ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET
PENTECOST, 2010 HIGH MASS
Sermon preached by the Vicar
In the readings for the Feast of Pentecost this year, we hear of two gatherings of disciples and given an extract from a letter which was intended to be read in another one. Luke's account of what happened to the disciples of Jesus on the first Feast of Pentecost after his resurrection, is the one we probably think of first when we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church.
The disciples, Luke tells us, the apostles, together with Mary and the women the brothers of Jesus, had remained in the city as Jesus had instructed them, keeping watch in prayer since his Ascension, waiting for the promised gift, a gift they could have hardly imagined any more than we can.
On the day of the feast, as the disciples are together, extraordinary phenomena occur with the sound of a violent wind and tongues as of fire resting on each of them. The disciples began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them ability; to speak about God's deeds of power, and be understood by that litany of representative residents or pilgrims from around the Roman world.
If we think this is hard to grasp; it may be of some reassurance to know that it was just as hard for some of those who witnessed it at the time. "All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' But others sneered and said, 'They are filled with new wine.'"
Luke shows Peter preaching to the crowd of witnesses. He seeks to explain what has happened in terms of what they knew, the prophecy of the Old Testament; that this is what has been foretold by the prophet Joel:
"In the last days, it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young me shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."
Joel's prophecy begins with a fierce denunciation of the sins of Jerusalem and of the other nations. If provides the inspiration for the Dies Irae, that hymn "Day of wrath and doom impending" which came to be part of the Requiem Mass. But, for all that, it ends on a positive note with God rejoicing over his people; even leading the singing.
In order to explain something which has the shock of the new about it, Peters look back Israel's past. Pentecost had begun life as a harvest festival; celebrating the ingathering of the barley harvest. It had come to have another meaning as a celebration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai: in the midst of fire and smoke on the mountain. The wind was symbolic of the work of the Spirit of God; the wind which moved over the waters in creation to bring order out of chaos; the life-giving breath of God.
Joel had foreseen a time when the Spirit of God would be poured out on all flesh; on young and old, male and female, slaves as well as free. Luke sees that coming to pass through the Church's universal mission; its Spirit-given ability to communicate the things of God in Jesus to people of all languages, cultures and classes and incorporate them into the ongoing work of mission.
That mission begins in Jerusalem but still reaches out to the ends of the earth to this day. It will lead to the ingathering, the harvest of the nations. This brings about a reversal of the Tower of Babel with its confusion of languages.
The scene in the John's Gospel, in the Upper Room during the Last Supper seems very different. There is an atmosphere of quiet solemnity: on the part of the disciples one of foreboding because he has spoken to them of his death; one the part of Jesus, a calm and peace which he seeks to share with them.
There is more than enough in this morning's passage to cover Trinity Sunday as well as Pentecost, but let's confine ourselves this morning to Jesus' promise to the disciples of the Paraclete; of another "Advocate" or "Comforter", "to be with you for ever." This "Spirit of truth" will abide in them and be with them. He uses the same language as of the relationship between Father and Son. This Spirit of truth will lead them into all truth. "He will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." They will not be left alone. Jesus will still be present to them in a way which is both real and greater.
The Church's mission to speak of the works of God in Jesus Christ is not simply a matter of translation; of turning to the dictionary. Languages are expressions of whole cultures: Jewish, Greek, Roman in those days; in our own African, Asian, Arabic, Oriental, European; American and more. Those cultures involve philosophy and science, art and social customs. Mission is about addressing those different cultures; the ways in which they think and behave as well as the languages they speak. It is about both affirming them when they can be used to proclaim the Gospel and of transforming them when they cannot.
The Spirit of truth works to help the Church interpret the things of Jesus to those different cultures. We are called to wait and watch in prayer for the Spirit for our mission in this city in which, even more than in Jerusalem, the representatives of so many different cultures and languages are represented.
Last Sunday afternoon, at Evensong in St. Paul's, some of us listened to a sermon in which Canon Lucy Winkett began by commiserating with the five priests being installed as prebendaries of the cathedral. They will spend the rest of their lives trying to explain to the curious what on earth a prebendary is. Now in the great scheme of things, the Church would not lose anything vital to its life and mission if prebendaries were to be abolished tomorrow; although those of us who have just spent money on getting red buttons and piping on our cassocks might ask for our money back!
But far more importantly, we are all challenged to see how what we are called to do is both faithful to what we have received and at the same time accessible to those who do not share our culture.
In the Preface read at the beginning of that service; words which are addressed to priests and congregations whenever someone is being entrusted with a new ministry, the Bishop said:
"The Church of England is part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In the declaration you are about to make, will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith as your inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making him known to those in your care?"
If we think that it is difficult in our time, then we should read the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of St. Paul, and we will soon find that it was no easier then.
The Church's mission in the ancient world and ever since has involved the work of translation of scripture and liturgy; it has involved the struggle to express its faith in Jesus Christ in the thought forms of other cultures and philosophies without losing its distinctive character: that "all that I have said to you".
But it has also involved the continual transformation of people, of a community, by the power of the Spirit. If the Jewish feast of Pentecost celebrated the giving of the Law through Moses, the Christian feast, as our Gospel reminds us, is about the giving of the new Commandment of love. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever." The Spirit is intimately bound up with that sharing of love which is the very nature of God and which the Spirit makes possible for God's children.
And so, Paul can write to the Christians in Rome, of the Spirit which enable them to share Christ's relationship with the Father; to call God "Abba, Father" with that same loving intimacy which made such an impression on the first disciples. The Spirit, says Paul, witness with our spirit; the Spirit of God witnesses with the spirit of human beings made in the divine image.
Paul is not the purveyor of giddy and superficial spiritual jollity. He speaks of suffering with Christ and he knew more about that than any of us. He goes on in that 8th chapter of Romans to speak of the children of God who have the first fruits of the Spirit, sharing in the groaning of the whole creation hoping for its redemption.
"Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
The Spirit enables us both to know and trust and rejoice in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and to know and deepen our relationship with humankind and all creation by sharing its longings and hopes.