by Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
21When 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 as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)
v19It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. v20After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. v21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” v22Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. v23If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:19-23)
“Veni Creator Spiritus” (Come, Creator Spirit) is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century saint, German monk, teacher, and archbishop. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. It has been translated and paraphrased into several languages, and adapted into many musical forms, often as a hymn for Pentecost or for other occasions that focus on the Holy Spirit. As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, Veni Creator Spiritus is sung in the Catholic Church during liturgical celebrations on the feast of Pentecost, at both Terce and Vespers. Veni Creator Spiritus is also widely used in Anglican liturgies, where it has appeared since the publication of the 1550 ordinal and continues to appear, for example, in the ordinal of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and in the Novena to The Holy Ghost in Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book, published in 1947.[1] The translation “Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire” was by Bishop John Cosin in 1625, and has since been sung at all subsequent British coronations, ordination and consecration of priests and bishops (Wikipedia). The hymn comes to mind this Pentecost Sunday.
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.
Thy blessed unction from above
is comfort, life, and fire of love.
Enable with perpetual light
the dullness of our blinded sight.
Anoint and cheer our soiled face
with the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far from foes, give peace at home:
where thou art guide, no ill can come.
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:
Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
***
The word Pentecost (Greek “fiftieth”) appears twice in the Septuagint as one of the designations of the “feast of weeks” (Exodus 34:22; Deut. 16:10), which comes between Passover and Feast of Tabernacles. According to the Oxford Companion to the Bible, in the Hellenistic period, the feast was also called for the renewal of the covenant God made with Noah. Later, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the feast began to lose its agricultural association and became linked with Israel’s sacred history by celebrating the giving of the Torah or the Law to Moses on Sinai.
***
The picture described in the lesson about Pentecost is an awesome description of the spectacular beginnings of the infant church as an active missionary community. The Holy Spirit like a roaring wind descends with tongues of fire on the heads of the apostles, and breathes new life into this faint-hearted band. The immediate impact on the apostles is radical and dramatic. Inspired by the Spirit of God they boldly go out to the market place and proclaim the resurrection of Christ and his conquest of sin and death to those who had only recently crucified their master. They are no longer the terrified and cowardly collection of individuals locked away in the upper room for fear of the Jews. Their world which had fallen apart with the crucifixion and death of Jesus was changed and transformed into a new creation. They emerge full of enthusiasm, gifted with eloquence and with a very clear sense of their vocation.
***
We are never, and have never been, alone—since the beginning of time. Through the ages God has sought to embrace us, as Yahweh, as the incarnate God walking with us, and as Spirit, moving among us and still inviting us to relationship. Our belief that God seeks us out, in human form, as creator, and as spirit, amidst the pains and joys of our humanity, gives us the courage and hope to pursue truth in our world. We need not understand the mystery of God’s Trinitarian existence to believe in it; we need not see it to act through it. God is our light, our guide, and gives us the grace to see the light, and the truth.
***
Pentecost Sunday is a feast that celebrates the birthday of the church. This is an opportunity for evaluating the use we are making of our God-given gifts. The church is built up when we use our individual talents, nor for our personal benefit but for the good of all. We are all laborers whom the Lord asks to go into the harvest. How we love each other and care for each other is a message to everyone we meet and is what outsiders judge our Christian faith on. When the risen Lord breathed to the apostles they received the spiritual power they needed, not to put limits or boundaries on faith, but to see their faith as a living, growing thing. Through the Spirit they witnessed miracles of growth in their own lives – miracles like the one that allowed a man as a stubborn as Peter to admit when he was wrong. Peter listened to God’s Spirit rather than his own, and because of this he was able to let go of traditional teachings that limited God’s grace.
***
We need these gifts of power in the church today: the power to share God’s love with joy, to build churches that celebrate diversity in theology as well as diversity of culture and race, the power to see our faith as a living, growing understanding of grace. We need the power and the freedom of God’s Holy Spirit within the church today, for as the prophet Zechariah reminds us: God’s kingdom shall not be built by power nor by might alone, but by the Spirit of the living God. Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Come Holy Spirit, come.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, Day of Pentecost Collect)**
