Defensive Christianity is not a Biblical idea.

 

PENTECOST  C  2022

Pentecost arrived for the disciples after fifty days of uncertainty.  True, Jesus had risen.  Overjoyed, they had seen him, listened to his words and even shared a meal with him.  Yet they had not overcome their doubts and fears.  They still met behind locked doors.

This leads us to ask what fears do we have that we have not overcome and that keep us behind locked doors?  A fear I have is that parishioners who have been faithful members of Holy Spirit and St Joseph’s before the pandemic now have just gotten used to not coming to Church and no longer have a need or a desire to participate in our weekly celebration of the Eucharist. I wish to try to understand the spiritual journey of another but I fear we can lose sight that the heart and soul of our parish life is the weekly celebration of the Eucharist.  There is no substitute in the spiritual life to replace encountering the Lord in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  In Eucharist we allow, we welcome the Lord deep within our spirit.

What makes the Church of the Holy Spirit our spiritual home is our sacramental life and most especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  It is the presence of Jesus within us that gives life to our parish community.  To lose sight of this reality is my fear I wrestle with.

But thanks be to God, In the great Feast of Pentecost, God is born again not in one body that was Jesus but in a body of believers that is the Church.  Pentecost is the Feast of the birth of the Church.  The Spirit of the Risen Christ is in the Body of believers, in the community of the baptized, in the whole Church.

The feast of Pentecost brings to a close the season of Easter because the gift of the Spirit is the inevitable outcome of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The church understood clearly that what happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday was not just an amazing miracle to prove that he really was the Son of God. It was rather the next step in God’s desire to heal, once and for all, the relationship between himself and a broken humanity. Now the outpouring of the Spirit of Jesus means that our relationship with God is fundamentally transformed. So, let’s celebrate of our new life in the Spirit and the birthday of the church as the new people of God.

Initially the disciples were locked in the upper room out of fear.  On the Day of Pentecost those locked doors were thrown open; the fear in the disciples was replaced with a Spirit-filled courage and enthusiasm.  They were now fearless proclaimers of the Word of God.

What had changed for the disciples?  They received the Holy Spirit.

The great truth of Pentecost – for the first disciples and for us as well – is that the Holy Spirit has the power to enlarge and expand the human heart if we allow the Spirit of Jesus to grow and enliven us from within.

In today’s first Scripture reading, we hear how the Holy Spirit was given to the followers of Jesus.   Listen again: “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled to proclaim.”

The great meaning of Pentecost is that it was time for God to be born again not in one body that was Jesus but this time in a body of believers who would receive the breath of life from their Lord and pass it to others.  We see how the growth of the Church took place with the influence of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles.  The Book of Acts is the story of the incredible growth of the first Christian communities.  The Acts of the Apostles is kind of like a Gospel of the Holy Spirit.  In the first four books of the New Testament, we learn the Good News of what God did through Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, we learn the Good News of what God did through the Holy Spirit.

The first and foremost attribute of the servant church is its daring openness to the Spirit.  It is our prayer that the Church make room for the release of the Spirit in the life of the community and the courage to act when it does.  We are not to fall back into being the safe and self-absorbed church, but rather a place of miraculous hope and extravagant hospitality.

God chose a young virgin named Mary to bear God’s Son, and Jesus chose a bunch of Galilean fishermen to share in His ministry.   God chooses you and me to hear his message of hope and promise and love in this place and in our world this day.

 Defensive Christianity is not a Biblical idea.  The posture of Christian disciples is not hiding in fear to protect ourselves.   No, the disciples are sent to proclaim the Good News of the love of Jesus to one and all.  St. Joseph’s and Holy Spirit are called to be sister parishes who help and serve and love one another.

In receiving the Holy Spirit, the first disciples received the gift of forgiveness.  They also were able to speak in tongues and so were understood by those listening.  There is a universal language in which everyone understands and embracing all difference: a language of forgiveness.  I think if we can forgive each other that action crosses all cultures and invites whoever is the Other to see us as brothers and sisters.

Now more than ever, we invoke the Holy Spirit to wipe away the darkness of anxiety allowing us to be guided by the light of Christ and to trust in God’s promise of new life.

Our Gospel today takes place on Easter evening.  On that first evening they were gathered in a house with the doors locked, because they were afraid – afraid of being killed, just as Jesus had been killed three days before.  But Jesus was among them, and He said: “Peace be with you.”  To this scared group of former followers, the Risen Christ begins by bringing the peace of God.

Filled with inner peace that only God can give, our hearts are like a deep sea, which remains peaceful, even when its surface is swept by waves.

On this day of Pentecost, may we pray for healing and unity for our Church and our nation as we now come to the Table of the Lord.  May we all commit ourselves to using our God-given giftedness in the service of one another. 

Have a Blessed Day.