St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN
Year A - Pentecost - May 31, 2020
The Jew were gathered in Jerusalem for another religious festival… this festival was a time when the Jewish folks would gather and celebrate the “first wheat harvest” of their year… and commemorate God giving them the Torah (or law)
They had journeyed from all over for this pilgrim festival that occurs 7 weeks following the “festival of first fruits.” See, there were several festivals before this one… there was, of course, Passover, and then there was the feast of unleavened bread. Don’t get these 2 confused… Passover lasts only 24 hours… the feast of unleavened bread lasts a whole 7 days after Passover.
Then you would have the feast of First-fruits… when the first barley would be harvested… Here's how I understand the way they figured out the date of Pentecost. According to the Old Testament, you would go to the day of the celebration of First-fruits, and beginning with that day, you would count off 50 days.
Since it was always 50 days after First-fruits, and since 50 days equals seven weeks, it always comes out as a "week of weeks" later. Therefore, they either call it the “Feast of Harvest” or “Shavuot” in Hebrew which means the “Feast of Weeks.” The fiftieth day would be the Day of Pentecost. (Which actually means 50th day in Greek).
So First-fruits is the beginning of the barley harvest and Pentecoste is the celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest. Fun facts to know and tell…
Today, in the Christian Church we just call it Pentecost and we celebrate this Holy Day for an entirely different reason… At the Pentecost festival that we heard about in the story from Acts, it was far different from any other festival that they had ever encountered.
When they were gathered there together… Jews were from all over - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and even the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews, and proselytes (those studying to be Jews), Cretans and Arabs.
Folks gathered there for one purpose… On the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (See Van’) to have Shavuot! (In order to celebrate the wheat harvest and to give thanks to God for the Law of Moses.) But something spectacular happened… a sound from the sky like the rush of a violent wind, 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 Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. You can put yourself in the scene it had to be both an awesome and scary experience… filled with wonder…
These simple folks from Galilee… most of them fishermen, instantly being able to speak in other languages… but not only were they able to speak in other languages… they were able to be understood by the others who were listening. They had received the Holy Spirit and the spirit gave them a great gift… the ability to be understood… to proclaim the greatness of God, and have people experience it and know it for themselves.
See, the greatest miracle wasn’t necessarily the ability to immediately speak in another language but it was the ability to be heard and to be understood. To be heard and understood by folks who are different… from a different culture and different places… like Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene... Heard and understood by folks who didn’t always get along so well.
The apostles weren’t speaking Greek, which would have been the trade language understood by many… But each understood that the apostles were speaking in the native language of each…. I don’t know about you, but I counted… there are Over 15 groups of people listed in this section of the Book of Acts and that’s just the groups that are listed.
And there are only 11 apostles… and if you include the several women that were there with them there would probably be 15-18 apostles. How is it that 15-18 people were able to proclaim the mighty acts of God to over 120 people gathered… that raised such a commotion that it was heard by thousands... Thousands who were brought to Christ…
But they weren't just heard… They were understood. Understood to the point of conversion. Understood that the power of God is to be lived out… lived out in the way of Jesus. In his letter to the Church in Corinth, St. Paul says that the only way we can proclaim "Jesus is Lord" is by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters at the beginning of the creation… The Ruach Elohim … The Spirit of God comes upon us in our baptism and enables us.
Paul says that the Spirit activates gifts within each of us… and they become manifest in us for the good of everyone. These gifts are the ability to speak wisdom, to speak knowledge… Faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discernment, the ability to communicate, and the ability to understand what’s communicated. All these are, what Paul calls, a variety of gifts given by the same Spirit activated in us. Gifts that help us nurture a relationship with God and one another… Gifts that help us be one in Christ Jesus. So there is no longer Slave nor Free, Jew nor Greek, Male nor Female
We have been given these awesome gifts, awesome powers bestowed on us by the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truth… The problem is that we don’t use them… We have been baptized into Christ Jesus and made part of his body, the Church and we have been given these awesome spiritual gifts… And yet, we fail to exercise the gifts that we have been given.
When they were given to the Apostles, the apostles proclaimed the mighty acts of God and thousands were moved to become followers of Jesus. The spirit is still moving, still working within and around the people of God… the problem is, that we are not out there using them to their full potential…
If we did, there would be peace and understanding... there would be harmony and listening… there would be healing and restoration…
There’s a lot going on in the world today. Bishop Curry called it a pressure cooker of society. There is every kind of -ism under the planet that has manifested itself and decided to lash out… Politically, you have the right and left going at it, accusing the other of being wrong or of messing things up. We unable to even do something as simple as watching a news broadcast from a certain network without being lumped in with and thought to belong on a particular side of the political machine…
Racially, there is hate and violence being acted out… by marches on State Capitols by folks armed w/ assault weapons to riots and looting in Minnesota and other parts of the county. Violence acted out by those who have power and feel violated, or by those who feel they have no power or no voice. The hatred and evil of these conditions bubble over into the streets. It’s all toxic, it’s evil, and it’s wrong. It is not the way of God’s life-giving spirit.
Yes, I use these examples from our world today to make a point… The point is that we need the Spirit of God today more than ever. We need the Spirit of God to move over us this Pentecost. To help us speak wisdom and truth to power. To help us speak love to hate and speak unity to prejudice. But not only to speak but be understood
Brothers and sisters the language of Pentecost is the language of God and the language of God is the language of Love. The Spirit of Truth gives us the ability to speak this language but it’s up to us to speak it.
We heard a wonderful story this morning about a group of folks who after Jesus had given them the Spirit and sent them into the world they were given power gifts of wisdom and proclamation… and they were understood… some folks thought they were a little bit nuts. but they were understood. They proclaimed the mighty acts of God’s power, and they were understood.
How many of the differences in our world would be vanquished if we allowed the power of the Holy Spirit to speak and to reign in our lives? How many wondrous acts could the Holy Spirit accomplish through us in our churches and communities if we just embraced it and invited it into our midst?
How many hearts and minds could the Holy Spirit transform, if we prayed daily for the Holy Spirit to have its way in our churches and our communities? I’m reminded, this morning, of a great ancient hymn of the church – it is a prayer to invoke the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. It is sung mostly at Ordinations and Baptisms, but it’s a prayer our world needs so much right now:
It’s called Veni Sancte Spiritus (in Latin). It is also known as the “golden sequence" (Come Holy Spirit). It’s said to have been written by Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury around the year 1200. It became a regular part of the Roman Missal used for Mass in the 16th century.
Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come Holy Spirit (this is a translation of the original Latin…)
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
From your bright and blissful Home
Rays of healing light impart.
Come, Father of the poor,
Source of gifts that will endure
Light of ev'ry human heart.
You, of all consolers best,
Of the soul, most kindly Guest,
Quick’ning courage do bestow.
In hard labor You are rest,
In the heat You refresh best,
And solace give in our woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Let Your radiance in us shine,
And our inmost being fill.
Nothing good by man is thought,
Nothing right by him is wrought,
When he spurns Your gracious Will.
Cleanse our souls from sinful stain,
Lave our dryness with Your rain
Heal our wounds and mend our way.
Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful who in You,
Trust with childlike piety,
Deign your sevenfold gift to send.
Give them virtue’s rich increase,
Saving grace to die in peace,
Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia!
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