Homily for Pentecost, 2011

My sisters & brothers, how will we respond as we are renewed in the Holy Spirit?

In our first lesson God shares with the elders of the people the same Spirit that was given to Mosses. The griping of the people has set this whole scene in motion. They are tired of eating manna every day and complain, wanting the foods they used to have in Egypt. Moses turns to God. He is overwhelmed by the constant requests from the people. God in turn instructs Moses to commission 70 elders to be his assistant. They are blessed by God with the Divine spirit and their immediate response is to make some kind of ecstatic utterance. Being momentarily overwhelmed by God’s Spirit.

Our second lesson marks a mile stone in salvation history, the Pentecost event. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the gift inaugurating the final stage of the salvation story; this era leads up to the end of time. The whole book of Acts is about mission, about speaking, proclaiming, the good news to people everywhere, in language they can understand; Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind this work. Today’s story sets the stage for what follows. The disciples are filled with the Spirit, and immediately begin to tell the story of Christ. Clearly the event was both mysterious/mystical and empowering.

In our gospel story, Jesus is appearing to this followers after his resurrection. In John’s version of the story Jesus gives the Spirit now, rather than later. But the punch line remains the same. As he has been sent into the world with the Father’s authority, so he now sends out the disciples and the whole Christian Church after them.

We too are blessed and sent! Our being baptized into Christ means that we, like the first disciple, receive a Spirit of holiness that will sooner or later move us to missionary work. That might mean feeding the hungry, teaching a class, welcoming new comers or putting an Episcopal Church bumper sticker on your car. One way or another it means sharing, or spreading around, the gift we received in Christ. This is the universal mission of Christians. It is both a gift and a challenge given by the Holy Spirit.

I’ve mentioned before that getting our building done and payed for is part of our mission. It provides space for the ministries we need ourselves, and ministries we can offer to others.

Today, as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, we need to be open both to refreshment in God’s Spirit and Renewal in our calling to serve!