Homily by Nancy Greenfield for Pentecost 2006

We are very familiar with the Acts account of the coming of the Spirit. We describe it as the day the church was born. Pentecost is our yearly reminder of who we are as a people and the gift God has given us and continues to give us so that we can complete the work of making us a church.
Sometimes, when I think of the phrase “The Birthday of the Church”, I have this crazy image of a bird (well not just any bird, a dove….) descending upon that upper room with the code of Canon Law in a long, long papyrus, clutched in its mouth. In short, I, too, often think of Pentecost as the establishment of the corporate and juridical structures of the church which are still in effect to this day. Nothing could be further from the truth! The Spirit of God did not descend on an institution; the Spirit of God descended on people –Peter, James. John, Mary, and others.

When the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that house, the tongues of fire were not organizational directives, but a source of strength for the events that lay ahead—gifts of wisdom, understanding, compassion, fortitude, justice, piety.

The mighty roar of wind was the sound of Jesus filling his disciples with the energy of his resurrected new life—giving them hope, courage energy, vision. But not giving them a road map.

The ability to speak in tongues was not a parlor trick bestowed on the apostles so they could assert their superiority over those around them. The fact that each listener heard the apostles speaking in his or her own language was a sign to them and to us that as followers of Christ, we in the church are called to put an end to divisions which separate us, to work together with whatever gifts we have been given for the betterment of all.
We see signs of our need for this Spirit everywhere:
from the fractures in our own beings and communities,
the divide between the haves and the have-nots,
the abuse of the very planet we live on,
and especially, the divisions among the people of God. On serious issues: papal power, sacraments, the Lord’s Supper, contraception, homosexuality, abortion, who are allowed be priests, and more, we disagree with others inside and outside our walls. (Burghardt: To be Just is to Love),
Impossible to overcome, you might say.
But let me propose a start. I go back to an old document from the Second Vatican Council, some 40 years ago which said: ”Christians should also work together in the use of every possible means to relieve the afflictions of our times, such as famine and natural disasters, illiteracy and poverty, lack of housing and the unequal distribution of wealth. Through such cooperation, all believers in Christ are able to learn easily how they can understand each other better and esteem each other more and how the road to Christian Unity may be made smooth”(Decree on Ecumenism) (Burghardt, Ibid)
Wishful thinking, you say? Look at how far the Peninsula Interfaith Action group has come in a few short years.

Pentecost is a birthday celebration not only because we commemorate the occasion of the gift of the spirit, but also because we rejoice in the understanding that the Spirit has been with us and continues to be so. Whatever builds and shapes the community is a sign of the Spirit's presence. So, we see the fruits of the Spirit in wise leaders, courageous prophetic voices, elderly seers, musicians, painters, poets, defenders of the vulnerable, happy children learning about God, gifted preachers and spiritual advisors. We also know the Spirit is at work among those in our community who are examples of prayer, compassion, tenderness and welcome.
The Spirit is present too when the sick are nurtured, healed; the sad comforted and we are in solidarity with the needy.
Jesus is continuously present to us, through his Spirit.
Without the Spirit's animation in our church, this would not be the case and our Christian life would be impossible.
(J BOLL, FI PENTECOST 2004)

But let us not forget that Pentecost is not just about the institutional church—out there, all very nice, and so forth. Pentecost is about us—you and me. I have decided that if Pentecost doesn’t bother us personally, then we have missed the point.
If Pentecost DOES bother us, because we feel the mighty wind and literally get blown away by a new awareness of God’s presence in our everyday lives;
if Pentecost bothers us because we see our old notions of how the world ought to work go up in flames;
if Pentecost bothers us because we begin to cut through the babble of consumerism, rugged individualism, national self-interest, the babble of hatred, violence and self-indulgence and hear the steady voice of God saying to us such things as:
“Feed my lambs, feed my sheep”.
Or: “I have no body now but yours”,
or: “Do you love me?”

Then we have every right to be bothered and afraid—in the words of Elmer Fudd, “vewwy vewwy afraid.”

The Spirit of God, you see, cannot be harnessed, domesticated, owned. She blows where and when she will.
The greater our sense of control over our lives and our personal environment, the more whimsical and illogical seems the miracle of God’s grace.
And once we acknowledge the reality of the Spirit in our lives, we cannot go back to who we were.
Scary.

Then there is the sheer weight of the responsibility that this gift of the Spirit lays on us. When we breathe in God’s love and grace, we must also breathe it out. Just try inhaling without exhaling, and you will se what I mean.
We must not simply receive, we must respond. And that response cannot always be a nice comfortable little set of pius platitudes that offend no one and cost nothing. Look at where the spirit led those in that house on Pentecost.

Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

No one knew this better than Jesus. He said to the disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”
There always seems to be something in my own life that offers resistance to The Spirit: fear of the unknown, a certain measure of placid self-contentment, inertia, whatever. What I sometimes forget is that the Spirit of God, if we let her into our hearts, GRADUALLY shapes and transforms us—GRADUALLY aligns us to God’s will.
What I sometimes forget, is that the Spirit of God is kind and gentle, understanding and, yes, quick to give me a second chance. Or a third. Or more.

There is a Latin hymn we used to sing and occasionally still do, “Veni Sancte Spiritus.” In the hymn we pray, “Come Holy Spirit,” in other words, we are aware of some absence or incomplete presence of the Spirit in ourselves or in our church community. We know God is always with us, yet the hymn-prayer acknowledges our lacking and our need for the Spirit to bring completion.

Come, Exuberant Spirit of God
Flame
Wind
Speech.
Burn, breathe, speak in us.
Give us life, form us into your community and renew the face of the earth.

Happy birthday to us