Come Holy Spirit Pentecost

Come, Holy Spirit, like a dove. Come like a flame.

Convict, convert, and consecrate our lives to our good and to your glory. Amen.

In case you missed it, today is Pentecost.

While it's not my normal homiletical practice, I want to share some facts about

today's feast day because it is a question I get asked often.

What is Pentecost all about? It is one of the primary feast days of the life of the Church.

Pentecost, originally called the Feast of Weeks,

so-called because it was celebrated seven weeks or 50 days, penta,

50 days after the Passover.

It was a feast upon which Jews from everywhere were called upon to make a pilgrimage

to Jerusalem, to the temple.

That's why there's so many Psalms that talk about ascending to the temple.

And what's described today in our first reading from the book of Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2 seems therefore to be the pilgrimage feast of Pentecost after,

just after, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And it seems as if his Galilean disciples and his family came to Jerusalem And

that while they were there,

the presence of the Spirit was manifested.

Charismatically manifested upon them,

and they began to speak in other languages or in tongues, as it says in the Scripture.

And this was seen as a sign that they had been empowered to proclaim publicly

what God had done in the life of Jesus.

And this event is a key part of our story of faith.

We consider it actually the birthday of the church.

Now, originally, Pentecost was an agricultural feast celebrated in May or June

as a way of giving thanks to God for the harvest.

But like all agricultural feasts in the life of Judaism, it acquired always

an additional meaning of what God had done for them.

And the meaning that Pentecost had acquired was the remembrance of the Hebrews'

deliverance out of Egypt by Moses.

The event, of course, is commemorated at Passover, but a month and a half later,

as described in the book of Exodus chapter 19,

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

a month and a half after leaving Egypt, they arrive at Mount Sinai.

And remember what happens on Mount Sinai.

Moses goes up to the top of the mountain and he meets God and he receives the covenant,

the Ten Commandments, the covenant between God and the people of Israel.

It is understood to be the moment at which the people of Israel were called

finally to be God's people.

Interestingly, in chapter 19, at that moment when God comes to the top of Mount

Sinai, we are told that there appears thunder and smoke.

One writer, Jewish writer, contemporary with the New Testament,

Vilo describes angels taking the covenant down from the mountain on tongues

and presenting it to the people on the plain below.

Eerily similar to what we have just heard in the book of Acts where the sound

of a mighty wind and tongues of fire come and land on the disciples and others.

The renewal, you might say, of God's covenant with God's people.

Yet,

on Mount Sinai, when this happened, the covenant went to Israel only.

All other nations were named as not God's people.

Yet here, in the book of Acts, the point almost seems to be glaringly before

us that the other nations are now included.

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, citizens of Rome even.

Nationalities from the farthest corners

of the empire languages many

have never heard or have

never known are there and present and are part of the spirit's claim and the

spirit's power At this Pentecost,

the claim is that a different understanding of God's power comes into view.

An understanding that sees the power of God as expanding out to the whole world,

a power that even has the strength to include those who were not part of the original story,

to include even the Gentiles.

And the reaction to those who have received the Spirit speaking in tongues,

ecstatic behavior that looks to observers like drunkenness, causes Peter to

deliver what is often called the first Christian sermon.

A sermon that the book of Acts conceives of as the fundamental presentation

of the story and gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what is this fundamental presentation here on Pentecost?

I think of it this way.

Imagine you've decided to go sailing,

but you've never been sailing before.

So you go to the store and you purchase a couple of books to find out what's involved with sailing.

You probably bought the Idiot's Guide to Sailing,

You read over your books, and after the reading of your books,

you decide, well, it might be good to actually talk to a sailor, too.

So you talk to a veteran sailor and ask all the questions that you have,

and the next day you rent a sailboat.

You examine it closely. You make sure it has everything you need for you to be successful.

Make sure everything's in working orders.

You then get in the boat and you take it out onto the sea or out onto the lake.

You're excited, although you're a little leery of what might happen.

And you follow all of the instructions. You've read everything.

You've talked to those who are professionals. You launch the boat into the water.

You carefully monitor everything you're supposed to do.

And finally, you hoist the sails.

You hoist the mainsail and you roll out the Genoa up front.

And at that precise moment you learn something that no book ever mentioned and no one ever told you,

you can study sailing all you want maybe you can even build a sailboat you can

seek wisdom from the wisest and most veteran,

You can cast your boat out into the most beautiful sea and lake Under the brightest

of sun You can hoist the sails.

But you cannot make the wind blow.

Life can be like this.

Sometimes we do everything right.

Sometimes we've got all our ducks lined up in a row.

And we want the wind to blow just when we want it to blow.

And how we want it to blow. And all too often, we want it to blow just on us.

But the Spirit of God is living and active.

It blows where it wills, yet it blows constantly.

It's alive.

It's everywhere everywhere that we are the spirit is and even more miraculously,

the spirit is alive over the face of the whole earth.

And even for those that we think don't deserve it.

On this day of Pentecost, we give so deep thanks that though the Lord has ascended into heaven,

the power of God is alive for you,

for me,

and for the whole world.

And to quote an old spiritual hymn,

it might not come when you want it, but it'll be there right on time.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to 60 Church Street, a podcast of Trinity Episcopal Church

in Asheville, North Carolina.

Now, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

The homily was offered by the Rev. Dr. R. Scott White.

Introductory and closing reflections were shared by the Rev. Amy Peterson.

Musical contributions were performed by Dr. Kevin Seal.

Sermon audio was prepared by Nanette Popa. Production was guided by Karin Marie Fredrickson.