Audio Day of Pentecost Yr C June 9 2019
Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17, (25-27), Psalm
104:25-35, 37
Many of you know a few weeks ago I went to my synchronized swimming reunion. We watched the young girls who are synchronized swimmers now, swim their routines. Sitting in those bleachers just watching, I held my breath when they held their breath. Sometimes more than a minute under water, all while swimming tremendously hard. Fast forward quite a few years, and I am doing yoga. What do I learn? I'm stronger when I breathe. I can balance better when I breathe. My muscles stretch more freely when I breathe. An old practice being replaced by a practice that is much better for me at this time in my life.
Breathe in, breathe out. Strength, balance, flexibility. I invite you to close your eyes and breathe with me. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. Breathe out God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. The Spirit is here, in this room, Ruach, God's breath, soft and sweet, or the rush of a violent wind and flame.
"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability." Jesus is the one who receives the Holy Spirit from God and who pours it out on all those present, empowering them and us to be agents of healing, and forgiveness, and compassion.
The Spirit empowers believers, you and I, and I think one of
the things the Spirit empowers us with is speaking God’s language, and hearing
God’s word. Speaking God's language, words of grace, healing, and
reconciliation, and hearing God’s truth of grace, healing, and reconciliation.
What a miracle that would is. I can just imagine filling the room, this air and
this space, so that it spills out into the street, and the neighborhood, and
the community, with words of God's love, with words of God's grace, with words
of God's healing and reconciliation. I can just imagine all of us going out
into the world breathing out God's words of love, of grace, of healing and
reconciliation. I can just imagine those words falling out into the air, and
being breathed in by those who so desperately need to hear God's words of love,
of grace, of healing and reconciliation.
It’s hard though, isn’t it? Many people have so little experience receiving words of love, of grace, of healing and reconciliation. People, maybe even us, are suspicious, or frightened. Paranoid, or perplexed. Pentecost, the gift of hearing God's word, Love wins. I choose to live in a world of Spirit, a world in which God's word surrounds us, and is in us, a world in which peace and reconciliation is in the wind and in the breath, and falls on each and every one of us.
And this Spirit transforms us. We are transformed together into a community of love that calls us into relationship, that calls us to live the way of love. You see, this Holy Spirit empowers us so that we may be agents of healing, and forgiveness, and compassion. God interrupts and intervenes in our world, through Jesus, whose Spirit empowers us to partner in changing the narrative. It’s tough out there, it’s tough to keep speaking words of love, of encouragement. It’s tough to keep speaking words that build people up instead of breaking them apart. It’s tough to keep our eyes and our hearts on the truth that each of us is beloved of God. But the Holy Spirit empowers us for this ministry of love. As we walk with Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, in this story of healing and reconciliation, this story of compassion, we leave love in our wake, we deposit words of grace, and our world is changed.
The Spirit transforms us individually as well. The Spirit not only blows into our lives, but seizes us and claims us as children. You are in this family because you have been claimed and named as one of God's beloved, and we cry "Abba! Father! That is your identity. You are God's beloved, you have been filled with Spirit, washed in water, marked with oil, claimed as God's own child, and that changes you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.
And the Spirit transforms us, blows in and through us, both in our community of faith and in our individual lives, for the purpose of loving one another. God's mission of healing and reconciliation is to love one another. The Christian life is to show forth God's love in the world, and to love one another.
We Episcopalians are a little timid about telling our stories of God, of our relationship with Jesus, a little shy about talking about the Spirit's work in our lives, a little embarrassed to tell others of our call to ministry by virtue of our baptism. But, this story of God’s love for us is the most important story, and a story we can tell. Your story tells of God's forgiveness, your story tells of the Spirit's movement, your story tells of Jesus' healing.
I’ve heard your stories of transformation. I’ve heard about heartache and healing. I’ve heard about death and resurrection. I’ve heard the Good News that God creates a new heart and a new spirit. I’ve heard that even when we fall so far that there seems to be no more hope, God raises us up, Love wins, forgiveness happens, healing begins. I’ve heard these stories from you. God changes the narratives of our lives and we tell a new story about our identity as God's beloved. Listen for these stories, tell your stories. Tell your story of God's amazing and abundant love in your life. Tell your story of feeling abandoned by God. Tell your story of feeling not good enough and yet being loved completely and absolutely. It is by the Spirit we speak God's language, God's words, God's actions.
As you tell your story, and as you listen for your neighbor's stories, you may hear a call to stand with one another in the work that God calls us to. You may hear a call to love one another. You may hear a call to action in places and with people that make you a bit uncomfortable. Listen, the Spirit is moving in this place.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. Breathe out God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. The Spirit is here.
It’s hard though, isn’t it? Many people have so little experience receiving words of love, of grace, of healing and reconciliation. People, maybe even us, are suspicious, or frightened. Paranoid, or perplexed. Pentecost, the gift of hearing God's word, Love wins. I choose to live in a world of Spirit, a world in which God's word surrounds us, and is in us, a world in which peace and reconciliation is in the wind and in the breath, and falls on each and every one of us.
And this Spirit transforms us. We are transformed together into a community of love that calls us into relationship, that calls us to live the way of love. You see, this Holy Spirit empowers us so that we may be agents of healing, and forgiveness, and compassion. God interrupts and intervenes in our world, through Jesus, whose Spirit empowers us to partner in changing the narrative. It’s tough out there, it’s tough to keep speaking words of love, of encouragement. It’s tough to keep speaking words that build people up instead of breaking them apart. It’s tough to keep our eyes and our hearts on the truth that each of us is beloved of God. But the Holy Spirit empowers us for this ministry of love. As we walk with Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, in this story of healing and reconciliation, this story of compassion, we leave love in our wake, we deposit words of grace, and our world is changed.
The Spirit transforms us individually as well. The Spirit not only blows into our lives, but seizes us and claims us as children. You are in this family because you have been claimed and named as one of God's beloved, and we cry "Abba! Father! That is your identity. You are God's beloved, you have been filled with Spirit, washed in water, marked with oil, claimed as God's own child, and that changes you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.
And the Spirit transforms us, blows in and through us, both in our community of faith and in our individual lives, for the purpose of loving one another. God's mission of healing and reconciliation is to love one another. The Christian life is to show forth God's love in the world, and to love one another.
We Episcopalians are a little timid about telling our stories of God, of our relationship with Jesus, a little shy about talking about the Spirit's work in our lives, a little embarrassed to tell others of our call to ministry by virtue of our baptism. But, this story of God’s love for us is the most important story, and a story we can tell. Your story tells of God's forgiveness, your story tells of the Spirit's movement, your story tells of Jesus' healing.
I’ve heard your stories of transformation. I’ve heard about heartache and healing. I’ve heard about death and resurrection. I’ve heard the Good News that God creates a new heart and a new spirit. I’ve heard that even when we fall so far that there seems to be no more hope, God raises us up, Love wins, forgiveness happens, healing begins. I’ve heard these stories from you. God changes the narratives of our lives and we tell a new story about our identity as God's beloved. Listen for these stories, tell your stories. Tell your story of God's amazing and abundant love in your life. Tell your story of feeling abandoned by God. Tell your story of feeling not good enough and yet being loved completely and absolutely. It is by the Spirit we speak God's language, God's words, God's actions.
As you tell your story, and as you listen for your neighbor's stories, you may hear a call to stand with one another in the work that God calls us to. You may hear a call to love one another. You may hear a call to action in places and with people that make you a bit uncomfortable. Listen, the Spirit is moving in this place.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. Breathe out God's joy, God's spirit, God's Word. The Spirit is here.
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