Pentecost Sunday
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104:25-35, 35, 37 Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
“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.” In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I think it’s safe to say from today’s readings that when the Holy Spirit shows up, something pretty amazing happens!
I absolutely love the imagery that is depicted in our reading from Ezekiel: a valley filled with bleach-white, dead, dead, dead bones. These are the remains of Israel’s army that had been slaughtered in battle and their bodies left to the animals and elements. There was nothing left but disjointed and scattered bones throughout the whole of the valley. And yet....the story tells us that Ezekiel is led by the hand of the Lord to this valley of dry bones in a vision and God asks Ezekiel, “Mortal, can these bones live?” at which point he is then commanded to prophesy to the bones and sure enough, there’s a noise, a rattling, and the bones come together. Not only were the bones back in place, sinews, flesh, and skin appear on these bones. But appearances can be deceiving; for there was no life in these newly rebuilt bodies. So God has Ezekiel prophesy to the wind, the Ruach Adoni, the Spirit of God, and the wind came and breathed into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. The Spirit showed up and an amazing thing happened!
From a portion of the Psalm appointed for today, the psalmist provides two very important claims: that God provides all creatures with the food they need and gives them the breath of life, both of which they must have in order to survive. This second claim draws us back to the second chapter of Genesis where God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. The Spirit showed up and an amazing thing happened!
The Spirit has been active in a variety of ways in Scripture. In Matthew’s Gospel, an angel visits Joseph in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. In Luke we have another angel assuring Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. We read in Mark’s Gospel about Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist and Jesus seeing the heavens being torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. John the Evangelist speaks of the Spirit as that of “the wind blowing wherever it chooses and you hear the sound of it but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” And in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus tells his disciples that they will be baptised by the Holy Spirit and that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and this power will propel them to become his witnesses in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When the Spirit showed up, amazing things happened.
In today’s reading from Acts, we find the disciples and other followers of Jesus frightened, anxious, and alone. The Spirit strikes suddenly, unexpectedly, frighteningly, like a mighty wind, and blows them out into the streets with multilingual speaking skills to which the only reasonable explanation is that they are drunk. The arrival of the Holy Spirit has stirred things up. Things have changed. New ways of being God’s people are now coming together. The Holy Spirit showed up and amazing, bewildering, perplexing, and astonishing things happened!
Jesus tells his disciples, including us, that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will convey power to his followers. This Spirit-driven power is the energy behind our ability to witness, to testify to what we have heard, seen, and experienced in our encounters with Jesus. This is the power that takes our witness into the streets of our community, to our family and friends, so that all might experience this wild, creative, energizing and breath-driven way of life. With the help of the Advocate, the one who “comes alongside us,” we
are empowered to testify to the truth that the way of Jesus, the way of love, compassion, hope, and wholeness is the way of real life, a life that questions and rejects many of the values of this world. We will not last long in the world without the Advocate’s help because we will no doubt be pushed and challenged by our witness. Gone are the days when the institutional church held sway and political power in the wider culture; it’s now our job as Spirit-filled Christians to carry this message of love, mercy, and life into the world that is filled with bleach-white bones. Many around us may look alive on the outside but are dead on the inside and probably don’t even know it.
We all share a connected moment that was led by the Spirit. I know I discussed this with the Bishop’s Committee during my interview. Once the bishop asked whether I might be interested in serving here, there wasn’t a day afterwards that I didn’t pray for guidance of the Spirit in discerning this potential opportunity. At the same time, the Bishop’s Committee was doing the exact same thing. I am convinced that I am here because the Spirit led both of us in discerning the will of God and how our individual hopes and dreams might come together. What really makes this a “Spirit story” is that we were each transparent as we articulated who we were and what we were looking for as you sought to call your next vicar. The Spirit moved and we’re experiencing some amazing times of growth and vitality.
My friends, Pentecost is a clear and resounding call for life and hope; We have spent the past 50 days remembering that Jesus died to free us from death and today we celebrate the arrival of the the Spirit that brings us life, a life that might very well have others wondering just what’s going on with us. This Spirit-infused life is mysterious. It cannot be controlled. Yet sometimes we can feel it inside us, driving us, directing us, comforting us, encouraging us to follow its lead. The Holy Spirit magnifies our own spirits, making us more of who we already are. Whether like the sound of a violent rushing wind, or the breeze through the trees, whether like a dove or like tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit is alive and well and stands ready to join us as witness to the life-saving power that shows the way of the cross to be
the way to life. When the Spirit shows up, amazing and life-altering things happen! Thanks be to God.