Today's Scripture Readings
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
- `In the last days it will be, God declares,
- that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
- and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
- and your young men shall see visions,
- and your old men shall dream dreams.
- Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
- in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
- and they shall prophesy.
- And I will show portents in the heaven above
- and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
- The sun shall be turned to darkness
- and the moon to blood,
- before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
- Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "
Psalm 104 (BCP., p.735-737)
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (NRSV)
No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
John 20:19-23 (NRSV)
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Blog Reflection
In The Liturgy of the Hours: Volume II, Lenten Season and Easter Season, the Office of Readings for Pentecost, Saint Irenaeus wrote the following.
The Lord promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightening. (Pages 1025-1026).
I love this excerpt by St. Irenaeus with one exception. I do not agree that Baptism has liberated us "from change". If the Sacrament of Baptism does not change us to live into our Vows with greater love of God, neighbor and self, then Baptism is no different from our morning shower. We may cleanse the body, but the soul is without an important element for salvation. Conversion.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the early Church on that Day of Pentecost, suddenly they could be heard telling the story of God's salvation through Jesus Christ in their own native language. The story of God that had been kept within, was able to reach out to the ends of the earth. Those first women and men, who were Apostles were given the gift of faith by which they were empowered to share God's grace through the word and the Sacraments. Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh who was crucified, raised from the dead and now ascended into Heaven, had sent the Holy Spirit in abundance. The fragrance became a pleasant scent that pierced even the most congested life, full of death, hopelessness and despair. The hope of God continuing to bless all humankind in Christ, now had a new element to humankind, yet ever present in the Triune relationship of God with God's Self. The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit represents the feminine nature of God. She is the Advocate. The Comforter. She continues to lead the Church "into all truth" (John 16:13). She also continues to call and speak through those Baptized into the Name of the Holy Trinity, to be examples of Jesus' compassion and hope for the poor, the sick, the oppressed and those stigmatized by the Church and society.
In the Noonday Office, we pray:
Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts, to
direct and rule us according to your will, to comfort us in all
our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into
all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.107).
I think a really good prayer for us to pray on this Day of Pentecost is: Holy Spirit, what language do you wish to speak through us?
Those Apostles though they were imperfect and had many doubts, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and given the ability to speak Her language in their native dialects. With in every language is a unique culture and receptivity for hearing the Gospel message of love. In every understanding of Jesus and His work on behalf of the marginalized and destitute, is the movement of the Holy Spirit calling the whole Church to a deeper sense of unconditional love amidst diversity and expressions of the Christian Faith. The Holy Spirit calls each of us to not become too comfortable in our current situation, but allow God to displace us to speak of God's acceptance and liberation of people who are different from ourselves; based on the reason of our unique experience of God in our own lives. To let go of our prejudices, and to see the face of Jesus with reverence and respect for the dignity of every human person.
As the Church and society struggles with everything from immigration reform, better gun control laws, funding for the unemployed, to those who need food stamps, education, protection from the laws that discriminate on the basis of gender expression/identity, sexual orientation, race, culture, religion and so forth; God the Holy Spirit is empowering us to emulate that all human persons be respected and cherished as God's holy people. God's holy ones endowed by God's image and likeness and redeemed for the hope of prosperity, wholeness of life and the liberty of God's adopted daughters and sons in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 1:5).
On this Pentecost Day, may the Church be open to the work of the Spirit in our time, community and homes to speak Her language with clarity of speech, and hope for all who long for the grace of God to liberate all of us from division, to oneness of heart and soul.
Amen.
Prayers
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life
to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy
Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the
preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the
earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.227).
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful
people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all
things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.227)
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.818).
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