There’s a story told of a husband and wife both of whom were doctors - one a doctor of theology and the other a doctor of medicine. One day their daughter answered the front door, and the person at the door asked for ‘the Doctor’. The daughter replied, "Do you want the one who preaches or the one who practices?"
The gift of the Holy Spirit was certainly given to enable us to preach, but it was also given to practice – to go out and be Jesus to others… As we celebrate the birthday of the Church, we celebrate that we are part of the institution that is empowered to do that – we are part of those privileged to be given a chance to serve God and serve others, whilst enjoying the worship and fellowship and support with others.
But one of the problems of the Church over quite a long period now has been that, too often, we’re happy to admit defeat; too often we’re happy to say we can’t do, rather than wondering what God can do through us; too often we’re happy to try and come up with our own ideas which match our abilities and our standards, instead of wondering what God is calling us to do, and God is empowering us to do.
The story of the early Church is incredibly relevant to us today because it’s the story of a small group, not acting in line with the expectations of society, and not constrained by worries over what they could do. It’s the story of a small group outnumbered – but a group who were positive, a group who were ready to try things even when they seemed impossible.
They were a group that would live together and work together, a group that would support and encourage one another, a group sustained and strengthened by prayer, and a group that knew the power of the Holy Spirit to transform.
Our reading from the Book of Acts (Acts 2:1-21) reminds us of this incredible transformation in those early followers – hiding away after the ascension of Jesus, they waited for something to happen and sure enough a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came and tongues of fire that separated and rested on each of them. And they were empowered to speak – to speak boldly proclaiming the living God.
No longer were these the scared followers of Jesus – now they truly were his witnesses. John Stott, the great Anglican preacher said that, ‘Before Christ sent the church into the world, he sent the Spirit into the church.’ In that statement he reminds us that in all we do we must seek the Spirit of God to help us and sustain us.
And today I want to think of 3 things that I think the lesson of the first Pentecost day teaches us. The first is that as a Church we are and should be one. I can’t remember the figure but throughout the world there are an enormous amount of different Christian denominations – we can look around our own area to see plenty of them.
And very often we are doing our own thing, trying to preserve and build our own churches. At Pentecost the Spirit came on all the Christians – It was one Spirit, it is today… Human nature may well mean that we will not get rid of our different church buildings and styles of worship, but we are one – united by the Holy Spirit who is bigger and stronger than anything that ever divides us.
The second thing is that the Holy Spirit is living and breathing... When the Holy Spirit came to those early followers they began a journey as the early church – the journey would involve lots of debate about what was right and what was not – it would involve some arguments, but the Holy Spirit would also take the faithful on a journey of wonderful adventure and growth.
Today there is lots of debate going on about lots of different things in the church, and we must always be aware of the possibility of the Spirit leading us in different directions. The former Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan once wrote that ‘We knew something of the power of the Holy Spirit. We are open to learn more. We await the surprises of tomorrow.’
The church, like the Holy Spirit, must be living and breathing. We must be ready to receive the prompting of the Holy Spirit to allow ourselves and the church and the world to be transformed.
And the third thing is that the Holy Spirit came with enormous power and transformed frightened followers into bold witnesses. When it comes to sharing our faith I often I hear people saying ‘I couldn’t do that’, and I understand that perfectly ! It’s not easy to do… by ourselves. But we are not called to do it by ourselves – trusting in God’s power we can be confident and bold.
On that Pentecost day Peter spoke out proclaiming the incredible message of Jesus – of how he had died, and how he had risen and was alive for evermore. And he said that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
It was complete madness ! The people to whom he was speaking were amongst those who had killed Jesus, and they would be ready to do the same to Peter. But Peter knew an incredible protection. He had received incredible strength through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today we as individuals and collectively as a church can be bold as we seek to proclaim the gospel. Indeed we need to be bold. We need to be bold in telling people about the gospel message – about a Saviour who lived and died and rose again and who loves every one of us with an incredible unbreakable love that he is desperate to share…
Today we celebrate Pentecost – and we pray for unity in the church, for a willingness to be open to the prompting of the Spirit who is living and breathing and ready to transform us and we pray for the courage to accept that transformation and be bold in our proclamation of a wonderful Saviour. AMEN
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