GROWING IN THE LORD

Today is Pentecost. Pentecost is the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Although God’s power does work through us individually, that is not what we celebrate today. The celebration of Pentecost is all about the creation of the church of Jesus Christ. Scripture is clear, the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the COMMUNITY OF FAITH.

Pentecost, then, celebrates the symbolic beginning of our faith community created by, nurtured by, and continually sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit. In a very real sense then, today is the church’s birthday. Just as our birthdays remind us that our lives had a definite beginning - that we were created - so also Pentecost reminds us that the church is a creation of God’s power and does not belong to us, but remains God’s possession not ours!

Moreover, the church is not this building. The church is not the sum total of our mission dollars. The church is not the various programs of ministry it offers. The church is not the formal list of membership maintained by the Session. All of these things, while they are important parts of the church - they are not the church. Rather, all of these things grow from what the church really is - a holy fellowship of God’s children redeemed by grace continually sustained and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

Now, fellowship is an intangible notion. It is more than just socializing, but it is something less than formal instruction. We can point to its effects, but we cannot accurately measure it. Fellowship is relationships, and relationships are inherently fluid and intangible. Even so, it is a relatively easy matter to point to the tangible effects of fellowship: Specific programs, membership lists, budgets, buildings, etc. However, these things are not the church: They are the result of the Holy Spirit working among us creating relationships which are grounded in our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is to this basic relational character of the church that our evangelist Luke sought to point as he recounted the events of Pentecost. Struggling to understand how the church can be the church; struggling to understand the power which forms us and connects us to one another and to our Lord Jesus Christ, Luke tells us the incredible story of Pentecost; a story of tongues of fire and of the disciples speaking in foreign languages.

For me, the historical veracity of these events is of less importance than the theological truth they communicate. The primary, or first, truth Pentecost reveals is that the power of the Holy Spirit eliminates and reverses all the divisions we human beings have created between us. Through the gift of the Spirit God’s power can erase the barriers of race, culture, generational gaps, and language which exist among God’s children.

Certainly, as the disciples spoke in the native tongues of different people to share the good news of God’s love and forgiveness revealed in Jesus Christ, Luke intended for us to understand that the divisions among us are no barrier to God. The power of the Holy Spirit overcomes all things and creates us as one people before God.

Secondly, the events of Pentecost reveal for us the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to be with us and to empower us to serve as God’s children. The images of Pentecost, the rushing wind, tongues of fire, and universal discernment, are symbolic of the Spirit’s presence in the church.

Pentecost, then, is really a celebration of power; God’s power at work in the world. The pertinent question for us is, “Do we have this power? Have we received the power which the disciples received?”

YES! Through the symbolic waters of baptism the promise of the Holy Spirit has been extended to each of us, just as we have extended it to Jennifer this morning. The waters of baptism poured over us in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are a symbol of the gift of the Spirit. As we are baptized, Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit is extended to us individually. Yet that promise, Pentecost reminds us, is intended to be experienced communally.

Now, some 20 centuries after Pentecost, we still have the power of the Holy Spirit moving among us. It is this power which creates and re-creates our faith daily. It is this power which creates and re-creates our relationships with one another and with our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is this power which has brought each of us to worship this morning.

Truly, the power of Holy Spirit working among us and through us is what empowers us to tell God’s story, it is what empowers and emboldens us to be Christ’s witnesses in a world hungry to hear his story. It is the foundation and context for the web of relationships we call church. The church, as a community of faith, is that place where people grow and are nurtured in faith as children of God.

This is the core of what we are celebrating today; that through the gift of the Holy Spirit we are made a community of faith and bonded together not just by human love and concern, but through the grace of God.

Let us then continue to grow in our baptismal identity as children of God. Let us continue to seek the leading of Holy Spirit as we grow in the Lord. So may it be. Amen.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

Pentecost 2006

June 4, 2006

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC