Sermon preached by the Reverend Susan Kraus

St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk, Connecticut

The Feast of Pentecost – May 11, 2008 - 8:00 a.m.

 Remembering is one of the activities which we value highly in our Anglican Church tradition. The Book of Common Prayer, the calendar of the church year, and the readings given in the lectionary all help us to remember. Remembering is at the heart of the Sunday liturgy, the work we do together as people of the church. Each week we remember Christ’s death and resurrection. Each week we recall the words and events of the Last Supper, when Jesus instructed his disciples, “Do this for the remembrance of me.” During the church year, through Scripture and liturgy, we remember the stories of God’s work in history, God’s mighty deeds of creation and sustenance, of redemption and love. We need to remember these stories because they are the stories which give us our identity as a church, as God’s people. These stories tell us about who God is and who we are.

 On this feast day we are called to remember the story of Pentecost told in The Acts of the Apostles. Jesus had appeared to the apostles after the resurrection and before his ascension, and he had instructed them to wait in Jerusalem “for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). He had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). So the apostles were gathered together in Jerusalem, waiting. As it happened they were there “when the day of Pentecost had come” (Acts 2:1).

 The Jewish festival of Pentecost was held on the fiftieth day after Passover to mark the conclusion of the harvest of the winter grain crop. We can read about this festival in Deuteronomy (16:9-12). It was a time of celebration when the Israelites gave offerings of thanksgiving for God’s blessings. Pentecost was one of three yearly “pilgrim festivals,” when all Israelite males were expected to go up to the Jerusalem Temple. This explains why Jerusalem was filled with Jews from every nation.

 On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to the disciples in a very dramatic way. There was “a sound like the rush of a violent wind” (Acts 2:2). Then “tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (Acts 2:3). Finally, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages” (Acts 2:4). We can imagine the startling sights and the sounds of this event! It is not surprising that a crowd gathered to investigate. Scripture tells us that the people in the crowd were “bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each” (Acts 2:6). By the power of the Holy Spirit the disciples spoke in languages they did not know, and they were understood.

 This amazing story is familiar to us because we read it each year. When I began to prepare this sermon by prayerfully reading this passage from Acts, I expected no surprises. I already knew the story well. But my experience reminded me that a prayerful encounter with Scripture always leads to new awareness! Before now I had been impressed by the fact that the people heard the disciples speak in their own languages, but I had never thought about what exactly they heard. And here it is, at the end of today’s reading: “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (Acts 2:11). So, that’s what the disciples were talking about in all those languages – God’s deeds of power!

 Christian tradition considers the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost as the “birthday of the church.” So, here at our very birth is remembering, remembering God’s deeds of power. It is right that in our Christian tradition we remember the past. It is right that our faith is built upon the past, that the past acts of God sustain us now and give us hope for the future. But remembering is not enough.

 We are called, like the first disciples of Jesus, to wait for the Holy Spirit and to be open to the action of the Holy Spirit in our church and in our individual lives. We are called to trust the promises of God and the work of God. We are called to be ready. The Holy Spirit is working now.

 In St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The one Spirit gives a variety of gifts – the utterance of wisdom and knowledge, faith, the gift of healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 2:4-10). St. Paul makes it very clear that these gifts are given for the common good, for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, the church. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are gifts meant for service to the community.

 The Holy Spirit is God. The Spirit will never lead us to do what is contrary to love, what tears down rather than builds up. We know that the Holy Spirit is directing us when the fruits of our lives include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit is calling each one of us to service, to love, to the building up of the body of Christ. ]

 God’s deeds of power are not all in the past. While it is easy to recognize a past event like Pentecost as a deed of God’s power, it is not always easy to recognize how God is acting now. There is a book written by Evelyn Underhill, published in 1942, called The Fruits of the Spirit. In this book she writes about the surprising ways in which God comes to us. She reminds us that in order to recognize these comings of God we must be “very loving and very alert” (page 49).

 What are God’s deeds of power like? What are we looking for? What should we be waiting for? Remember that the same God who created the universe became incarnate as a helpless infant born in a stable, laid in a manger. The same Spirit who came with the sound of a rush of a violent wind on Pentecost also speaks in a still, small voice in our hearts. All these are God’s deeds of power.

 I invite you now to remember God’s deeds of power in your life. Have you experienced God’s love? Have you been healed? Have you been forgiven? Have you been led through the wilderness to a spring of water? Has a broken relationship been reconciled? Has new life come where you thought there was only death? Has hatred turned to love? Has good come out of evil? Have you had the courage to face a situation which you thought was more than you could bear? Have you been able to serve someone else, to minister to them in their need? Has despair turned to hope, doubt to faith? Has this church community worked together in service and in love? Take a moment to remember.

 Now I invite you, when you come to the altar rail, to come with the memory of God’s deeds of power in your life. Come with thanksgiving. Come with a heart open to our Lord, open to the Holy Spirit. Offer your life as a channel for God’s life. Underhill assures us that “every time a channel is made for Him He comes; every time our hearts are open to Him He enters, bringing a fresh gift of His very life” (page 50).

 We are not alone. Jesus gives us the gift of His life in the sacrament of his Body and Blood. And Jesus has promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. This Spirit empowers us beyond our selves and our own strength to do God’s work. Open your life to God’s life, and be ready to bear the fruits of the Spirit. Amen.