Pentecost 9 June 2019

Acts 2.1-21;  John 14.8-17

The terror of the unforeseen

This week we have been commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Several commentators and speakers used a similar idea. They stressed the fear and uncertainty that the soldiers, sailors and aircrew on that longest of days felt. And that fear and uncertainty was all the worse because, at the time, they did not know that their cause would be successful. I think this point was put most eloquently by the Dean of Portsmouth Cathedral in his sermon broadcast on the radio last Sunday. He said, because we now know that the landings and the subsequent battle were successful and that Paris was liberated within three months, we can easily forget that success was not guaranteed. And he quoted the American novelist Philip Roth who wrote that when events are written down in history books, we are shielded from what he calls ‘the terror of the unforeseen’; that things could have gone differently and that what was achieved was far from inevitable.

And that put me in mind of the experience of the disciples in the time leading up to Pentecost, when they received the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was taken away to be crucified they thought it was all over. They faced the ‘terror of the unforeseen’ and fled in fear.  They did not know (as we now know) that, despite all Jesus had taught them, God would raise Jesus and transform the darkness of Good Friday into the light of Easter.
And having been united with the risen Jesus, they were faced with losing him again as he ascended, returned to his father. As we heard in John’s gospel, Jesus had promised that he would still be with them because his Father would send them an advocate, a comforter, his Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen them. However, when the Jewish feast of Pentecost came, the disciples were still huddling together in fear. We know what happened next, but they didn’t. We have read the story, they were still living it out. We mustn’t underestimate how surprising and shocking the events of Pentecost would have been to the disciples.

The Holy Spirit made a dramatic entrance. A powerful wind from heaven blew and flames appeared on the heads of the disciples and the disciples spoke to the crowd in different languages. Something was happening which would change the disciples and change the world forever. On earth, Jesus moved among and touched only those people he met or spoke to. Now, just as Jesus had promised, God had sent his Spirit, and through his Spirit, Jesus would touch the whole world, not just his disciples, not just his own people, but everyone.  The power of the wind and flame, and the speaking in tongues turned the disciples from a small group of frightened, men and women into a force to be reckoned with throughout the known world.
 
God speaks to each of us in our own language

The story of Pentecost shows the spirit working in wind and fire and enthusiasm. The  story of Pentecost also tells us that each member of the crowd heard the words of the disciples in his or her own tongue. God speaks to each one of us in our own language. God speaks to us in a way that is unique to us. We know that the Spirit can also come quietly and transform our lives and transform situations without noise or fuss. The Spirit can come, as it did to Elijah on Mount Horeb, not in the earthquake, wind or fire, but in the still small voice. The spirit works in many ways and works in each of us in different ways

And you should treasure the way God speaks to you and treasure the gifts God has given you. And don’t let anyone, even those of us standing up here at the front, tell you otherwise. Don’t let anyone tell you that the only way to think about God is the way they think about God or that the only way to worship God is they way they do. Don’t let anyone tell you that your gifts are not as important as the gifts they have received.

God speaks to us in community

But alongside this special individual relationship we have with God and the Spirit, we experience and share the spirit not in private but in community. The disciples were ‘all together in one place’ and the crowd were gathered together for the feast of Pentecost, the feast of ‘Weeks’, celebrating the first fruits of the harvest and the giving of the law at Sinai.  And although each member of the crowd heard the words in their own language, the meaning of the words was in common.  As someone said, the miracle of Pentecost is mutual understanding and community. 

We all have our different interests, different ways of looking at the world, different politics. And we all have our own experiences of God, different views about how we should worship God. But despite our differences, we still come together as the church.  We come together as individual members and as St Paul tells us, as parts of the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12.12). We all have our stickers on this morning to tell others our name or to gently remind other people of our names. But we have come together to pray, to praise God in words and music, to listen to his word, and to share in the Body of Christ in Communion.  And our bond together as parts of the Body of Christ doesn’t stop when we finish our last hymn, it continues and is strengthened as we chat over coffee and, today, when, earthly wind and rain permitting, many of us will share a picnic in the park.

To conclude

The Holy Spirit who came in wind and fire at Pentecost came as gift, unearned and unexpected. The Holy Spirit who came in wind and fire at Pentecost comes to us as gift and comes to each of us in a way that is unique to us. But the Holy Spirit who came in wind and fire at Pentecost comes not to divide but to unite. We experience and share the Holy Spirit together, as a community, as church, as the body of Christ. This Pentecost may we, in St Paul’s words to the Ephesians, make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.