Sunday, June 4, 2017, Pentecost (full size gallery)
We had 48 in the church today. Sally and her husband Frank were present. Both are from St. Paul and she is doing an internship this summer at St. Peter’s. Charles family was here as well as Shirley Collup from Fredericksburg United Methodist Church and Peg Johnson from St. George’s.
Besides the birthday of the church, we celebrated Tucker’s 14th birthday. As a St. Peter’s tradition tongues were descending from the Gallery on the concluding hymn, "There’s a Sweet, sweet Spirit." The choir really enjoys it.
We extinguished the Pascal Candle, symbolic that the sending of the Holy Spirit, the earthly mission of Christ, is now complete.
Becky put out her "needs board" for Vacation Bible School, June 19-23 and got a number of takers.
Today’s readings welcome the arrival of God’s Spirit at Pentecost. In Acts, God’s Spirit, poured out on the disciples, astonishes and empowers the community. Paul explains that we come together to worship and serve in the Holy Spirit. Jesus comes to his friends and breathes on them the Spirit of peace and forgiveness. The readings are here.
The sermon was a grand sweep of the creation of the Church.
"For us as Christians– the body of Christ, the Church–air and water matter not only as essential for our physical bodies, but they are our very connection to God. When we Christians simply breathe, we are breathing in God’s very breath. When we do something as simple as to drink a glass of water, we are drinking in the goodness and the living water of God. No wonder then that air and water are essential to the foundation of the Church itself.
"The story of how air and water are foundational to the Church begins way back in Genesis, and continues to unfold, straight through the Bible."
"When I went to Hawaii a few summers ago, my daughter and I flew in a small plane from Oahu to Molokai, and from that small plane, we had a whole new visual perspective of the islands. We could see more. So with your help, let’s go flying and see how air and water fit together in Holy Scripture as foundational to God’s Church in this world.
"But I’m going to need some help flying this plane, so here’s what I want you to do. When I point to this side of the church, I want you all to say HOLY BREATH. And when I point to this side of the church, I want you all to say LIVING WATER. And when I raise my arms like this, we’ll all say HOLY BREATH AND LIVING WATER.
Read more of the sermon here.
The Holy Spirit is known in various aspects: Mighty wind and still, small voice; gentle warmth and consuming fire; Giver of Life who fills the whole world and hidden Presence within our heart
Pentecost is the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks, celebrated 50 days after Passover. The first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented, and the covenant with God was renewed. The promised outpouring of the Spirit and the beginning of the Church’s mission occurred during this feast.
Luke sees the gift of the Spirit as a reversal of Babel (see Genesis 11:1-9) and the fulfillment of the promise of a new covenant (see Jeremiah 31:33). The law will indwell each individual believer.
The words given by the Spirit are not babbling but proclamation. The variety of languages in which the message about God’s powerful works was communicated represent the potential spread of the gospel to all nations. Peter interprets the experience for the crowd. While some could only explain the peculiar events as the result of human dissipation, Peter calls the events supernatural generosity and the marvelous fulfillment of an ancient promise found in Joel 2:28-32.
In the Epistle, the Corinthian community was torn by dissension over the characteristics, distribution and use of “spiritual gifts” (12:1). Paul emphasizes that these are gifts of grace to all, not just the private possession of certain people. He points out the triune operation of God in these gifts: the Holy Spirit as the giver, Jesus as the One to whom service is given, and God the Father as the One at work in the gift. The gifts are complementary and meant for the common good. Every gift has an important place in the life of the community. The list of gifts is not exhaustive, for other lists differ (12:28-30; Romans 12:6-8). The purpose of all the gifts is to create not division but unity in diversity. Paul illustrates this by using the image of the body to show the Corinthians the interdependence of all in the Christian community.
The Gospel’s postresurrection appearance of Jesus from the Gospel ofJohn is shared with the other gospels. Jesus shows his wounds to establish that the crucified Jesus and the risen Christ are one and the same. John’s account stresses the fulfillment of the promises made in the Farewell Discourse: Christ’s return and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For John, the coming of the Holy Spirit is intimately linked to the resurrection. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, creating humanity anew for eternal life. To this new creation, the Church, he then bestows the power to mediate forgiveness. Its mission will divide people by their response.