Pentecost
Year B
Acts 2:1-11; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
5/31/09
Lorraine Ljunggren

        Enter with me into what that first Pentecost might have been like.
        
        We find Jesus' mother, Mary of Nazareth, and Jesus' other followers waiting in one place because Jesus had told them to do so. But at this point they aren't sure whether to return to their fishing nets or other ways of making a living or not. They aren't even sure how long they are to wait. The Roman Empire still surrounds them as dangerous as ever. But they are there together, nonetheless. They have shown up to be together to wait.

        It begins as a soft breeze that lifts a loose strand of Mary's hair, sweeping it across her face. Brushing it aside, she looks up from where she sits praying in a circle of long-time friends and acquaintances. Since none of the other women or men seems to notice anything out of the ordinary, Mary takes a deep breath and allows her mind to drift back into her silent prayers.

        Suddenly the silence is interrupted by a rushing sound – like the way the wind sounds during a summer storm. Mary and the others look at one another confused and a little frightened. It feels as though they are sitting in the middle of a whirlwind and yet the air is still! As if this isn't strange enough, all of a sudden the room seems to be filled with bright light that dances and glows on everyone's face, the way flickering flames from a large cooking fire reflect on human faces – and yet there is no fire in the hearth!

        Then, before anyone can speak, Mary laughs out loud! She feels as if her soul has been released from a prison of sorts. She feels as if every prayer she ever thought silently or spoke aloud is answered with God's own 'Yes!' As suddenly as the rushing sound and the dancing light appear, Mary's life-long awareness of God's love is made stronger and more real than ever before. In the rushing sound and dancing light Mary knows herself to be filled with God's Holy Spirit as are the others gathered together on that Pentecost so long ago.

        Mary, whose own 'yes' to God had put in motion a new way of knowing and relating to God through Jesus, is herself renewed and encouraged to live into the days to come. Mary's 'yes' to God echoes across time and space, inviting us to watch for and expect the Spirit to fill us, to surround us, to renew and encourage us to live into our days to come.

        Whatever happens to Mary and the other women and men when they experience the Holy Spirit on what we have come to call Pentecost, it is life changing. It helps root out their fear and replace it with hope. It helps them leave their hiding places and go into the world to act on and to speak boldly about God's love to all who will listen – particularly talking about how they come to understand God's love in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary.

        I think about Mary and the others on that first Pentecost and how far and wide they spread the story of God's love as they experience it in Jesus. I think about Mary and I remember those poetic and powerful and prophetic words she speaks in the presence of her cousin Elizabeth as the Jesus story has its beginning.
“…Pentecost comes once again to license us as God's agents, as Mary sang, to show the strength of God's arm, to scatter the proud in their conceit, to cast down the mighty from their thrones, to lift up the lowly, to fill the hungry with good things, … and to champion God's peace and justice and love for all.” (Lane Denson III as quoted in Synthesis)

        The Spirit has to be present in that one place that day or else that rag-tag group of people who follow Jesus would have returned to their normal, everyday lives. But, history proves they did not. Some of them literally risked life and limb to share the Good News. And so have many others since then.

        On that Pentecost the power of the Spirit convicted the women and men of what Jesus told them day in and day out – that we humans, created in the image and likeness of God, are to make known and to make real the kingdom of God – the dream of God here on this earth – now, in our time.

        God's creation cannot wait for some sweet by-and-by to set right the wrongs of this world!

        God's created order cannot afford for us to be so busy with our modern lives that we miss or avoid opportunities to nurture a community of people committed to striving for justice and peace among all – not some, but all people! God's people who are oppressed, who suffer various forms of discrimination and exile cannot afford for us to pass by even a single chance to uphold and respect the dignity of every – not some, but every human being – and to demand our governments and social systems everywhere do likewise!

        God's world as we know it is counting on us to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ones like ourselves – loving our neighbors of every race and culture and faith tradition. God's fragile earth our island home has to have us work now and work hard to stop the abuse of our planet, her resources and her creatures – has to have us be good stewards of our environment and to demand the same of governments and social systems around this globe.

        And because the world is not as God would have it be, because there is violence and strife and injustice and sin of many kinds, we have to do everything we can to resist all that would draw us from the love of God. And when we do mess up, when we do hurt ourselves or others, when we neglect to do what is right, when we fail to be the persons God creates and calls us to be, we have to turn around – we have to change directions – we have to turn back towards the Holy, the Divine, God who Creates All that Is, ask forgiveness, accept that forgiveness, and start all over again.

        Someone once noted that “Pentecost is culturally invisible. There are no [Pentecost] sales at the department stores, no gift-exchanges around lighted trees… no Bing Crosby crooning about rushing mighty winds. There are no eggs or bunnies…no jelly beans or chocolate.” (Peter Leithart quoted in Synthesis)

        Seekers and visitors who come through our doors today might wonder why so many of us are wearing red. I'll leave it to those clothed in red to explain – what a great opportunity to talk about why this day is so important.

        And, in a few minutes, when we join our voices to renew the promises made whenever someone is baptized in the Episcopal Church, or on certain great feast days of the church's year, I believe we'll actually be opening ourselves to the power of the Spirit. For I believe that when we are gathered together, the Spirit of God we know in the Risen Christ is in the midst of us. Words cannot fully express the difference I believe that can make and does make in our lives.

        Being open to the Spirit of God is itself life changing. It can root out our fear and replace it with hope. It can help us leave the hiding places of our lives and go into the world to act on and even speak boldly about God's love to
all who will listen and to those who need our help.

        And, even though I wasn't with Mary and the others on that first Pentecost, I do know that the Spirit of God is alive and well and swirls around us even on days when the air is still – that the Spirit of God can bring light even into the shadows of the longest night – whether the night be of a day come to its close or the night be of our souls quest for peace and grace and love.

        May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and may the Spirit be among us and remain with us always. Amen. (paraphrase BCP 339)

©2009 Lorraine Ljunggren