"Day of Pentecost"- Mark Hewitt
As part of the Ascension to Pentecost prayer cycle, Thy Kingdom Come, Shane Claiborne, an author and evangelist from North Carolina, talks about celebrating as a form of prayer.
In his North Carolina drawl, Shane says that the world needs celebration, the world needs joy.
He reminds us that in the gospels, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God as a great celebratory banquet, with those at the margins at the center of the table.
Shane says that unfortunately, the church is often starved for joy, and that one thing liberals and conservatives have in common is that they’ve lost their joy, and the church ends up being known more for what it’s against than for what it’s for.
Yes. Along with the world, the church needs joy.
So today, we get to celebrate!
Because today is Pentecost! Today is the day when we celebrate the fact that the disciples did what Jesus asked them to do when he went to be with his Father. They gathered as One, and they prayed and they waited.
And then, the Holy Spirit poured out God’s love so powerfully and beyond their expectations that the disciples couldn’t possibly keep all that love for themselves! They had to spread it, and as the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says, the greatest movement of people in human history was born. This movement, alive and well today, the Jesus movement, as Bishop Curry says, has done more good for people than has ever been done on this earth. In fact, in the early centuries of the church, people were amazed that Christians worked with and for the poor. No other group did that.
Justin Welby goes on to say that “when Christians come together, society gets transformed and the world changes!”
So we are here today to celebrate the fact that we, here at little St Peter’s tucked away in a far corner of Caroline County, we are the church, and we, even in this rural backwater, are an important and essential part of the Jesus movement, because as the church, we can change the world around us FOR THE BETTER!
In today’s gospel, though, Jesus knows that sorrow has filled the hearts of his disciples, because he is going away. Sorrow instead of joy.
But Jesus says, “Look you all, it’s to your advantage that I go away, because I am going to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate to be with you.”
And this point is important, because as The Rev. Chris Russell, Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, also a speaker in the Thy Kingdom Come series points out, the Spirit coming makes Jesus alive again to the disciples, not only alive to their little group, but from now on, Jesus can be present in the church in all times and in all places,
Even here in Port Royal, at St Peter’s, at Memorial, and at Shiloh, and present to each one of us.
When the gift of the spirit comes, we the followers of Jesus know
And declare that another world IS POSSIBLE!
The world of God’s kingdom come to earth!
A world where all people are members of God’s family and love one another, a world where God’s justice is done, a world full of God’s rich and healing peace.
So on this day of Pentecost, let’s celebrate the fact that Jesus is here with us, and that with his help, we join that great movement of people still flowing like a steady stream through history, doing more good than we could ever imagine we could do.
Remember, when we Christians come together, through the power of the Holy Spirit bringing Jesus into our midst, we are the ones who get to transform society and to change not only our little community, but ultimately the world.
The church has received the Holy Spirit, and the joy of Jesus has returned to our midst.
So as we receive the gift of the presence of Jesus in our lives, and welcome him in once more, and gather round his table at the great banquet feast of his love,
Let’s celebrate today with the angels and with the archangels and with all the company of heaven, for heaven has come to earth, and God’s kingdom is here, and God’s love is so powerful and beyond our expectations that we just have to take it out and share that love with the world.
Amen.
Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP7esJHCL1g