Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Pentecost: Believe in Me


This upcoming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. On this day, we remember the Holy Spirit coming over followers of Jesus, thus empowering them to be the Church. God was revealed in a most unusual and powerful way that day, and so we come together to be renewed and refreshed by such a witness to God's presence in the world.

For as much as we, the Church, confess to believe in the Holy Spirit, there is still so much mystery wrapped around just what the Holy Spirit is. Jesus gives us a clue in John 14 calling the Holy Spirit the "advocate" or the "helper," but still the mystery remains.

This is completely frustrating to me. One of the most challenging aspects of being a Christ-follower, for me, is all of the mystery wrapped around it. A question that has helped me live with this mystery of the Holy Spirit, however, is not "what does the Holy Spirit do?" or "what does it mean for the Church to have the Holy Spirit?"

I turn to the The Rev. Dr. Hal Brady, a retired United Methodist elder, for some ideas in a sermon he gave on Pentecost Sunday in 2013  (you can view his entire sermon manuscript by clicking the link here). Brady points out that:

---Pentecost means that Jesus is forever present!

---Pentecost means the church community is empowered! Initially, we see this empowerment in the community "coming together." Next, we see this empowerment in the community "going public."

---Pentecost means that there are certain languages that everybody understands!

Pentecost means that Jesus is forever present. The late Dr. Albert Outler, a Methodist theologian and scholar, expressed this beautifully when he said, "Pentecost's consequence was that Jesus became alive again, and powerful, and forever thereafter present, wherever two or three are gathered in His name." Then he said, "Jesus was no longer a has been." What does it mean to you that Jesus is not a "has been"? For me, it means that Jesus was not simply a historical figure (no one can deny that a man named Jesus from Nazareth lived and was crucified), but a figure that transcends death and sets me free. It means that I can live with the peace, love, hope, and joy that I can't really get from anything else. Jesus "has been" a great prophet and minister, and Jesus today is still with us as.

Pentecost means the church community is empowered! We are not simply a place for people to be, but a people becoming connected to God in ways that can change our lives and change the world. The Church is more than a place to come, but a platform for God to be known in the world. I see the Holy Spirit empowering the Church to help stop malaria in Africa. I see the Church being empowered to serve the under privileged in my community. I see the Church being empowered to change the lives of people who were once lost, but now have been found through the expression of God's love in community. Yes, the Church "comes together," to worship God and share in Christian love and fellowship. There is power and meaning in the gathering of Christ followers. But the Church has also "gone public." The Church, at its best, is the hope of the world because of this.

Pentecost means that there are certain "languages" that everybody understands. I put quotes around that word because much of the language that is understood in this way is not spoken, but seen and felt. When someone helps you and you know they care about you. When someone sits next to you in your darkest hour, not speaking a word. When someone smiles at you.

But there are also ways that the Holy Spirit bridges the gap between you and someone that is different than you. Brady shares this story:

There was a little Christian lady from my hometown named Ethel Young. Every Sunday for 25 years Miss Ethel went to the City County Jail to teach the prisoners their Sunday School lesson. It didn't matter to her whether these prisoners had committed a major or a minor crime, whether they were black, white or whatever. Every Sunday for 25 years she was faithfully there.

Then one Sunday Miss Ethel had to miss because she was ill. During her illness she received many get well cards, the kind you and I might receive or send. Because we were friends, Miss Ethel showed me one of the cards she had received. When I opened it, there written in the messiest handwriting I have ever seen were these words: "We miss you very much." Signed, "Yours boys at the City County Jail."

So, this Pentecost Sunday, you don't have to be confused because you don't know how to exactly explain who or what the Holy Spirit is. Think about what the Holy Spirit means to you, and how you know that the Holy Spirit is part of your life with God.

In Christ,

Jack

Prayer:

Lord, as at that first Pentecost, we ask that you do it again. Let your Holy Spirit so fill us as individuals and churches that we may be empowered anew to become your instruments of healing and hope and transformation in a world of desperate need. So bind our faith and works together in a new wholeness that we may make a profound difference and bring glory to your Holy Name. Amen.

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