This morning, we gather as the people of God for the date in the Christian year that is considered the “birthday” of the Christian church. On the first Pentecost, almost 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit of God came to earth and filled the followers of Jesus. Jesus was no longer on earth with them, and instead each of them, each of us, are infused with a little bit of the Spirit of God – the power of God – the wisdom of God – the energy of God. The Holy Spirit is the guiding power within each of us that empowers us to act with fierce bravery as we do God’s work in the world.
Our first reading describes how the Holy Spirit first came to earth – our second reading lists the traits and attitudes the Spirit encourages us to embrace. Listen now to the word of God as we read first from the Acts of the Apostles and then from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians.
The Scripture Acts 2: 1-4; Galatians 5:16-23
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each otheAmen.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the kingdom of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray….
The Sermon Pentecost and the Fruits of the Spirit
When we baptise people at Trinity, we invoke the Holy Spirit – we remember Jesus’ baptism when he was dunked in water and the Holy Spirit filled him, and then we invite the Holy Spirit to bless the baptismal waters. After we pour the water on the person being baptised, the pastor says: “May the Holy Spirit be upon you, child of God, disciple of Christ, and member of the Church.” At this moment, we believe the Holy Spirit enters the person being baptised.
Our baptisms are more about the Holy Spirit pouring into the person being baptised than they are really about the water – the water is the symbol, the Holy Spirit is the real presence of God in our midst and in the person being baptised.
We are Holy Spirit people. Before Jesus came to earth, although the Holy Spirit was present, everyone could not access it. When we read the Old Testament, we read of special people who were Holy Spirit-filled – people like Moses and Abraham and Sarah and Elijah. But, everyone did not have access to the Holy Spirit.
That changed when Jesus came to earth. Before Jesus left his disciples and Ascended to heaven, he told them he was returning to God and the Holy Spirit would soon appear and “be upon them” so they would have the power and authority to take his message to all people of the world.
On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit appeared to the Disciples who were gathered together, filled them, and gave the the first of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the ability to speak in new languages. They were the first Christians who were called to share the Good News of Jesus with the world – it was therefore important that they were given extra communication abilities and skills….they needed to know new languages so they could explain the good news to people in a manner they could understand.
The Holy Spirit has been among us since that day. And, some of us are still giving the gifts of languages – some people are able to learn other tongues with ease.
In St Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians, there is another list of the gifts the Holy Spirit shares with us – the fruits of the Holy Spirit are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Each of these attributes are attributes of God – as followers of God, we are called to reflect God’s fruitful attributes to others – we are called to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. This list is aspirational – we are called to work on embodying these attributes. They are listed after another list of behaviors we are called to avoid – Christians are in the world, and we face the same temptations to misbehave as everyone else. But, we are called to have self-control and work to embody God’s Fruits of better-behavior.
The Holy Spirit came to earth to fill the first Christians so they had the gifts they needed to do the work at hand – they were spreading the word of God to new people every day. They were the first people to live Chrsitian lifestyles – to work to embody God’s Fruits of the Spirit in the world.
The Christian church may be almost 2000 years old, but we still have work to do. In fact, when we listen to the news and talk to our neighbors, it seems like we have more and more work to do all the time. The Holy Spirit is here in our midst, here in our hearts, and is giving us the courage and the endurance to take on the work at hand. Maybe the work we need to do is very personal – perhaps we need to repair broken relationships, perhaps we need to build bridges with neighbors, perhaps we need to work on forgiving ourselves or others. Maybe the work we need to do is wider reaching – volunteer at the Daily Bread, participate in a fundraising walk or run, travel to help rebuild houses destroyed by a natural disaster. We all have options of ways we can do God’s work with the skills and abilities we have now.
For almost 2000 years, we have been blessed to have the Holy Spirit present in our midst, in our lives, and in our hearts. Let us work to embody the fruits of the Holy Spirit, live bravely and work to serve God in all the ways we can.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment