B. Festival of Pentecost. 2009                                      Christ Church , York

Even I admit that I look a little ridiculous in it. It is battered and beaten, shapeless and crumpled and covered with its share of grease from the tractor and all the dust that has risen out of the fields over the years. I’m talking about the hat I wear when I’m out mowing in my fields. Pride doesn’t come into it at such times because I am not wearing this hat to make a fashion statement or even to look good. I am wearing it to protect myself and particularly my fair skin and these generously sized ears from the sun and any other of Mother Nature’s elements that may choose to rain themselves down on me. I’m not alone in seeking such protection, for we all have had our fair share of coats and jackets and mufflers and gloves which have helped get us through the recent winter season. And we have other ways to protect ourselves from the elements. We build houses for ourselves and barns for our animals, for we know how dangerous the elements of weather can be. That’s why we construct dikes to keep us from floods; firebreaks to protect us from the wildfires and establish early warning systems to protect us from tornados. Indeed it is these elements of fire, wind, air and water which, while they are so necessary for our existence can, when combined together, prove to be the undoing of that same existence. So we seek to protect ourselves from the elements, knowing that if we fail to do so, we will find ourselves buffeted by those same elements, exposed to them and perhaps finally consumed by them.

And yet on this day of all days, we are asked not to protect ourselves from the elements but rather to expose ourselves to them, to open ourselves up to those elements which will swirl about us and buffet us and perhaps even break us open. For this is the day of the Spirit and therefore the day of our exposure to the elements. This is no gentle announcement by the Spirit that a new age was about to begin. This was no quiet descent of a symbolic mark such as a peaceful dove, in order to inspire people with its beauty. This was no handing down of some symbol of authority which would now identify these disciples as more different than before. Instead this was the earth moving under their feet and the sound of a mighty wind crashing about their ears, as they huddled in that room trying to protect themselves from the elements. This was the breaking open of these disciples in the searing heat of the fire which descended upon them, exposing them to the full fury of the elements which shook them and uprooted them as the Holy Spirit moved among them.

For this wind and fire was nothing less than God Himself descending upon the earth and shaking it to its very foundation. This is not God using nature to demonstrate His power; rather this is God in the elements He created – the awesome power of His wind and fire which show us the immensity, the majesty, the strength and even the frightening power of our God come into our world – disrupting it, challenging it and changing it forever. For the Spirit moves as it wills and it comes unbidden on this day to those gathered in that room. It comes unannounced into their lives and in the process this Spirit becomes a physical disturbance in them. There is wonder and power here as this Spirit moves across the face of this new Church, exposing all to the elements of wind and fire. And having been exposed to such elements, the disciples find themselves driven from the safety of that room out into the world where they will find themselves yet more exposed to the elements.

Today is Pentecost Day, the day of our calling to also expose ourselves to the elements. For once again the Spirit of God has come to move across our lives. Once again the Spirit comes to break us open, expose us to the elements and pour into us new life. And like those disciples of old, this Spirit has come to bring us the knowledge of sin and salvation, to give us a new direction, to make of us a new people, “called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified” by this One, this only One who can make of us one body, one spirit, one life in Christ. And having descended in this wonder-filled event, having exposed us to the elements, now nothing, nothing will be, indeed nothing can be, the same again.

To be filled with this Spirit then is to be more than simply able to speak in tongues or eat poison or go into rapture, as some of our sisters and brothers in the faith believe. Rather to be filled with the Spirit is to be like Peter, willing finally to proclaim the truth, shouting it from the rooftops for all to hear. It is to say to this world of ours, a world which too often disillusions us time and again with its use and abuse of power, its destruction of our natural resources and the madness of its wars and economic disasters, that there is something else moving across the face of this earth and that is the awesome and mighty power of God. It is to shout out to the world that there is something which is not bound to the law of humans, something which is not fixed by the rules of nature, something which creates and does not destroy. Into this world has come the mighty rushing of a wind and the searing flame of fire and we have all been exposed to the elements.

Our world stands in need of this Spirit and of the power which this Spirit brings. For, as we have seen only too well in the past year or so, no effort of ours can change the madness of this world with its battered economies, its wars, its hunger and poverty or its heedless lack of care for the goodness of creation. In spite of all our best efforts, this world can only be changed by an infusion into it of something far greater and that is the power of the Spirit itself. But we do not wait in vain for such power to come upon us, for it has already come in wind and fire, settling upon the heads of the disciples, pouring its strength into this new body called the Church. Living in the power of this same Spirit, “called, gathered, enlightened and made holy” by that Spirit, filled with the strength of that Spirit, we are now called to live as a Spirit filled Church. And since the power of the Spirit has chosen to be made manifest in the Church, then we, as that body, brought into being and sustained by that same Spirit, are called to live filled with a Spirit driven life. But to live such a Spirit driven life means worrying less about our buildings and our budgets and more about our mission and ministry; less about the maintenance of our structures and more about the needs of a hurting world around us. For this Spirit lives among us, guiding us, shaping us, forming us constantly into the people of God. This Day of Pentecost is not simply an event of the past, something which happened in the history of the Church. Rather this Spirit is alive among us today, breathing its power and strength into us, making of this Church an entity that is vital and alive and a faith which is not afraid of the elements but rather seeks to be infused again and again with the elemental power of Pentecost. This is a power which will shake the world to its roots. This is a power which will cause the earth to move and the wind and the fire to come. We should not be afraid to venture out into the elements. We should not be afraid to expose ourselves to their terrifying fury. We should not be afraid even to let ourselves be broken open by these elements. For in opening ourselves to these elements, we open the whole world to them, that this world may be broken open and consumed by them.

It has been said many times before that Christmas is the festival of God with us and Easter is the festival of God for us but that Pentecost is the festival of God in us. In us the Holy Spirit lives completing its work of redemption for all peoples of the earth. In us and through us the Spirit shares the truth concerning the crucified and risen Lord. In us the Holy Spirit convicts humankind of sin, reveals Christ and gives assurance and guidance, comfort and power to the believers. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is not necessarily to be able to do wondrous things with snakes or poison or tongues. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is serve Christ in this world by daring to let ourselves be exposed to the elements so that we might be a God-bearer, a Christ bearer, a bearer of Holy Things into this world of ours. For on this Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit has come in all its elemental power and glory to rip us open and expose us to the power of God in Christ Jesus. May that same Spirit guide and direct our way and the way of God’s Holy Church until that day when the Lord shall come again. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen