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SUNDAY
THE PROMISED SPIRIT
Acts 2: 1-6; John7: 37-44
Today with Christians all over the world we celebrate Pentecost. I invite you to use your imagination and look with me at three pictures.
The first picture is from the 7th chapter of John's gospel. Jesus was teaching in the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. That religious festival was celebrated for a week. It was much like our Thanksgiving. It marked the end of the years work and the harvest safely gathered in. People waved branches and sang and danced before the Lord with exuberant joy. Each day of the festival a priest carried water in golden bowl from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple. This was done in a great procession with trumpets blowing. At the Temple the water was poured into a bowl on the altar. This was an enacted prayer for rain to ensure a bountiful harvest the following year. In a dry land water was a very precious gift from God.
In John 7:37-39 we read, "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Who ever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive…"
Rabbis sit to teach. This time Jesus stood so his voice would carry further and he would be heard by the great crowd in the Temple courtyard. With everyone thinking about water, Jesus spoke about thirst and invited all who would to come to him and drink. He was not speaking about physical thirst, but about the thirst of the soul for God. The people had been thinking about the rain needed for abundant crops. Jesus reminded them that we do not live by bread alone. We have a deeper need that food and drink can never satisfy.
Jesus told the crowd, "whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him."
We might expect the Lord to say, "Into his heart I will pour living water" Jesus said, "streams of living water will flow from within him.
The fountain of living water is within us. The source of real life is within.
We know that. Despite all the advertizing that attempts to seduce us, we know that meaning and fulfillment are not guaranteed by big bank accounts, fast cars or expensive clothes. If you want true meaning in life and lasting joy, you have to find it within yourself.
You will be deeply disappointed if you depend on outward circumstances and other people. Circumstances and people change. True happiness and peace are found only within.
In Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus promised his Spirit would be within us like a spring of water renewing, refreshing and giving us life.
The second picture is found in the second chapter of the Acts when our Lord's promise was fulfilled. This picture is also in Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost. The name Pentecost means "the fiftieth". It was celebrated fifty days after Passover. Pentecost celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses, and it was a harvest thanksgiving festival for the first of the barley crop. It was a national holiday. No work was done, so there were great crowds in Jerusalem for the celebration.
The disciples stayed in Jerusalem after our Lord's Ascension. At Pentecost God acted with power and changed their lives. They heard the sound like a mighty wind that filled the house. They saw what looked like tongues of fire resting on each of them. They began speaking in other tongues. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. The life-giving, dynamic Spirit of the Living Christ entered them. He empowered them to witness to him in Jerusalem and in all the world.
At Pentecost the disciples were transformed by the Spirit of Christ. They were empowered to witness to the life, death and resurrection of Christ. They experienced the presence of Christ. Not only was he alive, he lived in them. On fire with the love of God they went out with confidence and power to preach the gospel, to tell the story of Jesus and his love.
Pentecost was the birthday of the Church. Those ordinary people were made extraordinary by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was the dynamic power of God working in them and through them.
The little company of Christians grew larger as more and more people found salvation and life in Christ. And so it continued down the centuries. Sometimes the church was persecuted. In some places she was annihilated. At other times and in other places she grew and prospered.
Generation after generation the gospel was proclaimed, believed and lived. We are part of that mighty company of ordinary people made extraordinary by the Spirit.
Which brings me to the third picture, the church on Vancouver Island.
It could be any place in North America, probably any place in the English speaking world.
The Church is no longer persecuted, we are ignored. The Church, the Bible, Jesus Christ and God are not deemed relevant or important. We live in what is called the post Christian era.
We need to figure out ways to live and speak the gospel that are relevant to people in the twenty-first century. To do this we must open ourselves to the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
The most common sign of the Spirit is the white dove. This is the symbol used in Scripture. At our Lord's baptism the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. The dove is an attractive symbol. In the Middle Ages they released hundreds of doves in the great churches at Pentecost, a sign of God`s living presence. They stopped this practice because the birds rained down more than light and peace on the heads of the congregation.
The ancient Celtic Church had another symbol for the Holy Spirit, the wild goose. Yes, a loud, noisy, brash, aggressive goose. I think our Celtic ancestors had it right. Wild geese are not tamed or controlled. They fly away honking. They attack any who threaten them. They fly together in perfect formation, making a raucous noise when we want peace and serenity.
What a great symbol for the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes to the Church demanding to be heard and disturbing our complacency.
In vain we try to tame and contain the Spirit. He is always breaking out in new ways, forcing the church to face new challenges. The noisy goose of Pentecost settles on disciples in every age and of every age. He makes them fighters for justice, teachers combating ignorance, doctors overcoming disease. He gives ordinary people extraordinary lives filled to overflowing with Christ`s love and peace.
When you hear a flock of geese honking overhead think of the Spirit of Pentecost. Think of your life as disciple filled with the Spirit of Christ. Consider what the Spirit is urging you to be and do for Christ our Lord.
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Lord, by your Spirit continue to chase us and snap at our heels until we become the church you want us to be. Amen
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