Pentecost 2018
Unedited Pentecost sermon that would have been given at Trinity, Apalachicola on Sunday, May 20, 2018 had I been there.
Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.. You may be seated.
“You shall be witnesses unto me,” and sure enough, here we are, witnesses for Jesus! Though I forget details, I recall a Sunday here twenty-five or thirty years ago, we had a church growth planning session. Maybe with the vestry, or small groups, or a group of interested folks, I’m not sure - - we were using guidelines from the bishop, and the word “witness” was in the package. One of you, I do not remember who it was (well, yes I do remember but never mind), one of you objected strongly, strenuously to the word “witness” in what we were discussing, planning and preparing, saying it made him/her uncomfortable, squirmy, too touchy-feely, conjured up Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on the door, wanting to come in, explain the Bible and sign you up - - so we took it out and did not describe our task as “witnessing.”
Without deluding myself that “witness” has since become appealing to Episcopalians, I hope that in the two decades I’ve been gone from here - - that you of Trinity Church have been strong witnesses for Jesus in Apalachicola, and in Eastpoint, and on StGeorge Island, and in all Franklin County, and to the ends of the Panhandle. I am confident you have been, and are, though I do not know all the ways - - and that you will be witnesses for Jesus far into your future - - which stays in front of us even as we worship here this morning in what was once our future. And in one sense - - at least from a clergy point of view - - the future of Trinity Church that began anew with Father Sid Ellis’s retirement, and again with my retirement, and again with Father Joe’s retirement, your future now again begins anew with Martha’s retirement, and welcoming your new priest as thirty-four years ago this summer you welcomed Linda, Tass and me to fourteen happy years of life, love, ministry and witness that were a Golden Age of my life. Your new priest will find Trinity Church a powerful witness for Jesus in this community. - - And each of you personally, a witness for Jesus even if the thought makes you squirm.
That’s nice to say and think, but what does it mean? On the Day of Pentecost, what does it mean, both personally and as the community of Jesus People here, what does it mean “to witness for Jesus”?
Well, fundamentally, if you are baptized, the Holy Spirit has come upon you - - such that at the very least, you never lose sight of your “deal” with God, and are daily, hourly, constantly mindful to keep your side of the agreement. The agreement is your baptismal covenant. A covenant is a contract, you have a contract with God, did you know that, or do you pay no attention at all to what we say, to what you say, in liturgy, the words of worship?!
Do you think about what it means to be a Christian, a baptized Christian? What is a Christian?
A Christian is not a person who can tell you “when they were saved.” A Christian is not someone who walks down the aisle to accept Christ as personal savior so as to make themselves “as sure for heaven as if they were already there” (what σκύβαλον, μη γενοιτο): Christianity is not banal, selfish and absurd self-salvation.
A Christian is a person who, in spite of doubt, decides to confess certain things about Jesus anyway, is baptized into the community of Jesus People - - “Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that those who here are cleansed from sin and Born Again may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior” - - baptized into the community of Jesus People, committing, promising, covenanting, contracting with God to live life in a certain way, specifically, the Way of the Cross. A Christian is a person who is walking the Way of the Cross as Jesus did. Christianity is putting other people’s needs above our own fears. Christianity is the lovingkindness of living and dying for others because Jesus did and for no other reason.
The Holy Spirit - - coming upon us at baptism (as we say) - - the Holy Spirit is not a new phenomenon. In the beginning of creation, Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God, moved over the face of the waters. In the wilderness with Moses, the Spirit came upon Eldad and Medad (Numbers 11:26). In the time of Judges, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel (Judges 3:10), and upon Gideon (Judges 6:34). King Saul was filled with the Spirit of God (1 Samuel 10). King David was filled with the Sprit of the Lord (1Sam 16:13). The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at baptism (Mark 1:10 et al). Saint Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. The words change slightly, we can and do swing back and forth between Hebrew in the original Bible, and Greek in the Septuagint (the Greek language Bible of Jews and God-fearers in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and Galilee in Jesus’ time), and Greek in the New Testament, back and forth among Hebrew and Greek and our English translations, but it’s all the same Holy Spirit, that presence whom Christian doctrine oddly and incomprehensibly defines as the Third Person of the Godhead, whom Christian art likes to show sitting at table sharing a cup of tea with God the Father and God the Son (a frankly odd metaphor), odd as the Trinity Triangle I’ll be preaching back home NEXT Sunday morning. Who or what is this Holy Spirit - - that filled people of the Bible then, and today fills you to the brim at baptism and never leaves, never runs out? To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be enthused (NT Greek, en Theos, literally God in you, the Creating God within you) - - In a religious mountaintop experience (and I have been there) the Holy Spirit so consuming you with God’s own enthusiasm that you are changed into a new person, divinely inspired, God-possessed.
The Holy Spirit is not some shadowy, mysterious third party lurking, waiting to pounce like a crouching lion, but is God within you, ready to be released. Released for what? Released as “God’s help,” to help you keep your baptismal vows, live into your baptismal covenant, “I will, with God’s help.” Hail thee, festival day, it’s Pentecost, come, Holy Ghost, we need a refresher. Let’s do it again. Right now.
First the holy water. Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that those who here are cleansed from sin and Born Again may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Next, the Baptismal Covenant is found in the Book of Common Prayer at page 292. Page 292, as we stand.
And now as you remain standing, the Aspergillum: sprinkling with holy water of Baptism.
The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
Last picture thanks to Isaac, Emily, Owen, Matilda