By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. [John 14:16-17]
…v26″The Helper will come—the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me. v27And you, too, will speak about me, because you have been with me from the very beginning. [John 15:26-27]
This Sunday is Day of Pentecost, the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit. In many ways this is a day to celebrate the surprising turns and astonishing connections that happen in the lives of men and women trying to live faithful Christian lives. God is seen today as unleashing the Good News to the world and giving specific power and authority that will enable the Christian community to build up a body of men and women who can make Christ known to all people.
This season in the church’s liturgical year is filled with an abundance of great freedom and challenges for those of us who really take time and listen to the scripture readings. The scripture lessons in the season of Pentecost challenge us, but they also set us free to flourish and grow in the warmth of God’s Holy Spirit and love.
***
Let us recall what happened during that first Pentecost Day. The event took place after our Lord’s ascension. The second chapter of Acts vividly describes this wonderful event: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues A as the Spirit enabled them.
We remember the Gospel story. On the fortieth day after the Resurrection, our Lord ascended into heaven. For ten days afterwards, the disciples waited in Jerusalem as he had instructed them. “And behold, I send upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with the power from on high.” Luke 24:49 KJV.
***
The disciples did what the Lord told them to do. They waited together in Jerusalem, and God kept the promise. The Spirit comes to the disciples when they are “all together in one place”. All are filled by the Spirit. Herein the beginning of a new community. How were the disciples “together in one place?” They were together in obedience. Each member of that apostolic band was intentionally obedient to the command of Christ, even when the command was to tarry, to wait, to be patient, and to be expectant.
The disciples were together physically, geographically. All of them were in the temple (perhaps in one of the precincts) at the same time, and they had a deep sense of belonging to each other. Today, the Church is blessed with many gifts. We have the Bible, the sacraments, the liturgy, the ordained ministry – and other worldly materials. But, I wonder. When God looks upon us, are we all with one accord in one place? More than all of the Church’s possessions, I believe that God need and wants people to be together, obediently, before Him. To be in one accord in one place is not to agree with each other in everything and issue in this life.
***
We are, however, to be in one accord that God is God and we are not, and that every man and woman and child is the son and daughter of God in the world of God’s making and redeeming. To be in one accord is to claim and witness this solidarity with every sister and brother – and then, perhaps and only then, to offer ourselves to God who still keeps his promise. In this broken and troubled world due to hatred, cultural and religion biases, the standard of Pentecost is most appropriate: “all in one accord in one place.” May the Spirit, who hovered over the waters when the world was created, breathe into you the life he gives. May the Spirit, who overshadowed the Virgin when the eternal Son came among us, make you joyful in the service of the Lord. May the Spirit, who set the church on fire upon the Day of Pentecost, bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ. ***
Pentecost in biblical understanding is a feast celebrated by the Jews, the fiftieth day (Pente, Greek of fiftieth or fifty) an agricultural feast but was later changed into renewal of the commitment to the laws given by Yahweh in the mountain of Sinai to Moses. Later on in the New Testament development, this feast has morphed into the descending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples empowering them to proclaim the Good News about Jesus Christ who taught, suffered, died, buried and yet rose again from the grave. By the way, the New Testament celebration of the Pentecost today is a celebration of the old tradition of agricultural blessings and the giving of the commandments.
***
Pentecost is the day we remember and celebrate the gift of God’s Spirit: a gift to the community of faith; a gift that draws us into the heart of that mystery which is God’s self-revelation; a gift that creates new unity out of diversity; a gift that empowers us to bring the world out of darkness into light. Jesus Christ our Lord, in those most comforting latter chapters of the Gospel of John (including our Gospel this morning), speaks of the teaching office or character of the Holy Spirit, and we will recall a few verses, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things.” “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” “When the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all the truth.” The prayer in the last lines of the famous Hymn “Veni Creator” offered in full reliance on these assuring words of knowing more about God the Holy Spirit, the verses, say:
“Teach us to know the Father, Son, And thee of both, to be but One, That through the ages all along, This may be our endless song.”
***
Have we hitherto prayed in the Spirit of this teaching? Have we believed that the Holy Spirit teaches the heart, enlightens the conscience, and informs the mind? The Holy Spirit will teach us as He taught our fathers before us. In every age His witnesses declare His power. Look at the Acts of the Apostles and hear their testimony to His guidance. Follow down the centuries and read in the stories and lives of Chrysostom and Athanasius, of Gregory and our own Aidan, of Bede – all saints of the church – these are the proofs of His leading and guidance.
Then in humble faith that He will guide, direct, teach, and strengthen the humblest of Christ’s followers, pray earnestly the old words of that famous Latin hymn (Veni Creator), “Teach us to know…” that we too may share in that eternal life of which the Savior spoke: “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
This is Pentecost Sunday – it is about the coming down of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of truth that will teach us the truth – It is about the birth of a new community – it is the birth of the church. This Sunday, let us greet each other: happy birthday church!
Let us pray.
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful
people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant
us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things,
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus
Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Pentecost Sunday Collect, BCP)**
