Pentecost Sunday cycle C

PENTECOST
THE WEATHER IS GETTING WARMER. ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU AND I WILL HAVE THAT STANDARD SUMMER EXPERIENCE. WE WILL OPEN THE DOOR TO OUR CAR AND BE MET WITH A BLAST OF HOT, STALE AIR. THE INTERIOR OF THE CAR WILL BE SWELTERING. AND THEN WE WILL OPEN THE WINDOW, AND A LITTLE AIR WILL BEGIN TO CIRCULATE IN THE CAR, AND GRADUALLY IT WILL BE COOLER; AND WE WILL CATCH LITTLE SMELLS, SMELLS OF FLOWERS, OF CUT GRASS, PROBABLY A LITTLE TOUCH OF EXHAUST FROM PASSING CARS – BUT THE AIR WHICH HAD BEEN A DEAD WEIGHT WILL COME ALIVE.
AT THE FIRST PENTECOST, THE APOSTLES WERE IN A ROOM. WE ARE TOLD THAT THEY HAD EVERYTHING CLOSED OFF; THEY WERE FRIGHTENED. JERUSALEM GETS HOT, AND THE ROOMS THAT PEOPLE BUILT IN THOSE DAYS WERE QUITE SMALL; AND IF THERE WERE WINDOWS THEY WERE SMALL AS WELL; AND PEOPLE DIDN'T BATHE NEARLY AS OFTEN AS WE DO, AND IN THAT LITTLE ROOM IT WASN'T MUCH DIFFERENT, I THINK, FROM THE INSIDE OF A CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER. THEY WERE SWELTERING; THE BODY ODOR WAS UNPLEASANT, AND THEIR NATURAL REACTION TO THE HEAT WAS PROBABLY EXAGGERATED BY THEIR FEAR. THEY MUST HAVE THOUGHT THEY WERE IN HELL.
AND THEN A WIND RUSHES UPON THEM, AND THE HOT AIR BECOMES COOL, AND THERE ARE TONGUES OF FLAME ABOVE THEIR HEADS, AND THE FEAR THEY EXPERIENCED SEEMS TO BE BUT A DISTANT MEMORY. AND THEY CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT AND PROCLAIM WHAT HAS HAPPENED, SPEAKING NOT IN HEBREW OR ARAMAIC, BUT IN THE VERY LANGUAGE OF GOD, A LANGUAGE THAT ALL CAN UNDERSTAND. AND THE CHURCH WAS BORN.
A LITTLE GIRL WAS IN HER ROOM AT NIGHT AND CALLED FOR HER MOTHER. “I'M SCARED!” SHE EXCLAIMED. HER MOTHER REMINDED HER THAT SHE SHOULD NOT BE SCARED, GOD WAS THERE, AND HE WAS EVERYWHERE. “I KNOW GOD IS HERE,” SHE REPLIED, “BUT SOMETIMES I NEED SOMEONE WITH SKIN ON.”
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY, IS GOD PUTTING SKIN ON. HE IS THE ONE WHO LIVES IN US AND PROMPTS US TO CARRY OUT THE WORK THAT JESUS STARTED. I THINK ONE OF THE INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THAT WE HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME GRASPING WHAT HE IS ALL ABOUT. WE CAN TALK ABOUT GOD THE FATHER AS CREATOR, AND WE SEE IN OUR MIND'S EYE A DIGNIFIED FIGURE WITH A LONG WHITE BEARD. WE HAVE MANY IMAGES OF JESUS, AND MANY OF US FOCUS MOST OF OUR WORSHIP TOWARDS THIS SECOND PERSON IN THE GODHEAD, WHOM WE CAN IDENTIFY WITH, BECAUSE HE WALKED THE EARTH AND LITERALLY HAS BEEN WHERE WE ALL HAVE BEEN AND WILL GO; HE HAS BEEN AN EMBRYO, A NEWBORN, A CHILD, A TEENAGER, A YOUNG ADULT, AND HE HAS SUFFERED AND DIED, AND EVEN GONE INTO THE REALM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH.
BUT THE SPIRIT? OUR MINDS DO NOT READILY COME UP WITH SATISFACTORY IMAGES; A DOVE? A FLAME? A WIND? WATER? BUT HE IS A PERSON, WHO THINKS, FEELS, ACTS, AND LOVES; BUT WE ARE HIS SKIN. HE PROMPTS US, COMFORTS US, GIVES US COURAGE, PUTS WORDS INTO OUR MOUTHS, AND THE MORE WE LET HIM TAKE OVER OUR LIVES, THE MORE POWERFUL WE BECOME IN DOING THE WORKS OF JESUS. THESE ARE WONDERFUL IDEAS, RIGHT? THEN WHY AREN'T WE MORE AWARE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? WHERE ARE HIS WORKS, THE WORKS WHICH SEEMED TO PERMEATE THE EARLY CHURCH, THE POWER THAT MADE THE EARLY CHURCH SO STRONG, THAT GAVE PEOPLE THE COURAGE TO TRAVEL TO DISTANT LANDS TO CARRY THE GOSPEL MESSAGE; TO JOIN MONASTERIES OR RELIGIOUS ORDERS DEVOTED TO LIVING THE GOSPEL MORE PERFECTLY, TO EVEN BE WILLING TO DIE FOR THE SAKE OF JESUS?
THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS THOSE IN WHICH HE LIVES, YOU AND I, TO SURRENDER OURSELVES TO HIM, TO LET HIM LEAD US. THE MORE WE DO THIS, THE GREATER THE WORKS THAT HE CAN ACHIEVE WITH US. BUT WE HAVE A TERRIBLE TIME SURRENDERING. FOR ONE THING, WE HATE CHANGE, WE HATE THE UNKNOWN. WE CLING TO THE ILLUSION THAT WE ARE IN CONTROL OF OUR LIVES, EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW WE AREN'T. WE WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE, ABOUT HOW PEOPLE LOOK AT US, ABOUT OUR COMFORTS, OUR PLANS, OUR HOBBIES AND OUR JOBS. WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT – JESUS PROMISED – BUT WE FIGHT HIM RATHER THAN SURRENDERING TO HIM.
BUT HERE WE ARE ON PENTECOST SUNDAY, CELEBRATING THE HOLY SPIRIT, CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH. WE ARE IN A ROOM, AND THE AIR IS STILL. THE WALLS AND THE WINDOWS AND DOORS KEEP THE OUTSIDE OUT AND THE INSIDE IN. MAYBE THE AIR IS A LITTLE STUFFY. MAYBE WE ARE UNCERTAIN, AND DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. MAYBE WE ARE AFRAID OF WHAT WE WILL FIND WHEN WE GET OUT THERE.
BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HERE! JESUS GAVE THE SPIRIT TO THE CHURCH ON THAT PENTECOST SUNDAY 2000 YEARS AGO, AND THE SPIRIT IS STILL HERE! DESPITE POOR LEADERS AND EVEN POORER FOLLOWERS, DESPITE PERSECUTION AND COMPETING RELIGIONS, DESPITE WIDESPREAD AND INCREASING SECULARISM, THE CHURCH IS STILL HERE, STILL POSSESSING THE SPIRIT THAT MOVED OVER THE WATERS AT THE BEGINNING OF CREATION, THAT INSPIRED THE PROPHETS, THAT WORKED MIRACLES THROUGH THE APOSTLES, AND THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD. THAT SAME SPIRIT IS IN YOU AND IN I, AND JESUS REFERRED TO HIM AS THE PARACLETE, AND FUNDAMENTALLY, THAT MEANS HELPER; HE LIVES IN US TO HELP US, TO LIGHT A FIRE IN US, TO TAKE OUR HUMANITY AND MAKE IT DIVINE. WHAT A GIFT JESUS GAVE US.
DO YOU FEEL A LITTLE BREEZE? BE STILL AND SENSE IT; MAYBE IT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT, MOVING AMONG US, AS HE DID AMONG THE APOSTLES. SURRENDER TO HIM; TELL HIM THAT YOU WANT HIM TO DIRECT YOUR LIFE; TELL HIM THAT YOU WANT HIS HELP TO REMOVE ALL THE BARRIERS BETWEEN YOU, THAT YOU ARE SORRY FOR YOUR SINS, YOUR SELFISHNESS, YOUR FOOLISH DELUSION THAT YOU ARE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE.
IS THE BREEZE GETTING A LITTLE STRONGER? IS THERE A TINY MOVEMENT IN YOUR HEART THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT JESUS? THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO BRING SOMEONE YOU LOVE CLOSER TO JESUS? THAT'S THE HOLY SPIRIT! LET HIM MOVE YOU!
IS THERE SOMETHING IN YOUR HEART THAT WANTS THE EUCHARIST? IS THERE A PART OF YOU THAT WANTS TO SPEAK YOUR DEEPEST SECRETS, YOUR HIDDEN FEARS, TO GOD YOUR FATHER? ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PRAY IN YOU TO THE FATHER, BECAUSE HE DOES THAT AS WELL.
MAY WE ALL FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US AND AMONG US ON THIS PENTECOST. COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME!