Come Holy Spirit
Acts 2: 1-11; Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13; John 20: 19-23
Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is God like?” If you have, and have seriously reflected upon it, you ultimately come up with the answer that “God is love.” That answer is clearly evident in his incarnation – his becoming Man and living among us and as one of us. It is seen in his miracles, in his compassion for our needs, in the blessings he sends our way, in the prayers he answers. It is seen in the passion, death and resurrection of his Son: suffering and dying in atonement for our sins, resurrection so that we may be one with him for all eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. “God is Love” and that is what all the fuss is about on Pentecost. That is what we’re celebrating - the fact that God is love and that God’s love is poured into us, warms our hearts and fires us up to do good things in this world.
What a cast of characters they were, those disciples gathered in that upper room fifty days after Jesus had returned to them after his Resurrection, ten days after he left them again after his Ascension. They were variously described as weak, timid, shallow, and lacking in conviction and courage - hardly the ideal choice for the foundation of a new church and a new religion. But he had chosen each of them and their lives had changed in ways that they could never have imagined. They had left their homes and families and witnessed him do incredible things. They had spent days and nights with Jesus watching, listening, and seeing the unbelievable happen over and over. But all of that had cruelly changed and he had left them for the first time and their hopes and aspirations had died with him. But he did what he had promised; he had returned, risen and they were restored in hope. But now, he had left them again. But he left them with another promise: to send them his Holy Spirit.
Something amazing happened to those disciples that first day of the week. They were sitting around, behind locked doors, feeling alone and sorry for themselves, saying, “Ain’t it awful. How are we going to get along without him? How are we possibly going to do what he asked us to do?!” And then suddenly, they were all swept up in a “holy hurricane” that sent sparks flying around the room like a 4th of July fireworks display until tongues of flame came to rest over the heads of each of them. There was nothing understated about what happened. In an instant they were radically changed as the Holy Spirit filled them. It surged through their beings warming, energizing, and purging them; and they were given “courage, insight, and eloquence.” And just as God had made His presence felt in history through wind and fire, the Holy Spirit came rushing in and through the disciples as a gale force wind and fire. The mighty wind cleansed the disciples hearts and the fire burnt-up their unregenerate desires like they were straw. And Jesus who had never given up on them despite their own failings, doubts and darkness, kept his promise once again.
God is love and we celebrate God’s gift of love to us on this Pentecost Sunday. Today we celebrate a promise fulfilled. A promise to never leave us alone; a promise to be with us always, even until the end of time; a promise to send us his abiding Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate, who would teach us and remind us of all that he taught us. He is with us now. His being with us means joy and love, wind in our sails, fire in our bellies, warmth in our hearts. It means commitment and conviction poured into the very depths of our being. Christ’s being with us means forgiveness of our sins and our stupidity. Christ’s being with us means that each of us has at hand a generous supply of the confirmation gifts he offered his original disciples, the gift of the Holy Spirit who, in turn, brings gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel (or right judgment), fortitude (which is the courage all of us need), piety (understood as a mature and proper reverence), and fear of the Lord (a sense of wonder and awe). These are the gifts of Pentecost, confirmation gifts bestowed on the confirmandi, these are the gifts we celebrate today. These gifts enable us to work along with God in our own day for the salvation of our world. These gifts are the outpouring of God’s love.
The Holy Spirit is the mystery of God’s love in our world. Of all the persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the most abstract—God the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. The Holy Spirit is more difficult to describe—who proceeds from the Father and the Son and with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified. Yet on that day, that first Pentecost, the Spirit’s impact was undeniable. The disciples became different people in a new kind of community with gifts and capabilities they never had—barriers were broken, fear vanquished, and new beginnings started. The once weak, timid, and shallow were transformed into the bold and wise and all were proclaiming Jesus while all around them exclaimed, “Who are these people?” They became a different people. And so must we.
Today we are gathered in one place, as diverse a group as the disciples in that upper room, bringing with us our own challenges, fears and joys. Many of us are panting and even gasping to find our breath, struggling to cope with all that is happening—excited and worried as our children move on from grade school to high school to college, to new careers and lives; afraid about unresolved health issues that grow more complicated with each passing day; and a host of countless other anxieties and depressions about growing older while grieving the things we once did with ease and now can no longer do. And for one hour we acknowledge our needs, let down our guards, and with outstretched arms we wait for Holy Spirit to descend upon us because we know we can’t do it on our own. But most of us are skeptics and we sell the Holy Spirit short unsure and unconvinced that the Spirit still acts in that same dramatic and profound way as he did on that first Pentecost morning. We want to feel the Spirit blowing through our lives; we want to be infused with new faith and conviction with tongues of fire hanging over our heads; we want our own Pentecost experience. But we wonder and we doubt and convince ourselves that it may be easier to just remain behind locked doors.
The Holy Spirit still breathes upon us. The Holy Spirit is here revamping and rearranging our lives, just as Jesus promised, inspiring us to do what we cannot do on our own—taking risks we thought we did not have the courage to take; speaking up when we could not find the right words to say; stepping forward to minister and help convinced our gifts were inadequate and our capabilities insufficient; reaching out to help when it would be so much easier just to take care of our own problems; trusting that if we turn it over to the Holy Spirit that we’ll get what we need and what we’re asking for.
In John’s gospel account, after giving them the Spirit and expressing his wish that peace be with them, Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Consider yourselves sent – sent out with a smile, with fire in your heart, with the wind of God’s love at your back – consider yourself sent to bring the Spirit of Pentecost to the world beneath your feet, to a world in need of hope and help, peace and reconciliation, joy and love. The Holy Spirit is like a wind . . . like a flame. Like a strong wind or a gentle breeze, the Spirit can be present to you. Like fire, the Spirit can bring you light and warmth. Each one of you today, all of us together, can be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can be fired up and ready to renew the face of the earth. Or at least we can be fired up to renew our small portion of the earth with love. And so we pray . . .
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be re-created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
