Day of Pentecost Yr B May 23 2021

Day of Pentecost Yr B May 23 2021

Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, Psalm 104:25-35, 37

 

It is so good to be together isn’t it. After all our isolation and so much loneliness of this past year, here we are together. Here we are, this particular group of Jesus followers, in this beautiful garden, gathering in the presence of the Spirit. And as we listen to the word, sing spirit songs, and revel in this togetherness, I want you to wonder about the Presence of the Spirit not only on this day of Pentecost, but also in this season as we move into ordinary time. And I want you to wonder about what the Spirit is doing. 

 

So first of all some things we need to know. In the gospel of John, Jesus promises the disciples and us that the Spirit will accompany us. Advocate, Comforter, Intercessor, Companion, Guide, Teacher, Helper, are all translations of the word Paraclete in Acts and in John. I understand the Spirit in all these ways and as the one who walks alongside of us and breathes the breath of God into us. The image in Ezekiel is powerful, in verse 4 and 5 we hear Ezekiel prophesy to the dry bones and say, “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live!” This breath causes new life for the dry bones of Israel. This breath causes new life for what was dead.

 

The breath of the Spirit reaches all the way to creation, where in Genesis chapter 2 the Lord God formed humans from the dust of the ground and breathed into the human’s nostrils the breath of life, and they became a living being. We hear the reverse of that in the Psalm today, in verse 30, when you turn your face from God, your breath ceases, and you return to the dust. The Spirit shows up like a violent wind in Acts, calling the followers of Jesus together into community, and it reaches all the way to the promise Jesus makes to the disciples and to us, that we will not be left alone, that the Advocate comes to accompany us on the way of Love. 

 

In Acts, the Spirit gathers the community from far and wide for the Jewish harvest festival called Pentecost. The people gathered were people who had been dispersed, who had been isolated and alienated, who had returned to town for the festival, and God breaks into this moment. The Holy Spirit saturates the gathered community, not to recapture whatever they had done before, but to gather the community and to launch what becomes the church in a whole new direction. 

 

And the good news in John is that the disciples are not left alone, we are not left alone. This is Jesus’ promise. The one who walks by our side, accompanies us, guides us, helps us, holds us, is here and breathes new life into our weary and broken bones. The one who protects us and guards us, is here with us and is the breeze we feel on our cheeks. The one who reconfigures the desert with a violent wind is here reshaping us and our church into something new, something unrecognizable. Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, says “stay in the spiritual fire, let it cook you.” Let it cook you, let it change you, let it bring new life to you.

 

We gather here on this day, for the first time we can actually look at each other. What is the Spirit doing? I wonder if we can we take our lead from Acts? Rather than recapturing what we have always done, what has always happened, can we let the Holy Spirit gather us and launch us in a new direction. What would that look like? What are the ways the Holy Spirit brings new life? What are the ways the dust of our isolation is regathered and animated in new ways? How do our bones come together with new sinews and new flesh? 

(solicit answers to these questions) Limitless possibility and dreaming.

 

What do you think the Spirit doing?

 

On this, the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church, we gathered all the big symbols together to remind us of who we are to whom we belong. We have the water of baptism, in it we are born again and called to be co-conspirators with Christ in the spreading of love in all the places. I choose that word quite intentionally, what’s in the middle of it? Spirit! We have the Easter candle, we lit it again with the new fire of Easter just fifty days ago. We sang “the light of Christ, thanks be to God.” The advocate, the spirit comes by our sides as we go out into the world bearing the light of Christ. We have the cleansing fire, the cooking fire, the fire that helps us shed all that is not of the spirit and life-giving. We have the dove, that shows us the Holy Spirit. 

 

And then we have some not so big church symbols that help us have fun in the spirit. Pinwheels and red things on a stick, and our clothes, that help us to not take ourselves too seriously. 

 

Spirit is ever creating, ever inspiring, ever co-conspiring. Spirit is ever burning, ever reminding us who we are, God’s beloveds. The Spirit will not leave us alone. Thanks be to God.