Readings for the Feast of Pentecost (Whitsunday)
- Acts 2:1-21
- Psalm 104:25-35, 37
- Romans 8:22-27
- John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Pentecost May 23, 2021.
“On the day of Pentecost they were all gathered together in one place.” On this day of Pentecost, almost 2,000 years later, it is indeed very meet and right that several of us are finally gathered together in one place, here in this gorgeous church, after 15 months of physical separation. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate this great feast day, which is one of the three major feasts in our liturgical calendar, along with Christmas (when we celebrate God the Father sending his Son to become incarnate among us in a human body) and Easter (when we celebrate the bodily resurrection of the Son, the second person of the Trinity). On Pentecost, which is the 50th day of Eastertide, we celebrate the third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son and who is present among us now, forming and sustaining us as the mystical of body of Christ, the Church. The Holy Spirit who is among us now is the same Spirit who violently rushed through and among the Jewish followers of Jesus who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest festival of Shavuot, which was the Hebrew name for Pentecost, celebrated 50 days after Passover or Pesach.
Along with the Holy Spirit, we also share other similar experiences with those gathered disciples. The Jewish followers of Jesus had just recently undergone a collective trauma in witnessing the betrayal, the public humiliation, and the brutal death of their beloved rabbi who they believed to be the very Son of God. They would be processing those events—and the emotions associated with those events—for the rest of their lives. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we ourselves have also experienced a collective trauma, the trauma of global pandemic; and it’s going to take us some time to process the trauma and the emotions associated with it. We need to give ourselves permission to feel our emotions: to be angry and sad and confused and tired and anxious and impatient and upset. We need to give ourselves space and time to grieve. As author and musician Justin McRoberts says, “If we do not give our grief and anger space and time of their own, they will steal it from somewhere else.” We need to find healthy ways to process our trauma, healthy outlets for our emotions; because sadly we’ve all witnessed, over these past several months, how dangerous unprocessed grief and anger can be, how they can fuel violence and hatred. One healthy way to process difficult emotions that I commend to you is one described in our reading from Romans, in which Paul says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Paul invites us to pray and lament in the Spirt, which does not require any eloquence at all but only an openness to allowing the Holy Spirit to speak or sigh or even groan through us. We are invited to bring to God your fatigue and confusion and frustration and be open to the possibility of the Holy Spirit praying and interceding through us. By doing this, many of our Christian brothers and sisters (especially our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, who try to celebrate Pentecost basically every day!) have actually spoken and prayed in the tongues of angels. I invite you right now to be open to the Holy Spirit interceding through you as we collectively sigh. (Sigh).
Along with undergoing trauma, the disciples in Jerusalem also experienced the overwhelming hope and power of the resurrection, which opened up the possibility of their own resurrection. The resurrection and the Risen One empowered and commissioned them to go unto the ends of the earth, to share the life-giving love of God, to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, they shared the good news of God’s love to a colorful variety of peoples, speaking in the language of their listeners, not forcing them to learn a new language and culture, but showing them that God was already present in their own culture.
Similarly, we have also experienced the overwhelming power of hope and rejuvenation in these last few months, thanks to everyone who made possible the COVID vaccine, including our former president. Whether or not we have received the vaccine (and I hope we all do), it is clearly starting to liberate us all from the clutches of the pandemic. We too may feel empowered to travel, celebrating the good news that the reign of the pandemic is coming to an end. Like the disciples, we too may be feeling almost drunk with joy.
Now let me be clear that I’m not equating the resurrection of our Lord with the COVID vaccine, but I am highlighting some similarities between us and the disciples so that we can enter more fully into this foundational story of Pentecost; so that we can hear the words of St. Peter and the words of Jesus Christ speaking directly to us and our collective condition right now.
At Pentecost, Peter addressed the astonished onlookers by offering a brief homily and quoting the prophet Joel, who spoke on behalf of God saying, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions your old men shall dream dreams.” As we regather and reorient ourselves here at church, may we see this time as a unique opportunity to listen more fully to the Spirit. May we be open to visions and dreams and even words of prophecy. May we discern and discover together the gifts that God has given each of us to serve the church, to help us become more fully the Body of Christ. This is how we fulfill our vocation and our purpose in life, our true calling: by giving our God-given gifts back to God and serving the beloved community. So what is the spirit calling you to do in the church? What vision has the spirit given you?
We have specific needs in our church right now. In order to continue regathering safely and expanding our regatherings to the 10:30 service, we will need an usher coordinator or co-coordinators. And like the apostles at Pentecost, we also have an opportunity now to reach people far beyond the walls of this church and this city and even this country, through the gifts of technology by livestreaming our worship. Maybe the Spirit is calling you to be part of the Stream Team. Maybe the Spirit is calling you to share our online worship services with friends through email or Facebook.
Pentecost reminds us that we don’t evangelize and reach out to others just to boast about how wonderful and amazing Christ Church Eureka is. We reach out to others in the power of the Spirit in order to invite others to join us in our mission of glorifying God, following Jesus Christ, and serving all people through the power of the Holy Spirit who gives each of us the gifts we need to serve. In the Gospel today, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Advocate, but the original Greek word is Paraclete, which literally means the One who calls alongside. In other words, the Paraclete is the one who says to each of us, “Come and walk alongside me because I want to walk alongside you.”
In the last few months, the Christ Church vestry has formulated a vision statement, which is what we hope people see when they come among us and what we hope the world becomes as a result of us filling our mission. Our vision is to be a community of companions walking together in the way of Christ’s love for all. This means inviting and calling others to come walk alongside us as we walk alongside them and as we together feel the loving presence of the Holy Spirit walking alongside us. During this long time of physical separation, I hope and pray that you felt the Holy Spirit walking alongside you, even as we have all been isolated in our homes. I hope and pray that we allow the Holy Spirit to intercede through us with sighs too deep for words as we process together the collective trauma of the pandemic. And I pray that we let the Holy Paraclete inspire us with visions and dreams and fresh new ways to fulfill our mission as a community of companions walking together and calling others to walk with us in the way of Christ’s love for all. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 