Today we celebrate the festival of Pentecost. This was, and is, a Jewish festival which celebrated the giving of the Law to the Jewish people. On this day the Holy Spirit came upon that frightened group of apostles, filled them with power and enabled them to go and preach the good news to the people who were in Jerusalem at that time. People, we read, from many races, nations and languages. Pentecost is about many things, but particularly about the community that the Holy Spirit builds up, we call this community 'Church'.
Babel - Community Above Itself
In the reading before, just as worship started, we heard the myth of Babel from the early parts of the Book of Genesis. This myth was trying to explain why there are so many different languages on earth when we all are the same race, and when we call came from the same ancestors. The story tells us that the people tried to build a tower, perhaps like a Ziggurat which would reach up into the Heavens. The writer clearly thought this was a sign of a people who had got above themselves; a people who were trying to supplant God. As a result the writer describes God coming, destroying the tower and scattering the people throughout the world "confusing their languages". Of course modern linguists would dispute that the world's many languages have one root source.
Many Languages - One Mission
By contrast the story of the first Pentecost is about many people of different languages all hearing the clarity of the Gospel which Peter proclaims to them. The people who had been scattered and confused so long ago are now reached out to so that they can find the meaning and truth of the Gospel . The giving of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost had many different effects. The people there felt the presence of the Spirit as if God were a fire. They were filled with power and energy to overcome their fears and they were given a supernatural ability to speak other languages so that God could be glorified. As a result over 3,000 people were converted and this thing we call Church was born. It is a powerful statement that the Church is open to all types of people from many different backgrounds - indeed this is a key theme of the book of Acts from which our reading came.
So What is this Holy Spirit then?
In our life together we experience the Holy Spirit every time we come to worship. It is the Spirit who animates our prayer lives, who helps us come close to God. It is the Spirit who moves within us as we receive the various sacraments of the Church. The Holy Spirit allows us to experience the forgiveness that is ours and who lifts us up when we are down. The Spirit of God continues to guide us into all truth and leads us in our individual lives and in our life as a church.
On Good Friday the disciples felt that all was lost as Jesus died the death of a common criminal. On Easter Sunday the women told them of Jesus' resurrection and for the next forty days Jesus appeared amongst them, taught them to understand the Scriptures and confirmed all that he had taught them before his death. On Ascension Day Jesus bade them farewell and commissioned them to do his work of spreading the Gospel. On the Day of Pentecost Jesus continued his work through the Church.
Jesus' earthly ministry now happens through the Church - its quite a thought. We are now the arms and feet of Jesus to serve in this world, to love as Jesus loved, to try and change the world, to tell people that they can be forgiven, lifted from their shame and enabled to live whole and complete lives. We are now the presence of Jesus in the world - that's why we have been give the Holy Spirit who fills us with energy to do the work of Jesus.
The Spirit does all this so that we become a more faithful part of the Church where people come from all peoples and tribes and nations and languages - as on that first day of Pentecost which we celebrate today.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.