|
Pentecost Sunday Pentecost: The Birthday of the Christian Church. It is called the birthday of the Church because Pentecost is when the apostles went out among the people and began spreading Jesus' message, thus establishing the beginning of the Church. The Jewish festival of Pentecost was the second great celebration of the Jewish year. It occurs on the 50th day after the Passover feast, the first great festival of the Jewish calendar. According to Luke’s account of the Acts of the Apostles, the 11 remaining disciples of Christ (Judas now deceased see Mt 27:5) having witnessed the ascension of Christ (Acts 1: 6—9), had cast lots and added Matthias to the 11 (Acts 1:26). At the feast of Pentecost they gathered together in a house in Jerusalem, behind locked doors. Suddenly, the apostles were overcome by a great wind like sound from heaven and then anointed with the Holy Spirit, which descended upon them as tongues of fire. (Acts 2: 1—21). Following directly on from this epiphanal event, the previously fearful under confident apostles went out among the people and boldly began to speak the good news about Jesus. Thus the Church of Christ was born. Bring a large box wrapped in red paper. Invite people to imagine that this present was given to the church. What might be inside? What dreams do we have for the church? Open box inside is the scripture verse: “I will pour out my spirit and your sons and daughters shall prophesy and your young ones shall see visions and your old ones shall dream dreams.” Remember some of the dreams that were offered for the church and give thanks for how the Spirit has gifted our community. Pentecost is the birthday of the church, but it is also so much more than that . In the Gospel reading for today Jesus is preparing his disciples for his pending death. In the course of his conversation he reassures them that despite the gloom y news of his approaching death all will be well and he promises them that God will send a Counsellor, the Spirit of truth to comfort and to guide them after he has returned to heaven. Pentecost sees this prophecy of Jesus fulfilled. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon them enlivening them, encouraging them and equipping them for mission and for ministry. This same Holy Spirit is poured out on the church today also. God gracefully gifts us Holy Spirit, through our relationship with his son. He does this to enable his church to continue the work of bringing healing and salvation to the world. This is the wonder of the Holy Spirit. As it is poured out, it brings transformation wherever it blows. It reforms, recreates and rejuvenates wherever people are open to receiving it. The fruits of its presence are awesome to behold and it is most beautifully revealed in those communities which are Spirit filled. “I will pour out my spirit and your sons and daughters shall prophesy and your young ones shall see visions and your old ones shall dream dreams.” Recently we held a vestry planning day. The hallmark of this day was that it was prayerful. Vestry members gathered in a spirit of obedience to God and together we opened our hearts and minds to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As we did so we reflected on our mission statement, Why we exist as a church: To know Christ and to make Christ known. In the course of this reflection and with the content of the parish profile very much in the forefront of our thinking, we dreamed dreams for the church for the next six months and the next five years and came up with a vision statement. - to be a Christ centred community which attracts all people into a relationship with God and inspires them to serve. Clearly the pathways through which we will need to do this will include Our worship, our pastoral care, our discipleship and our evangelistic outreach. However the motivation, strength ,power and direction, the wind beneath our wings will be, can only be, the Holy Spirit. We cannot realise this vision without the spiritual gifts, power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In the Acts reading we see that the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Christ and propelled them into the wider community, empowering them to speak the language of the people in culturally relevant ways that they could understand and in so doing used the disciples to draw 3000 people into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This is the way forward for us also. As a faith community we need to be open to receive the Holy Spirit that we might be propelled into mission and ministry that will attract all people regardless of race, language, culture, age or gender into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Someone once likened the church to a rugby scrum. You know something important is going on but you can’t understand what is being said. All you can see is the rear ends of the people involved! How sad that we sometimes are so caught up in our own affairs that we forget that the gospel is not only for our own comfort and consolation but is meant for everyone. The great commission challenges us to go out into all the world and that must at very least include the wider community in the heart of which our own faith community resides! In John’s Gospel we read: “But when the Counsellor comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me and you also are witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning.” The challenge for the church at this time, is to be open and ready to allow the Holy Spirit, to counsel us into ways of worship, discipleship, pastoral care and outreach that will enable people outside our faith community to feel included, to understand the truth of the Gospel and so be attracted into a relationship with God and inspired to serve in whatever way God may be calling them to serve. Jesus has promised us that ,“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:13 – 14. Now more than ever we need to prayerfully focus on seeking the guidance and infilling of the Holy Spirit both to fuel our own personal faith walk but also to fuel the inclusive vision of the Parish that we might truly be Be a Christ centred faith community that attracts all people into relationship with God and inspires them to serve and so bring honour and glory to God. Jesus said at the start of his ministry: “ The Spriit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the captives, deliverance to the oppressed, recovery of sight to the blind”. The disciples moved from Pentecost into the world preaching and proclaiming God’s deliverance and good news. Let us as individuals and as a church explores ways in which we can move out into the world bringing freedom, life , love and glory to God in the power of the Holy Spirit, after we have celebrated Pentecost here today. |
