Glory to God the Holy Spirit whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. I speak to you in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
A Sunday School teacher taught her class to recite the Apostles Creed by giving each child one phrase to learn. When the day came for the class to give their recitation, they began beautifully. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” said the first child. “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord,” said the next. And so, it went perfectly until they came to the child who said, “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” At that point, an embarrassed silence fell. The next line was to be, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” but there was only silence. Finally, a little girl spoke up and said, “Uh, the little boy who believes in the Holy Spirit is absent today.”[1]
That is not the case for us! We are here today! Welcome to this celebration of the Day of the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and all those who believe in Jesus. Some people refer to it as the Birthday of the Church. The Day of the Pentecost is by it Christian definition the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and others (120 in all) as described in the Acts of the Apostles. Sometimes it is pictured even with fire above their heads! (Like on our bulletins). All of us are infused with God, the Holy Spirit – the love of Jesus pouring into our lives so that we may pour it into the lives of others.
What does the Holy Spirit mean to you? I know we define it as the third member of the Trinity. And you will hear more about that next Sunday - Trinity Sunday. But what about the Holy Spirit in your life? What does the Holy Spirit mean to you? When have you felt the Holy Spirit working in your life?
Jesus said in today’s gospel, “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.” Father Thomas had a notable example last week with the Russian Dolls – placing everything in the Father – Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and us. He is in us and we in him and all that. Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit –the Paraclete - as advocate or counselor to us and for us. The Holy Spirit is according to the Gospel, associated with Jesus. Upon Jesus the Holy Spirit came at Baptism, and Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the truth, and the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) is the Spirit of truth.
This Gift of Spirit fulfills the promises from Jesus in this farewell discourse. "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.”
Jesus said he would not leave the disciples or us alone. The Red color symbolizes joy and the fire of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon them and they all can understand each other. But they understand in their own language! This creates the grounds for unity. But we have seen -- and experienced today -- that even the Christian churches are not united. Jesus talks about his ally the Holy Spirit and says two things – The Holy Spirit will teach us things. We are to be perpetual learners to the end of our days, and we are being led deeper and deeper into the truth of God. When do you feel the Holy Spirit working in your life? When I asked that question this week, one answer that I got was “I feel the Holy Spirit working in my life when I see things differently than I have before.” BOOM. But you have to be open to the Holy Spirit working in you more than you can possibly imagine.
The Day of the Pentecost is a suitable time to baptize and ordain believers and we call upon the infilling of the Holy Spirit for those being baptized and those being ordained. It is also a HUGE reminder for all of us! “The infilling of the Holy Spirit is no more nor anything less than the infilling of the love of Christ pouring into our lives and enabling us to reach out to others with that same love.”[2] “We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.”[3] The Holy Spirit seems to be the shy one of the Trinity - we don’t talk much about the Holy Spirit but maybe we should. The Holy Spirit is the one who gets things done! Where do you feel the Holy Spirit working in your life? Where do you see the Holy Spirit being poured out? One must look for the Holy Spirit in us and working in others.
No one was more surprised than the disciples on that first Pentecost. They were surprised by divine power, they were surprised by holy presence, they were surprised by their own speech, they were surprised to be understood, they were surprised by eloquence, coherence, and comprehension. Little did the disciples realize what they could do with the Holy Spirit working through them! “The Holy Spirit working through them could turn the whole world upside down. The Holy Spirit working through them could bless millions of people over twenty-one centuries.” Imagine what we could do when we open our lives to the power of the Holy Spirit.[4] Jesus did not give the disciples the Spirit's power so that they could stay behind locked doors in fear and insolation. But rather as a gift of a power to move people out into the world -- even if we don't always know exactly where we will end up.[5]
There is a story of the walk of a Christian, A father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!” His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?” “Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.” If we walk in the Spirit, the world should know us by our walk.[6]
We have to walk, the walk. Jesus tells us we are not alone and not to be afraid. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us! When I was in Seminary, a group of us were invited actually assigned to go to the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Old Town Alexandria, VA. We all had to attend other denominational churches. Their slogan was “We believe in Jesus as our personal savior.” They invited everyone to enter into that relationship in the wonderful life of Jesus. Their identity was with Jesus. The Pastor Howard John-Wesley even suggested that he would convert us, Episcopal Seminarians, to be Baptists. He is still there and very charismatic. Episcopalians have a way of keeping our identity a secret sometimes. Yet we too are followers of Jesus and identify him as our personal savior. We just have to get used to asserting who we are and whose we are! The Holy Spirit can help us to do that. “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." Can I get an AMEN?
So, my main point today is that all of us are infused with God, the Holy Spirit – the love of Jesus pouring into our lives so that we may pour it into the lives of others. And NOW, today is the time for us to begin pouring. “We remember that your church was born in wind and fire, not to sweep us heavenward like a presumptuous tower, but to guide us down the dusty roads of this world so that we may lift up the downcast, heal the broken, reconcile what is lost, and bring peace amidst unrest.”[7] Glory to God the Holy Spirit whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. AMEN.
(Accessed 6-4-2022). [2] Sermon - Duncan, King. Don’t just stand there! [3] Quoted from Jean Vanier, a Canadian Catholic philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian. [4] https://sermons.com/sermon/the-spirit-of-my-mother-s-church/1358174
(Accessed 05-03-2017). [5] http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/john20x19p.htm (Accessed 05-03-2017). [6]http://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/the-walk-of-the-christian. (Accessed 5-3-2017). [7] Root Thrive Soar - https://rootthrivesoar.com/ (Accessed 06-05-22).