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)
More than two years ago today, I was given the opportunity to preach on a Pentecost Sunday at the Holy Cross Anglican Church in the Barbados. I was representing the Episcopal Church in the Philippines to an Anglican International Consultation and selected clergy participants were asked to preach on a certain church in the city and suburbs on that particular Sunday. Here is an abridged version of my homily on that occasion which I believe is very relevant even today.
v3May nakita silang parang mga dilang apoy na dumapo sa bawat isa sa kanila, v4at silang lahat ay napuspos ng Espiritu Santo at nagsimulang magsalita ng iba’t ibang wika, ayon sa ipinagkaloob sa kanila ng Espiritu.
I suspect that many of you are wondering, what in the world was that. It is a little Pentecost experience of hearing a strange tongue. Let me assure you that what you just heard are the verses 3 & 4 of the lesson earlier read in my language in the Philippines.
This Sunday is Day of Pentecost or Whitsunday in the Christian Church Calendar. Last Sunday was the last in Easter Season and it was also the Sunday after Ascension – Ascension Day was celebrated the other Thursday. What happened in these days? This may come to the mind of a nominal Christian or those who does not belong to churches that celebrate these church traditions. To us Anglicans we understand and celebrate these special days as important events that led to the establishment of the new community of believers then known as Christians and still called the same though with different interpretations of the same written source that is the Holy Bible – and diverse emphasis in the practice of faith and expression of such. It is quite paradoxical that the last prayer of Jesus Christ who is the head of the church is that of oneness – yet it started with diversity and continues to be. The theme of this triennial USPG consultation in Barbados is “In God’s Name? The Gospel and the Authority of the State” already suggests question of unity in this church.
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This Pentecost Sunday we commemorate the descent and outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the disciples more than two thousand years ago in the city of Jerusalem. It is the birth of the Church as a consequence of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
This feast is observed fifty days after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles as they celebrated the ancient Jewish feast of Shabuoth (see Acts 2:1-4). In the early church it was a time for administration of the sacrament of baptism, and in the Church of England and other Anglican churches the festival is called Whitsunday in allusion to the white robes traditionally worn by the newly baptized and I believe of the white color of the dove that alluded to as the Holy Spirit in several gospel narratives.
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When Jesus of Nazareth left this earth, he bequeathed a legacy to his followers. He left his Holy Spirit—to comfort, to guide, to empower them to be all that God had called them to be. Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church. This is what Pentecost Sunday is all about. The community created with the coming of the Holy Spirit in that first Day of Pentecost is not a community with one color and one flavor. The Spirit of God speaks through different people of quite different languages and backgrounds. In the presence of the Spirit, difference need not mean division. No longer can any group or place or time claim to be more “sacred” or favored than another. The first USPG consultation I attended in 2016 in the Fiji Islands reminded me of the difference of culture and language which during the first day I had difficulty of deciphering. But at the end of the one-week conference, all delegates were united in seriously addressing the grave concern of Climate Change.
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For the next five days here in Barbados, the Primates and other senior Anglican leaders will reflect on the ‘challenges posed by the political configuration of power in different parts of the world: Challenges to the life of the church, but also challenges to leadership and how it is exercised. This is a faithful continuance of the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) reason of existence – ‘to participate in God’s mission; to share alongside with others, on God’s saving, redemptive, transforming mission’.
It is my hope that through the sharing of various experiences of the churches in the communion relative to the topic, “In God’s Name? The Gospel and the Authority of the State” a common response will be harnessed. The spirit of that first Pentecost continues to fire and inflame us to respond to God’s mission in this prevailing challenge and context in the mission fields.
The Rev Duncan Dormor, General Secretary of USPG posed a challenge for us to be faithful to our Christian calling ‘to speak up and to speak out, to be prophetic’. This prophetic voice arises in the heart of God and flows out into all creation. It is most fully expressed in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we are drawn deeper into the prophetic heart of God.’
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The Holy Spirit warms us and melts our cold, cold hearts. Recently I ran across a parable that makes the point:
Once upon a time there was a piece of iron, which was very strong and very hard. Many attempts had been made to break it, but all had failed. “I’ll master it,” said the axe. And his blows fell heavily upon the piece of iron, but every blow only made the axe’s edge more blunt, until it finally ceased to strike and gave up in frustration. “Leave it to me,” said the saw. And it worked back and forth on the iron’s surface until its jagged teeth were all worn and broken. Then in despair, the saw quit trying and fell to the side. “Ah!” said the hammer, “I knew you two wouldn’t succeed. I’ll show you how to do this!” But at the first fierce blow, off flew its head and the piece of iron remained just as before, proud and hard and unchanged.
“Shall I try?” asked the small soft flame. “Forget it,” everyone else said. “What can you do? You’re too small and you have no strength.” But the small soft flame curled around the piece of iron, embraced it. And never left it until it melted under its warm irresistible influence.
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There’s a sermon there somewhere. Perhaps it means that God’s way is not
the way of force but love. God’s way is not to break hearts but to melt them. Perhaps it means that that is our calling – to melt hearts – under the irresistible warmth of God’s gracious love. And in so doing we can respond faithfully to our common call of prophetic ministry in and outside our churches.
The disciples were together physically, geographically on that Pentecost day. 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.
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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.
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. (Pentecost Sunday Collect, Book of Common Prayer)**
