May 27, 2007 - Pentecost C 2007
The Rev. Stephanie E. Parker

There is an old story that is told about what happened in heaven when Jesus returned from his earthly ministry. It goes like this. Jesus returns in glory to heaven. All of the angels gather round to greet the Son of God and celebrate his victory over death and the reconciling of all of humanity to God. Everyone is excited at first and as the excitement dies down a bit, the archangel Gabriel, who was so involved in announcing Jesus' birth, speaks up.

"So what happens next?" Gabriel asks. "What's the plan?"

Jesus explains, "My disciples take over now. They'll spread the Good News to the whole earth so that everyone will come to know that God loves them and wants a relationship with them."

Then Gabriel asked with more than a little concern creeping into his voice. "Are you talking about all of those fisherman, tax collectors, women and all of the other walking wounded you've been traveling around with?"

"Yes, those are the ones," Jesus answered. "They'll take over now. The Holy Spirit is with them. They'll do great."
There was a long pause. Then Gabriel asked tentatively, "What's the backup plan?" *****

Can you imagine Gabriel's' dismay when Jesus looks him right in the eye with great seriousness and says, "That's the only plan. There is no backup plan." 1

It is an audacious plan is it not? Think of it. Just fifty days after the humiliation and fear the disciples experienced at Jesus' crucifixion, here they are at the very center of God's unleashing of the wild power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost was a wild rush of God's presence flooding out over the world in a new and mighty way. These fragile, fragmented souls are the first of all of us to experience it in this manner:

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the HolySpirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.1

Luke's account goes on to tell us that as the disciples began to speak, pilgrims who had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the known world began to hear them and gravitate towards this mysterious event. I imagine that it was no less than the irresistible force of God's immeasurable love for all of humankind that drew these curious onlookers into the event that would mark the birth of the Christian Church.

Jesus had promised them he would send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, but that promise is realized in a way that I am sure far surpassed anything the disciples might have expected. This was not business as usual---this was new life---- new life for the followers of Jesus and new life for a world that hungered for freedom from all that separated them from God. New life and new understanding through the Spirit of God---that is what is given to us at Pentecost-an outpouring of God's energy that has the power to touch every life and no one is excluded.2

Of course, then as now there are those who do not respond to this mighty outpouring of new life and new hope. Some mock the disciples and wonder if they are drunk. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a gift you see. And any gift freely given can be freely rejected. God's love does not coerce, it does not demand...it only invites. God has always been at work in the world inviting humankind into greater love, greater mercy and greater justice. But now, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are given the power to be God's agents of this transformation. We are now both the invited and those who extend the invitation.

There is no back-up plan. We are the ones, those of us who love Christ; we are the ones who are called to share this gift with the world. It is the Holy Spirit working within the hearts and spirits of those first followers that sets them free from their fear once and for all. Initially, we remember that they had gathered out of fear, shame and dismay, and then they began to gather out some vague hope, but now they boldly burst out into the streets and tell the world about Jesus. What an amazing turn around.

Now, in thinking about the Church today and that's Anglicans as well as the wider Church, I think that what is perhaps most dangerous to our Unity in our most recent "controversies" is not the actual issues that threaten to divide us, even the early Church was constantly in the midst of one serious controversy or another- what is most dangerous for us-- is that modern day Christians seem to have forgotten our rich inheritance, our great legacy.

We have forgotten to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and guard us through difficult times. We are so hard at work trying to corner the market on who's right and who's wrong or who agrees with us and who doesn't, that we have become a generation of functional atheist. We say that we trust in God's grace and mercy but we act out of fear and anxiety.

The celebration of Pentecost offers us a chance to remember...to remember that those who were first entrusted to share the good news of liberation and release were no "holier" than any of us; they were very ordinary flawed people. But think of it...these fishermen, tax collectors, women and other walking wounded would, within just a few generations, spread the Good News of the resurrected Christ throughout the Roman Empire and in time, as we know, it has gone out to the ends of the earth. This is the greatness of God's gift to all of humankind---our history tells us that the Holy Spirit working in us can do more than we can ever ask or imagine.

Today we have a chance to remember that this is who we are. We are children of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are not a people who need to be frightened by any ill wind that blows.

The same Holy Spirit that accomplished that amazing work in the early Church is the same Holy Spirit that is right here in you as I preach. That's what I count on every time I stand up in this pulpit...knowing that even if I get the sermon wrong, the Holy Spirit can still work with the sermon to speak to your hearts. This is power of the Holy Spirit---a loving force so great that it melts hearts and heals the wounds in our lives. Believe it!

And now I am really going to step out on a limb...but come on out here after me---it's kind of exhilarating! I believe, because Jesus promises that it so, that the Holy Spirit has the power to bind our unruly and argumentative Church into a united force that can help heal the world.

I think, despite possible evidence to the contrary, that this miracle is already in motion-in light of God's promises how could it not be? All we have to do is cooperate. We need only to put away our fear and hear the rush of the mighty wind and feel the heat of the tongues of fire as they call us into new birth and new beginnings-for as Paul reminds us-fear is not our inheritance as children of God.

This is no Pollyanna hope-this is belief in the Holy Spirit who gives us courage and strength to stand in the middle of the chaos and violence of a Church and world in turmoil and speak of hope and reconciliation.

And listen to this...we do not wait for the National Church to tell us that this is our decision, nor do we have to wait for dissenting Bishops in Africa to change their minds about the Episcopal Church. We don't even have to wait until women priests are accepted everywhere or openly gay and lesbian Bishops are consecrated without controversy. We are Pentecost people; the Holy Spirit is blowing through us with a mighty force. This glorious revolution to reclaim our inheritance begins with each and every one of us.

The Church of St. Paul in the Desert has almost 700 members all told. A far greater number than the scant 100 or so that were gathered with the Twelve on that first Christian Pentecost. They were just about 120 or so strong as they burst onto the streets overjoyed to have received God's great gift and unable to do anything but share it with all whom they met. And we hear later on in Acts that on that very day about three thousand were added to that number. Think of the possibilities before us-isn't it splendid to contemplate?

Today we add another member to our number. Today we baptize this precious child Luca into the Body of Christ. What inheritance do all of us plan to leave him? As people of God empowered by the Holy Spirit we have been given a treasure trove of great riches---we have grace, mercy, justice and the power to reconcile all of humankind to God.

I vote that all of us gathered here pledge to add to these riches and when Luca comes of age he will inherit a Church (capitol C) that is alive and overflowing with the Spirit of Truth and a Unity that reflects the very image of God's love. It is an audacious plan---but God in Christ trusts us enough to make it the only one. Come Holy Spirit come! Amen.


1 From a sermon by Fran Logue
2 Beverly Gaventa, Texts for Preaching.