The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany

Pentecost, May 31, 2009

Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; Glory to Him from generation to generation in the Church in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.

Before Jesus was tried and crucified he told his followers that he was leaving them. Jesus had been teaching these faithful disciples, training them daily, hourly, for at least three years, how to be and live and teach His Way in the world; God's kingdom Way. They weren't passive students. They were active participants in a deep, profound and rigorous training. Jesus knew the time was drawing near for him to go to his Abba, his Father. And he knew of the Power that he was going to be sending them; He was sending them the power of Almighty God the Creator of the universe. He knew they had to be ready for this power and now were ready for it; that's what He had been training them for, to be able to handle properly this incredible Power, the full Power of God. Jesus knew all about the enormity of this incredible power; he had experienced it; he had experienced the Spirit of God in his earthly existence. This powerful Spirit had descended on him after he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. We often think of the Holy Spirit as a gentle experience - like a sweet soft dove. Actually, I've heard it described more as a bird attack! The heavens, you will recall, were ripped open, and the very voice of Almighty God was heard.

This powerful Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness where he endured the most difficult temptations. This was not a gentle experience! We are being trained on our Christian journey, by this same power, to have true hearts so that we will be enabled to evermore receive and handle the full Power of God. Jesus, in John's Gospel promised these followers of his, these people he had been so intimate with, that he had been training daily for three years, that the Holy Spirit would come to them. At the time they had no idea what Jesus was talking about; they had no concept of what He was promising them, of what they were about to receive. But Jesus told them unless he left them, they could not go to the next level. We rarely know what awaits us at the next level of maturity. That next level for Jesus' followers was to receive God's awesome Spirit, God's awesome Power so that they could be teachers of Jesus' Way, of God's Kingdom life. Again, it was not a gentle experience. It was an experience of great Power; we are told it was like the power of a violent wind. We are told they experienced something like tongues of fire; it was an awesome experience that enabled them to be and do more than they would ever have dreamed of being able to do. The most miraculous thing--even more miraculous than all these people from different countries with different languages being able to understand perfectly what the disciples were saying about Jesus - was it removed all of their fear.

They had no fear! Up until that time they had been so afraid and hiding out. But the Holy Spirit enabled them to go out into the harsh world - the world that had murdered their beloved Messiah so cruelly, and take and teach His Way, into all of the known world. We, like Jesus' disciples, are promised this same power of the Holy Spirit. When we baptize a person, we say, "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own forever." In our baptism we are literally branded as Christ's own forever. And then we are charged to take Christ into the world and live in the world as Jesus himself would live. And the promise is the Holy Spirit, given to us, will enable us to do it.This promised advocate, comforter, and strengthener is an all powerful creative personality. What kind of an advocate and comforter would the Holy Spirit be, in this hurt and violent world, if the Spirit was not a great power and was not deeply personal?

The Holy Spirit can come to a community or an individual very dramatically, knocking us off our feet, but most of the time it does not work that way. Mostly the Holy Spirit comes in a subtle way, gently and with great patience. Most of the time the Spirit gently awaits our invitation to act upon us, with us and for us. Most of us don't usually experience the awesome power of the Holy Spirit the way the Apostles did, though some do. But the presence of the Spirit of God can always be recognized by the way the Spirit moves us toward what Jesus would have us be and do in this world. We can recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit when we inwardly experience the heavenly sweetness and Power of life - the love, joy and peace that Jesus knew. This experience is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit is manifested in the gifts given to us individually and also to a community. Whenever we see the effect of our efforts that clearly go beyond anything we can possibly explain, that is the Holy Spirit at work in us. We see the Holy Spirit's work in the way our character becomes more and more transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Again, this is so in our individual lives, and also in our community of faith. On Pentecost the Holy Sprit descended on individuals within a community.The fruits of the Spirit we will see in a transforming individual or community is increasing love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness generosity, faithfulness, and willingness to forgive others.

Christians are called to have, and should expect to have, direct, personal interaction with the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, sometimes we wonder, if the Holy Spirit is really at work in the world, renewing the world, how could such terrible things still occur? Jesus addressed this in this talk with his disciples. These verses were left out of our lectionary reading for today; I don't know why. I think they are very important, because Jesus addressed this. He said: "They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God." Terrible things, Jesus said, will be done in the name of God and will be done in His name. But, he said, they are not the fruits of the Spirit of God. Jesus was very adamant in saying; those who do so do not know His Way, God's Kingdom Way.

The other day I was watching the National News, and there was a story about how some Christian Pastors in the Congo are accusing little children of being witches. These children are horribly treated, and often abandoned. Watching the plight of these children overwhelmed me and made me weep. And I felt such helplessness against such evil and pain. And I wondered, what to do, how to pray for such situations. St. Paul went through a lot of pain himself in spreading the Way of Jesus. He came to see the terrible pain and cruelty of the world as the groaning in birth pangs of a new creation being born, the groaning for the redemption of the world. We long for the redemption of the world and for our lives.

Paul was adamant that the church cannot stand apart from the pain of the world, as God does not stand apart from the pain of the world, but rather comes to dwell in the middle of it in the person and power of the Holy Spirit. "The Spirit," Paul said, "helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. God hears and answers all the prayers which we may only know as painful groanings, tossings and turnings of an unquiet spirit, standing before its maker with the pains and puzzles of the world heavy on its heart. There is a challenge here to every church, and every Christian: to be willing to shoulder the task of prayer of this kind, prayer in which we are caught up in the loving, groaning, redeeming dialogue between the Father and the Spirit?"

At our baptism - whether we are baptized as an older person, or have our children baptized - we promise that we intentionally choose the path that will lead to Christ likeness. Baptism, the entrance into the Church, is the entrance into the Trinitarian Community of God. It is in this Trinitarian Community that we promise to support each other to live in the Way of Jesus in this world, and to follow the path that leads to Christ Likeness. If we honor the promises we make at our baptism, for ourselves and for our children, and intentionally seek direct, personal interaction with the Holy Spirit, we will gradually be enabled to see the many ways the presence of this powerful Spirit of God has helped us, comforted us, guided and directed us and is transforming our character and our lives. And that makes a difference to this painful world.

The treasure we are given by the gift of the Holy Spirit is the life and power of Jesus Christ himself. The Church of God is present where people gather together in the power of the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. That is a community that is full of the Holy Spirit. "By their fruits shall you know them." Amen.