May 20, 2018

Pentecost Sunday Acts 2: 1-11; Galatians 5: 16-25; John 15: 26-27; 16: 12-15 I got a surprise phone call from a dear priest friend in California earlier this week. We had been on many vacations together, including the Holy Land. It was wonderful reconnecting and remembering. I invited him down to visit and he said, ‘You know I have a real fearful time thinking of the hurricanes and nor’easter’s that devastate Virginia. He thought we got these all the time. I said, well I have a problem with the land shaking underneath me in your California earthquakes, a state I’ve never visited. So much for the elements…but I thought about today’s feast and the description of Pentecost: “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the enter house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” Now the noise that came from the sky as a driving wind probably didn’t have the force or the strength of a hurricane but the “breathe” of the Holy Spirt changed the lives of all of those present. I look at myself today and connect the coming of the Holy Spirit to my life as a Christian. I have been changed. No way could I have accomplished the work of the priesthood, the work of being a Christian, all these years without God, without the specific work of the Holy Spirit. The apostles lives were changed immediately, the ‘new Christians’ lives were changed. They acknowledged God’s presence, God’s love, God leading them to be witnesses…to be Jesus’ love and actions in their world. I am called to do the same. Each Christian is called to do the same. How am I doing? One may ask, ‘How can little old me, be called on to do the Lord’s work?’ Well, Jesus set it up that way. It had been planned centuries ago when Isaiah began prophesying about the Messiah in chapters six to twelve. I like to point to the eleventh chapter where Isaiah details the ‘Rule of Immanuel’. “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord (piety), and His delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” From Jesse, David’s father, will arise a ‘new shoot’, the messianic King. Isaiah is describing what has been traditionally known as the ‘Gifts of the Holy Spirit’. This is the traditional list of these gifts: Wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence, wonder and awe (which we use to call)’ fear of the Lord.’ Paul tells us in the last verse of today’s passage from Galatians “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.” Every person has been given the Spirit as guide and the Spirit gifts us. All a person should do is to look in their background to see how these gifts have been shown and lived by special people. - Look at the wisdom people who have graced our lives. They say the right words, they have influenced, guided and redirected, if needed, along our way to make us conscious of ‘being right’ people - The understanding people are those we can always talk to when advice is needed or even more importantly, when we need someone who knows how to listen well. They respected us and how important that is. - People with right judgement are the ones who know the right thing to do when we are ‘hung up’ with uncertainties. - People with courage are examples of not letting fear control them but will concentrate on doing the right thing no matter what and helping us in the same way. The Spirit gives them a confidence to share with us. - People with knowledge know ‘me’. I am a person, a special person who they treasure and help with solutions to keep me on the path of my dreams - People with reverence remind us that nothing is worth doing unless we do in accord to God’s wants. It’s not about me, it’s about living God’s love and sharing it. - People with wonder and awe show us that there is nothing to fear in God. He is all powerful, and at the same time all-love and caring. How could He treat ‘little old me’ as someone special and awesome? The point of this list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we have been recipients of each and every one of them in huge amounts. But, just as importantly we have shared these same gifts to so many along the way. Hopefully we realized this as we went through the list…maybe we were not aware of this before we looked at the list, maybe we were. The importance is that we shared…which mean that we cared…which means that we realized that we are special to God. This is the only way we can share and care by being aware that we are loved and that the Holy Spirit continually gifts each person so they can be Jesus. The wonders of this first Pentecost is that Jesus appears in the locked room quietly. He didn’t bang down the doors. How often God comes so quietly in our lives. He’s there with all His love and help. Jesus said on this first Pentecost, “Peace be with you” and He gave them peace and sent then out with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit to give peace and love, caring and forgiveness, compassion and kindness to those in need. Connections, The newsletter of ideas and images for preaching the Sunday Gospel states, “…like Peter, filled with the Spirit of God, proclaims for the first time the love of God in the midst of this disparate collection of nationalities gathered in Jerusalem. That same Spirit empowers us to put aside our fears, our doubts, our inadequacies to become God’s agents of peace and reconciliation in our own time and place. The Hebrew word for spirit, ruah, refers to the movement of air, not only as wind but also as life-giving breath It is that ruah that transforms us and re-creates us in that unique and mysterious love that binds God the Father and God the Son and binds us to God and to one another. That same Spirit continues to ‘blow’ through today’s Church to give life and direction to our mission and ministry to preach the Gospel to every nation, to proclaim forgiveness and reconciliation in God’s name, to immerse all of humanity into the life and love of God manifested in Jesus’ resurrection.” So I reflect on: • I look in my life and see how the Holy Spirit has helped me in concrete ways. • How have I experienced the Holy Spirit? With gentleness? With power and noise? • With consuming fire? What experience stands out for me? • When have I felt powerful? When have I felt I was acting with the power of the Holy Spirit? • What gifts of the Holy Spirit do I recognize in myself? How have I used those gifts? Which gift would I like to better minister? • How has the Spirit guided me? Sacred Space 2018 shares: “The disciples are baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is a new birth and a new baptism. The regenerative power of the Spirit makes it possible for us to become children of God. With this new birth, we become a new creation, formed by the same Spirit of God that moved over the world in the opening lines of Genesis when ‘the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.’ What is it that blinds me to the reality of what I read about Pentecost? What makes me refuse to acknowledge that it can happen to me just as it did to the apostles? That, within my unworthy self, there is a temple in which the Spirit adores without ceasing? Lord, is it a fear that by accepting Your greatness at the center of myself, great things will be asked of me? Is it possible, that in my desire to avoid pain, I also deprive myself of experiencing joy?”