Day of Pentecost May 23, 2021
Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104: 25-35,37
Romans 8:22-27 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104: 25-35,37
Romans 8:22-27 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Today is the feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the day of the resurrection and it is a day which is associated with the "coming out" event of the Holy Spirit of God.
There are many insights which we can ponder on the feast of Pentecost, but I would like to highlight several from the appointed Bible readings for today.
I like the reading from the Psalm on Pentecost. The poet refers to God like someone who really enjoys a creative hobby. God creates all of the variety of beings in the world and God creates the great Leviathan for the sports of it, for the frolic in delight. And the Spirit is the renewing creative force of the play of God. You and I can appreciate the play, the sport, the frolic of the vast diversity in the world of the creatures. We are bird watchers, whale watchers and we love National Geographic Nature shows. We are thoroughly entertained by the beautiful diversity of nature, and the fact that we are entertained in wonderment at our world must be evidence that God created in delight, in playfulness and in wonder. Today is a day of pondering the personal force everywhere in the manifold diversity of creation, the personal force of the Holy Spirit. I do hope that each of us know the Holy Spirit in our lives, through wonder, delight, sport, and playfulness. In playfulness we need to awaken the eternal child within us, being ever born again, even as we face all of the not-so-playful clashes and competition in life of conflicting systems of nature and human selfishness. In church we often have a "prelude," which literally means before the "play or playfulness" begins. Our liturgy is to be a holy playfulness inspired by the Holy Spirit who inspires us to wonder at God because we can be in wonder with all that is created.
Another insight that we have this day is the fact that the Holy Spirit is the aging power of the universe. We are not finished yet; we've not yet grown up. As Paul writes, "creation is in labor pains." Labor pains are very ambiguous since no pain is pleasant, but the payoff of labor pains is a new child coming into one's life. The Spirit is the power of continuous new births of new moments in time. The Spirit is known through hope and hope is always focused on what is not yet. Hope is focused upon growing up. And St. Paul says that our bodies are the location in which the Holy Spirit can pray. The prayers of the Spirit are often wordless, they are deep sighs and groans, they are the birth pangs for being renewed into the next occasions of our lives. Let us accept that we are not yet finished and the Spirit within us is proof of the birth process.
Next, the feast of Pentecost is about unity in diversity called harmony. The Good News about God and Christ can be spoken in all languages. Harmony is the diversity of separatist egos submitted to the order of being together. Does individual identity change over time? Are we the same person we were at the age of two or sixteen? Yes and no. Change has brought many differences in the phases of our lives, but we are in some essential way still one and same person. The Spirit is the sustaining guarantor of Unity across distance and time. In the Spirit we are One with the soaring bird and the blooming flowers; in the Spirit we can be One with people all over the world and with people of different ethnic backgrounds, and with people who lived before us and who will live after us. On Pentecost, we celebrate the Spirit as the essence of e pluribus unum. When we want our own personal style and language and race to replace Spirit as what unifies us, we can fall into fascism. The Holy Spirit is the great unifier and orchestrator of harmony. And the Holy Spirit is saying to us today, "Yes you can be yourself in your unique individual gifts, as long as you are checking your egos to blend to the common good." May we let the Holy Spirit as Profound Unity, melt our egos so that we see the beauty of making room for everyone.
Finally, according to the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is the best lawyer that anyone can have. "When the Holy Spirit, the Advocates comes...." you know that your case in this life is being made. Great you say, "now that I have the best lawyer, I should be winning all of my cases. Then why do I often seem to be losing?" The Holy Spirit isn't about individual winning issues in ego disputes. The great Advocate the Holy Spirit is like the advocate that the suffering Job cried out about: "I know that my redeemer, my advocate lives and this advocate will my case in this life and in the world to come."
You and I and can know the Holy Spirit as our Advocate for the foundation of our esteem, which is the graceful sense of personal worth in this life and the life to come. Let us give the Holy Spirit, our lawyer, a dollar today, so that we have this holy Attorney on retainer, to help us make the case for the personal and special meaning of our lives in the middle of some very personal histories and circumstances.
Come Holy Spirit, let us know the unity of harmony in diversity. Let us know the wonder of delightful play. Let us accept that we are not yet finished but our growth pangs are labor pains for the birth of hope's children. Holy Spirit, come and be our advocate today to make our case before God, to make the case of our esteem and integrity to ourselves and to the communities within which we live.
Come Holy Spirit, Come. Amen.
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