may – it’s
the church’s birthday” We call it
the church’s birthday because it is the
day when we remember the Holy Spirit descending onto the disciples driving them
out of the locked room. For there would
never be a church if they stayed cowered in fear in the locked room! They needed to have God drive them out to do
mission. They had to have God get their
attention in a way that somehow the appearance of Jesus after his crucifixion
did not do.
In this year’s lectionary we hear two different
versions of a Pentecost story. In the
Gospel of John Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on the disciples on the first day
of the week after his resurrection. And
commissions them for ministry. And the
rest of the Gospel of John documents the disciple’s encounters with the Risen
Lord. With Thomas, who was not in the
room at the time, then we have the interaction between Jesus and the disciples
on the beach – where most famously Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter Loves
him. But we do not see the disciples
going out and interacting with the people. And so we have the account in the
Act of the Apostles.
As we set the scene the disciples are back in
the locked room. They are still trying
to figure out what they are to do. First
Jesus is crucified but then they encounter the risen Lord on several occasions
but now they saw him go. They are
scared, unsure, and even with the commissioning we read in the Gospel of John
just not sure how to become what Jesus asked them to become. So in comes the Holy Spirit.
I have heard the Holy Spirit referred to as the “shy
member” of the Holy Trinity. Perhaps
people think she is shy because she is hard to comprehend. As people who frequently anthropomorphize
almost everything it is easy to picture the other two members of the trinity – Jesus – who walked
with the disciples on this earth, and the imagery of God the Father fits well
with our world view – a human father figure with a great flowing white beard – although
scripture is clear that God’s Glory is so great that it is beyond
comprehension. But for many the imagery
of God sitting on a mountain with a great flowing white beard is
comforting.
But what are we to make of the Holy Sprit – a
rush of wind that settled on the disciples like flames. Not comforting imagery. So we put the Holy Spirit into the realm of
the incomprehensible and call her shy.
But my friends I am here to tell you that she is anything but shy. And as my advisor Susana Singer said in her
sermon at my ordination two years ago – we invoke her at our own peril! For this is the Holy Sprit that broke through
into the hearts of the disciples and finally drove them out of the locked
room. I see, in my over visually
oriented brain – the one that seems to have many reels of Technicolor film that
will load and play at a moments notice – I see the great wind of God coming in
and blowing the locked doors right off of their hinges. Literally blowing the doors apart. So there was no more door to lock and hide
behind.
The Spirit then literally drove the Disciples
out into the streets to start preaching God’s dream of a society filled with
Love and respect for all of God’s creation.
Gave them the gift of language and the people the gift of hearing so
that they heard the message in their own native tongues. It was not a neat Episcopal event that
started with a glorious hymn and some respectable readings. It was an event that was so disrupting that
some of the bystanders accused the disciples of being filled with new wine – of
being drunk early in the morning. And
drunk they were – on God the Holy Spirit.
Driven out of safety into mission and ministry.
Now if you think the Holy Spirit was done with
disrupting lives on the first Pentecost I can tell you that this is not the
case. The Holy Spirit is still active
amongst us and is always trying to get our attention. We just choose all too often to ignore her
pleas to go out. The pleas to spread God’s
dream into an upside down society that is hurting and in need of healing. And sometimes she still blows the hinges off
our comfortable lives.
As many of you know I was called to the
priesthood out of this congregation. It
was a long journey that was not linear in any way. It was a journey that had the Holy Spirit
pursuing me for many decades but I had many excuses to heeding her call. I was not worthy. The church would not accept a gay man living
in a committed relationship. I am a scientist
for heavens sake. I will work to bring
in Gods kingdom through the protection of our natural resources.
Excuses and reasons abounded. But this church
made my armor crack. First when members
of the Parish Commission on Ministry looked at me as St. Paul’s was looking at
a total ministry model – I think it was Jane Omnes who said “What about you – we
think you are called to ordained ministry”.
And then tentative steps towards that possibility that ended in a
statement from the diocesan discernment weekend that they sensed a strong call
but they were not ready for me. The
timing was not right.
So I polished up my armor – put it back on. Replaced the hinges that had been damaged and
retreated to my locked room and continued lay ministry among the good people of
St. Paul’s. And every time our Bishop
invited me to re-enter the process I had more excuses. I was not ready.
But the Holy Spirit was not taking my “no” for
an answer. As I attended an ordination
service the great wind of the Holy Sprit entered into my locked room and found
the real excuse – that I was hurt and was nurturing that hurt– and with her
refining fire burned it right then. A
process that left me in tears. And a few
weeks later – when Bishop Beisner had his first official visitation to St. Paul’s
– no fewer than six people, culminating with the bishop, asked me between the
8:00 and 10:00 services when I would enter the process toward ordination
again. At the end I realized that the
Holy Spirit was calling in the troops and I said yes. I was ready.
It was not an easy thing going to seminary – to
grad school, after so many years working. The process was not one without a few
speed bumps. But it was one that was
filled with the Holy Spirit dismantling my armor. It was one of thrusting me out to do God’s
work. It was not always comfortable but
there was always the companion – the Holy Spirit. God with me. God in me. And here I am today on this the second
liturgical anniversary of celebrating my first Eucharist.
Today we remember the powerful – not shy – member
of the Holy Trinity. We put on our crash
helmets and buckle our seatbelts.
Because we are not called by god to sit in comfortable seats and retreat
to locked rooms. We are called by God to
go out and turn society right side up.
We are called to sit with those no one will sit with. We are called to have lunch with people who
have no place to go. We are called to
usher in a different economy. An economy
that does not put the one with the most on the top but an economy that values
all of God’s creations and pays special attention to those that our human
economy would just as soon leave on the trash pile.
We are called not to a comfortable locked room
but to go out. We are called to join the
disciples out in the world spreading God’s dream of love. And unfortunately there is not a promise that
we will always be in comfortable situations.
In fact God never promised that bringing God’s dream to fruition would
be easy. In fact Jesus told us it would
be hard. Because people in power don’t
like to relinquish that power.
The good news is that God the Holy Sprit will
always with us. We will always have a
companion in our ministry. When we let
down our defenses we will find that she is always with us. Drawing us out to do ministry. Accompanying us on our journeys – and when
needed blowing the hinges off our locked doors and using her refining fire to
melt the prison bars that sometimes keep us in our locked rooms.
So be ready.
We are once again invoking the power of the Holy Spirit in this
place. We are asking her to once again
blow the locks off our locked rooms. And
while you may think you are safe from all this talk of the Holy Spirit I can
promise you one thing. She is nothing if
not persistent and she will pursue each and every one of us until we say
yes. She will pursue each of us and
drive us out of our locked rooms to turn society right side up. And the Holy Spirit will be there to both
drive us out and to comfort us as we do God’s work in our world. As we work with God to bring about a society
that Loves all people, respects all people, feeds all people, and takes care of
this fragile earth as God’s stewards.
Come Holy Spirit! Inflame our hearts!
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