June 8, 2025
Pentecost Acts 2:1-1
Happy Pentecost! It’s 50 days after Easter and our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. We celebrated Jesus’ Ascension a week or so ago, so we think of him back with God leaving those first disciples to figure out what to do next to carry on his work. Those first followers of Jesus were surely more than a little afraid to have Jesus leave them. They had no structure or plans about what was next. They were gathered trying to figure out what to do, probably discussing what Jesus had taught them, wondering how to begin to move forward. Suddenly God sends them not the answer of what to do next, but the power to figure it out, and then move forward. The Holy Spirit came rushing into the place they were gathered and filled them with confidence and power and courage to begin to tell everyone they met about all that Jesus had done. That first outpouring of the Spirit makes them into what became the church, the body of Christ, here on earth. The Holy Spirit gave them the wisdom and the power to continue the work Jesus had begun. The power and wisdom to bring the gift of God’s love and justice and mercy into all the world. Hymn 507 which we’ll sing at the closing of the service “how a hundred men and women turned the known world upside down.”
We’ve come to call this day the Birthday of the Church. The Holy Spirit comes to give us the power to be the church and to carry on the work that Jesus began. God sends us God’s breath, God’s spirit, to fill us, to empower us to be Christ’s body on earth. We traditionally celebrate this day with a party. Wearing red to symbolize the flames of fire that rested on the disciples’ heads. Dove kites with lots of streamers in processions to give us a glimpse of the power of the wind. Lots of upbeat celebratory music. Sometimes with cake and ice cream at coffee hour. We used to add in sending off helium filled balloons to watch the wind carry them up and away until we learned that was bad for the environment.
Pentecost is a major feast of the Church. A celebration of being Christ’s body in the world. A celebration of the gift of the Spirit that gives us the power and energy to continue to live our lives as Jesus lived his bringing to fullness God’s love and justice for all the world. But it’s often at the end of the program year for a lot of parishes and gets lost in the beginning of summer vacations.
And that’s our loss. We shouldn’t just have dove kites, wear red and have cake and ice cream and then go on our summer vacation. Though that’s where some of us are now. This world has always had a lot of need for the people of God to get into the hard work of making real God’s power and strength and justice for everyone. Some would say that the need for God’s justice is particularly profound right now. That now there is more need than ever to draw on the energy of God’s Spirit to empower us to do our part in making the world in which we live closer to the world that God desires for us. Even when we are on summer vacation.
I recently discovered a hymn that expresses some of how I’m feeling about a more focused understanding of the power of the Spirit beyond doves and a rushing of wind. The words of the hymn help me understand what calling on that power and allowing it to shape our lives can do for us in helping us make this world closer to what God would have the world be.
It’s hymn number 57 in Voices Found, one of the supplements to the Hymnal 1982. Its hymnal’s full title is Voices Found: Women in the Church’s Song.This hymn, I think, puts into words, succinctly and clearly, what the HS empowers us to do in the world in which we live.
No longer settled or sure of our ways
We leave ourselves open, in moments of grace,
To fresh ways of seeing– scales fall from our eyes
And in our new visions, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
Claiming our passion, embracing our rage
Strengthens our love to refashion this age,
Unleashes the power to challenge our lies
And in our righteous anger, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
Voices long silenced and mem’ries denied
Call out for healing, for justice and pride.
Our hearts hear the anguish of each sacred cry
And in our compassion, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
The commentary on this hymn in the organist/choir master’s edition of Voices Found makes this comment about the hymn. “This text acknowledges those moments when one is thrown off balance, faith is called upon, and growth follows. Whether one is being oppressed or making a Christian response to racism, sexism, ageism, or another injustice, it is at those times we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the text calls attention to God’s dependence on humanity. We are the only hands and feet and voice that God has in the world to confront what is out of balance. It is the power of the Spirt, God’s Spirit, that gives us the strength to confront and change what we know is against God’s plan for God’s creation.
The last line of each verse points out what the HS does: we see the injustice; we get angry at the injustice and then the HS fills us with compassion, so we work for changes to eliminate the injustice.
We look around the world, our country, our neighborhood, or the nearby big city and see all kinds of injustice: homelessness, racism, sexism, grinding poverty, mistreatment of immigrants, and we become depressed and angry, but don’t know what to do.
That’s where the HS comes in. It’s the HS that first stirs up these recognitions in us, and then eggs us on to do something. Then when we use that power to step out and confront whatever injustice we see the HS gives us the courage and stamina to keep up the fight. It’s the HS who urges us to be the agents of change. It’s the HS who enables us to be God’s voice and hands and feet in the world.
That’s a fearful thing. To somehow speak out and act in ways that may be contrary to what some would have us believe is right and just. But we are never alone in our stepping out. We are given the gift of the power of the HS. And it is the HS who has informed us of the need and stands ready to give us untold power to face not just our own personal brokenness, but more importantly the brokenness of the larger world around us.
The breathtaking truth is that God is dependent on us to set things right that are wrong in this world. God has no hands or feet or mind or mouth but ours. It’s a frightening thing to face the myriad injustices in the world. But at our best, with the power of the Spirit, we can confront them. In the power of the Spirit things like racism, sexism, mistreatment of immigrants, greediness, poverty, the unfair power of government over people can be confronted. Whatever injustice that keeps bothering you may be the one that the Spirit is egging you on to do something to confront it. Listen closely and step out in the power of the HS. And even though you may still be fearful, step out in confidence. Know that the HS will never abandon you.
Seeing what needs to be done takes alertness and staying informed about what is happening. Knowing what needs to be done leads us to looking for who might help us to do it. With whom can we work. What organization can we support with our time or energy. Deciding what to do takes an honest look at ourselves and our energy and our time. It’s not easy to sort through it all. There is so much that needs to be done in so many places to bring God’s grace to all the world. But that’s what God calls us to do. Do our bit for making this world what it is meant to be for everyone. And in this difficult work that is sometimes dangerous we always need to remember what this day of Pentecost gives us.
We celebrate God’s Spirit filling us with courage to face whatever we are called to face. It’s not just dove kites and red shirts and upbeat music that we celebrate today. We celebrate the gift of God’s breath and energy and stamina filling us. If we breathe in God’s Spirit, we can do whatever God is calling us to do to make this world more just for all.
No longer settled or sure of our ways
We leave ourselves open, in moment of grace,
To fresh ways of seeing– scales fall from our eyes
And in our new visions, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
Claiming our passion, embracing our rage
Strengthens our love to refashion this age,
Unleashes the power to challenge our lies
And in our righteous anger, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
Voices long silenced and mem’ries denied
Call out for healing, for justice and pride.
Our hearts hear the anguish of each sacred cry
And in our compassion, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.