Pentecost 09
If you are a driver, I wonder if you remember learning to drive? Do you remember the first momentous time that the car moved beneath you and you realised that you were in charge of what happened next? When I learned I went first of all to Llandough Hospital car park late in the evening when it wasn’t busy. I tried Barry Island Car Park as well, before going out onto the road, and enjoying various disagreements with my brother who was teaching me to drive, as I ignored his years of experience and told him how it should be done !
There are various challenges in learning to drive, and one of the trickiest is learning to reverse. Reversing round a corner is not something that many learner drivers find comes naturally. Steering forward is one thing, but backwards is something else. Or what about the 3 point turn?
They are not the easiest things to learn, but they are important. Without them you wouldn’t be so safe to let loose on the road, because there are always places where you will need to go backwards, or to make a turn and start again: especially if you are lost !
Pentecost is a celebration of a turning point in history. Through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, we have God’s presence with us, in us and working through us. At Pentecost, we see the transforming power of the Spirit that gives life. The word for
Spirit in both Hebrew (ruach) and Greek (pneuma) also means ‘breath’and it is the same word used in Genesis (2:7) when God breathed life into the first human being.
The gift of the Spirit to the gathered community at Pentecost is God breathing on them, even as he breathed life into the world at creation. At Pentecost Jesus’ work is fulfilled and God begins a new creation. God’s action at Pentecost is about bringing life to the world, to every individual and community – a process which continues today. Christian Aid have a wonderful slogan ‘life before death’, and that reminds us that God doesn’t just want us to plan for a future in eternity with him, but he wants us to have life today !
Pentecost was a new beginning, a new birth: this is why so often it is referred to as the birthday of the Church. The giving of the Spirit marked the birth of a movement of people sent out to proclaim a new way of living. The Holy Spirit helps us to see things differently; to see things and people for what they really are.
And so at Pentecost we are challenged to ask if we are open to the prompting of the Spirit in our lives and in our world? Are we open to the Spirit changing our lives? After all, Paul tells us that the Spirit is given for the common good.
If the Spirit gives life, it also overcomes barriers. At Pentecost, one of the things which was reversed was the confusion and
disconnection indicated by the sad story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). You remember how that story goes: early in the history of the world the people decided to get together and build a tower up to the sky to show how powerful they were. And God was displeased by their pride and he stretched out his hand and confused their speech, so that they could no longer understand one another. And so the tower was abandoned and the people scattered over the earth, each language group taking a different path.
It’s a story to give an explanation for the existence of different languages. But it also speaks of the dislocation of humanity: that we no longer seek to be at one, and to act as one. We become parochial, and so as long as everything is all right in our own patch, then the rest of the world can take care of themselves.
But at Pentecost the confusion of Babel was symbolically reversed. Boundaries of race, wealth and language were shattered. People from all nations heard the Word in
their own tongue, and were given the ability to speak other languages. The Holy Spirit brought connection, communication, and restored the sense of belonging to a wider global community.
During the past week the Archbishops of Canterbury and York spoke out encouraging Christians not to be tempted to vote for the British National Party in the elections on Thursday – some said they were wrong to speak out – many people still believe that faith and politics are 2 very separate things and should never be mixed. Many are very mistaken because for a Christian concern for politics is a necessary requirement !
And how right the 2 Archbishops were to get involved in denouncing a party that seeks to separate and divide not just nations, but people of different colours, and who knows what other differences. The confusion and division of Babel exists enough in our world today, and it is a confusion that we must seek to get rid of as we tell people of the love of God for all of them.
At Pentecost, the challenge to us is to speak out. God would have been wasting his time if he had sent the Spirit, in all its dramatic wonder, and the disciples had just kept it for themselves. The Spirit provoked the disciples to go out to prophesy and testify on the streets of Jerusalem. Many joined their number as a result.
As followers of Christ, we are also called to proclaim God’s love, and the justice he requires. Do we have the courage to speak out for poor and marginalised people? Because when people speak together, amazing transformation is possible.
But there is no point in speaking out if we are not prepared to let God’s Spirit challenge and change our own lives as well… To sign petitions, to take to the streets in protest, to tell people God loves them will only make a difference if we believe it ourselves, and we show it in our own lives.
God gives us life, and God’s gift overcomes barriers. The gift of the Spirit also, perhaps supremely, empowers people. The Holy Spirit brought about a radical transformation in the disciples, these same disciples who we saw on Easter Sunday, hiding in the upper room for fear of the Jews, these same disciples who had expected Jesus to restore the Kingdom to Israel. Now they have been given God’s Spirit and empowered to go out with confidence and spread the good news.
The power of the Spirit is active in each of us today – bringing comfort, restoration and inspiration, not just for ourselves but for others. God’s Spirit is given to us for the good of all.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit united people in purpose and mission. They witnessed not only in words but also in actions, going on to share all their resources to ensure no-one in their community was in need (Acts 2:45).
We too are called to work together to serve God’s people and purpose. We are reminded in the reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians that we each bring different gifts to this task, but the gifts come together for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).
And so as we continue to worship here, and as we go out to live our lives, let’s remember that we are to play a part in a common cause - to transform the world !
We can do it, and we can do it confidently and joyfully because God has not left us desolate. He has trusted to us the task of building the new creation, and has given us the power to turn our lives around and to help turn around the injustice and dislocation and disharmony of a world waiting to hear good news. Amen.
There are various challenges in learning to drive, and one of the trickiest is learning to reverse. Reversing round a corner is not something that many learner drivers find comes naturally. Steering forward is one thing, but backwards is something else. Or what about the 3 point turn?
They are not the easiest things to learn, but they are important. Without them you wouldn’t be so safe to let loose on the road, because there are always places where you will need to go backwards, or to make a turn and start again: especially if you are lost !
Pentecost is a celebration of a turning point in history. Through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, we have God’s presence with us, in us and working through us. At Pentecost, we see the transforming power of the Spirit that gives life. The word for
Spirit in both Hebrew (ruach) and Greek (pneuma) also means ‘breath’and it is the same word used in Genesis (2:7) when God breathed life into the first human being.
The gift of the Spirit to the gathered community at Pentecost is God breathing on them, even as he breathed life into the world at creation. At Pentecost Jesus’ work is fulfilled and God begins a new creation. God’s action at Pentecost is about bringing life to the world, to every individual and community – a process which continues today. Christian Aid have a wonderful slogan ‘life before death’, and that reminds us that God doesn’t just want us to plan for a future in eternity with him, but he wants us to have life today !
Pentecost was a new beginning, a new birth: this is why so often it is referred to as the birthday of the Church. The giving of the Spirit marked the birth of a movement of people sent out to proclaim a new way of living. The Holy Spirit helps us to see things differently; to see things and people for what they really are.
And so at Pentecost we are challenged to ask if we are open to the prompting of the Spirit in our lives and in our world? Are we open to the Spirit changing our lives? After all, Paul tells us that the Spirit is given for the common good.
If the Spirit gives life, it also overcomes barriers. At Pentecost, one of the things which was reversed was the confusion and
disconnection indicated by the sad story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). You remember how that story goes: early in the history of the world the people decided to get together and build a tower up to the sky to show how powerful they were. And God was displeased by their pride and he stretched out his hand and confused their speech, so that they could no longer understand one another. And so the tower was abandoned and the people scattered over the earth, each language group taking a different path.
It’s a story to give an explanation for the existence of different languages. But it also speaks of the dislocation of humanity: that we no longer seek to be at one, and to act as one. We become parochial, and so as long as everything is all right in our own patch, then the rest of the world can take care of themselves.
But at Pentecost the confusion of Babel was symbolically reversed. Boundaries of race, wealth and language were shattered. People from all nations heard the Word in
their own tongue, and were given the ability to speak other languages. The Holy Spirit brought connection, communication, and restored the sense of belonging to a wider global community.
During the past week the Archbishops of Canterbury and York spoke out encouraging Christians not to be tempted to vote for the British National Party in the elections on Thursday – some said they were wrong to speak out – many people still believe that faith and politics are 2 very separate things and should never be mixed. Many are very mistaken because for a Christian concern for politics is a necessary requirement !
And how right the 2 Archbishops were to get involved in denouncing a party that seeks to separate and divide not just nations, but people of different colours, and who knows what other differences. The confusion and division of Babel exists enough in our world today, and it is a confusion that we must seek to get rid of as we tell people of the love of God for all of them.
At Pentecost, the challenge to us is to speak out. God would have been wasting his time if he had sent the Spirit, in all its dramatic wonder, and the disciples had just kept it for themselves. The Spirit provoked the disciples to go out to prophesy and testify on the streets of Jerusalem. Many joined their number as a result.
As followers of Christ, we are also called to proclaim God’s love, and the justice he requires. Do we have the courage to speak out for poor and marginalised people? Because when people speak together, amazing transformation is possible.
But there is no point in speaking out if we are not prepared to let God’s Spirit challenge and change our own lives as well… To sign petitions, to take to the streets in protest, to tell people God loves them will only make a difference if we believe it ourselves, and we show it in our own lives.
God gives us life, and God’s gift overcomes barriers. The gift of the Spirit also, perhaps supremely, empowers people. The Holy Spirit brought about a radical transformation in the disciples, these same disciples who we saw on Easter Sunday, hiding in the upper room for fear of the Jews, these same disciples who had expected Jesus to restore the Kingdom to Israel. Now they have been given God’s Spirit and empowered to go out with confidence and spread the good news.
The power of the Spirit is active in each of us today – bringing comfort, restoration and inspiration, not just for ourselves but for others. God’s Spirit is given to us for the good of all.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit united people in purpose and mission. They witnessed not only in words but also in actions, going on to share all their resources to ensure no-one in their community was in need (Acts 2:45).
We too are called to work together to serve God’s people and purpose. We are reminded in the reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians that we each bring different gifts to this task, but the gifts come together for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).
And so as we continue to worship here, and as we go out to live our lives, let’s remember that we are to play a part in a common cause - to transform the world !
We can do it, and we can do it confidently and joyfully because God has not left us desolate. He has trusted to us the task of building the new creation, and has given us the power to turn our lives around and to help turn around the injustice and dislocation and disharmony of a world waiting to hear good news. Amen.
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