The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday
I love to burn stuff. Come fall, much to the chagrin of my children, undoubtedly my neighbors, and all who live within a certain radius of my home, I burn stuff. I am not exactly sure how the practice of burning stuff came about — but I now have a “fire pit” in both my front and backyard. Fire pit may be a generous term. Leaves fall and probably because of the labor of hauling them to the back yard and over the cliff, I determined it was a lot easier to just light a match to them. So, burning in the front yard began. There is the story of the time that someone called the fire department on me, but I soon learned that if you need fire for food, then you wouldn’t get in trouble, so I assured the firefighters, that yes, indeed, my fire was for food. I am not sure why I enjoy burning stuff so much, but on a stressful day, burning something up seems to bring me some joy.
Today’s reading from Acts is the story of how the Spirit descended upon the disciples with tongues of fire and the sound of a rushing wind and each heard in their own language, “As the Spirit gave them ability.”
This is the story of what we call Pentecost, which was not traditionally a Christian holiday, but is now a Christian holiday that is celebrated on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) from Easter Sunday It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. ( שבועות Shavuot) Shavuot is a harvest festival that is celebrated seven weeks and one day after the first day of Passover (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) in Deuteronomy 16:9, or seven weeks and one day after the Sabbath referred to in Leviticus 23:16.
This holiday for us, is also referred to as "Whit Sunday," "Whitsunday" or “Whitsun" especially in the United Kingdom, and Whit Monday remains a legal holiday in many European countries, celebrating the day after Pentecost.
The coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples to empower them and to “be with them always," was something new. This marks a new time in history, a new age. A new way of being in the world. Upon until this time, the Spirit ascended and descended upon people. Came and went, hence the Psalm the cries of David, Psalm, 51:11, “Cast me not away from thy presence O —Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from me”. The Spirit came and went.
But back to the fire. The fire is part of this story that is most abstractedly spoken of. I think of another fire, the fire of Moses and the burning bush. It was in the burning bush in Exodus that Moses received his commission from God to go and lead His people out of slavery. The bush was burning but was not consumed. God assured Moses that He would be with him always. I can imagine Moses fear, going to lead a people out of slavery, “Umm, can you just let the people go, King Sir?” -- thinking that this was probably a terrible idea, but the assurance and confidence he had came from the knowledge, that God had promised to be with him always; that was the promise God gave to him when he spoke to Moses through the burning bush. Which is the same assurance that you and I have; not through the burning bush, but through the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who abides with us and will be with us. (John 14:17), who descends upon the people in our Acts account today.
In both accounts, the burning bush in Deuteronomy to Moses, and the tongues of fire today, fire is associated with God’s promise to “be with”.
To “be with” Moses as he goes to free God’s people, and to “be with” the disciples as they go out into the world with the command to make other disciples. Yet the fires are not the same - Moses stood at distance, told not to come closer as he watched the fire. In the Pentecost story, the fire rests on each disciple individually. They had a part of it. Both were fires that burn out but did not consume.
This Pentecost account is so easy to retell. But it is difficult to retell it and convey the passion of the moment. And we are Episcopalians. We are much more comfortable speaking of the Holy Spirit in terms of deep, interior experiences. This whole fire and wind, and tongues of fire account does not sit well with our generally inexpressive spirits. But, this Holy Spirit that shows up at Pentecost, is a little more demonstrative than that- and has the disciples speaking in strange tongues and the crowd is bewildered and astounded.
So much so, that when people encounter the disciples after the Pentecost event, they don’t politely say, “Nice service," they shake their heads and wonder if these people are drunk.
Peter then gets up and gives a speech and has to explain that, “No one is drunk, it is only 9:00 in the morning”.
He shares how in the last days God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh — and when this happens “sons and daughters will prophesy, young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2, quoting Joel)
People filled with the Spirit of God have been empowered to change the world.
In speaking to friends and other preachers this week I asked them, “What are you going to say about the Holy Spirit this week?” One shared that he was going to speak about how God has now given old men the ability to dream dreams. One shared he was going to speak about how the Spirit now gives us power. Both are true.
But I want to attempt to convey a little more. The Spirit gives us power, give us the ability to dream dreams and see visions and to prophesy, but the Spirit also NEVER LEAVES US. The Spirit gives us Comfort and assurance that God is ever with us. God is with us in the worst moments of our lives, at the accident, when our beloved dies, when our child is sick, when we are feeling alone. God is there. The Spirit abides within you and is there to comfort you, to speak to you, to guide you into the “way of all truth.”
And let us not forget the very first effect this Spirit had: The Spirit of God brought people together, allowed a common understanding of the same gospel among people who were very different from one another.
“Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and part of Libya belonging to the Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs —we hear them in our own languages speaking about God’s deeds of power.” (Acts 2) Why did Luke, the author of Acts write all this? To let us know, to show us the diversity of people who were there. That God had brought them all together with one language, one Spirit descended on them all and they all understood together in spite of their differences.
The Spirit of God unites, it does not divide. The Spirit of God should have the effect on each of us, on our community, our parish, the larger church, of unity. And if not, then what does that say?
I was reading an article this week in the Atlantic magazine entitled, “How Social Media Made America Stupid," Jonathan Haidt, May 2022, THEATLANTIC.COM. Mr. Haidt begins the article with the story of the Tower of Babel and uses the metaphor to describe what has happened to us as a nation. It was thought that these social media platforms would join us together, connect us, but instead it seems to have become a platform where the least educated argue adamantly with anyone who differs from them in emotionally charged interactions. You can even insult perfect strangers. Our different view points and backgrounds instead of uniting, have divided. When God came down and confused the languages and they were unable to understand one another’s speech. He argues this is what has happened to us, “We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.”
That should not be the case in the church. The Spirit of the Living God brings unity, caused the people in Acts to understand one another even speaking different languages.
The church must look, act, and be different from the world. We have the Spirit of God empowering us to be so.
Back to my maybe unhealthy infatuation with fire. Metaphor or reality, the fire given by God that does not consume but gives us strength. The Spirit.
May we pray for another Pentecost. Where differences are bridged and we are able to hear and understand one another, because we have the Spirit of God. Amen.
Today’s reading from Acts is the story of how the Spirit descended upon the disciples with tongues of fire and the sound of a rushing wind and each heard in their own language, “As the Spirit gave them ability.”
This is the story of what we call Pentecost, which was not traditionally a Christian holiday, but is now a Christian holiday that is celebrated on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) from Easter Sunday It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. ( שבועות Shavuot) Shavuot is a harvest festival that is celebrated seven weeks and one day after the first day of Passover (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) in Deuteronomy 16:9, or seven weeks and one day after the Sabbath referred to in Leviticus 23:16.
This holiday for us, is also referred to as "Whit Sunday," "Whitsunday" or “Whitsun" especially in the United Kingdom, and Whit Monday remains a legal holiday in many European countries, celebrating the day after Pentecost.
The coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples to empower them and to “be with them always," was something new. This marks a new time in history, a new age. A new way of being in the world. Upon until this time, the Spirit ascended and descended upon people. Came and went, hence the Psalm the cries of David, Psalm, 51:11, “Cast me not away from thy presence O —Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from me”. The Spirit came and went.
But back to the fire. The fire is part of this story that is most abstractedly spoken of. I think of another fire, the fire of Moses and the burning bush. It was in the burning bush in Exodus that Moses received his commission from God to go and lead His people out of slavery. The bush was burning but was not consumed. God assured Moses that He would be with him always. I can imagine Moses fear, going to lead a people out of slavery, “Umm, can you just let the people go, King Sir?” -- thinking that this was probably a terrible idea, but the assurance and confidence he had came from the knowledge, that God had promised to be with him always; that was the promise God gave to him when he spoke to Moses through the burning bush. Which is the same assurance that you and I have; not through the burning bush, but through the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who abides with us and will be with us. (John 14:17), who descends upon the people in our Acts account today.
In both accounts, the burning bush in Deuteronomy to Moses, and the tongues of fire today, fire is associated with God’s promise to “be with”.
To “be with” Moses as he goes to free God’s people, and to “be with” the disciples as they go out into the world with the command to make other disciples. Yet the fires are not the same - Moses stood at distance, told not to come closer as he watched the fire. In the Pentecost story, the fire rests on each disciple individually. They had a part of it. Both were fires that burn out but did not consume.
This Pentecost account is so easy to retell. But it is difficult to retell it and convey the passion of the moment. And we are Episcopalians. We are much more comfortable speaking of the Holy Spirit in terms of deep, interior experiences. This whole fire and wind, and tongues of fire account does not sit well with our generally inexpressive spirits. But, this Holy Spirit that shows up at Pentecost, is a little more demonstrative than that- and has the disciples speaking in strange tongues and the crowd is bewildered and astounded.
So much so, that when people encounter the disciples after the Pentecost event, they don’t politely say, “Nice service," they shake their heads and wonder if these people are drunk.
Peter then gets up and gives a speech and has to explain that, “No one is drunk, it is only 9:00 in the morning”.
He shares how in the last days God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh — and when this happens “sons and daughters will prophesy, young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2, quoting Joel)
People filled with the Spirit of God have been empowered to change the world.
In speaking to friends and other preachers this week I asked them, “What are you going to say about the Holy Spirit this week?” One shared that he was going to speak about how God has now given old men the ability to dream dreams. One shared he was going to speak about how the Spirit now gives us power. Both are true.
But I want to attempt to convey a little more. The Spirit gives us power, give us the ability to dream dreams and see visions and to prophesy, but the Spirit also NEVER LEAVES US. The Spirit gives us Comfort and assurance that God is ever with us. God is with us in the worst moments of our lives, at the accident, when our beloved dies, when our child is sick, when we are feeling alone. God is there. The Spirit abides within you and is there to comfort you, to speak to you, to guide you into the “way of all truth.”
And let us not forget the very first effect this Spirit had: The Spirit of God brought people together, allowed a common understanding of the same gospel among people who were very different from one another.
“Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and part of Libya belonging to the Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs —we hear them in our own languages speaking about God’s deeds of power.” (Acts 2) Why did Luke, the author of Acts write all this? To let us know, to show us the diversity of people who were there. That God had brought them all together with one language, one Spirit descended on them all and they all understood together in spite of their differences.
The Spirit of God unites, it does not divide. The Spirit of God should have the effect on each of us, on our community, our parish, the larger church, of unity. And if not, then what does that say?
I was reading an article this week in the Atlantic magazine entitled, “How Social Media Made America Stupid," Jonathan Haidt, May 2022, THEATLANTIC.COM. Mr. Haidt begins the article with the story of the Tower of Babel and uses the metaphor to describe what has happened to us as a nation. It was thought that these social media platforms would join us together, connect us, but instead it seems to have become a platform where the least educated argue adamantly with anyone who differs from them in emotionally charged interactions. You can even insult perfect strangers. Our different view points and backgrounds instead of uniting, have divided. When God came down and confused the languages and they were unable to understand one another’s speech. He argues this is what has happened to us, “We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.”
That should not be the case in the church. The Spirit of the Living God brings unity, caused the people in Acts to understand one another even speaking different languages.
The church must look, act, and be different from the world. We have the Spirit of God empowering us to be so.
Back to my maybe unhealthy infatuation with fire. Metaphor or reality, the fire given by God that does not consume but gives us strength. The Spirit.
May we pray for another Pentecost. Where differences are bridged and we are able to hear and understand one another, because we have the Spirit of God. Amen.