Romans 8:12-17
Matthew 5:1-16
“The Holy Spirit is not a blessing from
God. The Holy Spirit is God.” ~
Colin Urquhart
“The
counting [of 50 days from Passover to Pentecost in Judaism] is a reminder of the important connection
between the two holy feast days. Passover
freed Israel physically from
bondage, but the giving (not receiving) of the Torah at Sinai [which is the celebration of
Pentecost/Shavu’ot] redeemed Israel spiritually from bondage to idolatry and immorality. (www.jewfaq.org, “Judaism 101”)
They were shown that they are “more”.
Even in Christianity, Pentecost is still the Jewish
feast of Shavu’ot. It is not a brand-new
holy day created by Christianity, for the day still belongs to The Lord. He revealed Himself in His Covenant at Mt.
Sinai in His instruction to His people Israel, and He had revealed Himself yet
again in Jerusalem. And in that Holy
Moment, Pentecost became “more”.
So it is too bad this same important connection expressed
in Judaism is not more widely felt for the Christian celebration of Pentecost
as much as for Easter or Christmas because the Pentecost is yet another Divine
Promise fulfilled when our Lord assured His Church: “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
So following the celebration of Messiah ascending into
Heaven’s Glory, this is an important consideration for the Church today –
especially in answering the false notion that The Lord does not care for His
creation and does not interact in history or ministry … or in the Sacraments of
the Church. “I am with you always”.
Because we live in a largely post-Christian society (greatly diminished Church influence coupled
with Church pandering to secular values in a vain effort to be culturally
relevant or “popular”), taking note of these important days, how they are
connected in perpetuity, and what they mean to the entire world become all the more important to us who are called to
be “more”.
Pentecost, then, cannot be just another Sunday on the
Christian calendar because it is the fulfillment not only of Divine Promise as
with Christmas and Easter but also of Holy Purpose, as our Lord Jesus assured
His disciples this Day would come: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you” (John
14:26).
On this day some 2000 years ago, on the Jewish feast
of Shavu’ot (Pentecost), the Church was breathed into life for one reason, and
one reason only: “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name
to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).
We are shown in the Acts of the Apostles that thousands were convicted and drawn to the
communal spirit of the Church. They did not get “personally saved” and then
go on about their business as if nothing happened. They become “more” than an individual. Even in the periods of great persecution, though
many were forced into hiding, they hid together,
protected one another, and continued to worship; and people were still coming
to answer the call of the Holy Spirit not just to join but to become an active part of this new “Way”, a Way
like no other before or since.
As it is written, “Day by day, as they spent much time
together in the Temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad
and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the
people. And day by day The Lord added to
their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47).
I submit to you that numbers of new believers being
added “day by day” happened not only because of the Power of the Holy
Spirit but also necessarily because
of the faithfulness of the peoples’ response in “having the goodwill of all
the people”. That is, actually
possessing Divine Love in their hearts for God and for one another.
The only way this cannot have meaning for us today is
if we do not understand – or reject altogether – the Holy Purpose of the
Church. Do you notice that we often disagree as to
exactly what this Day looked like (‘tongues of fire” or “speaking in tongues”) while
we overlook completely what came as a result of this sudden rush of the Holy Spirit,
the very Presence of the Holy God Himself.
The highest ideals of the Kingdom. Commonality.
Accountability. Connectedness. A shared sense of being in Holy Purpose. Genuine care of and concern for neighbor so
much so that all they had and all they owned was put into one common pot so
that no one would go without the basic necessities of life and living – the
most profound and most basic necessity of all, of course, being fellowship, being
connected, being cared for, being loved, and knowing rather than being stabbed
in the back, someone had your back.
We don’t have this so much today. In fact I submit it does not exist at all
except in theory and maybe in very small, very exclusive groups. Within the greater Church universal as well
as within the individual churches, there is a dominant “to each his own”
mentality and mindset. Oh, there are
sub-sets of groups who may look out for one another and maybe will extend
beyond a group as long as it is no real inconvenience, but on the grander scale
this idyllic notion of community and Holy Purpose is a thing of a very distant,
almost unrecognizable past.
There is often only the curse of eternal condemnation
toward those who will not agree or go along with “us”. There is a good talk about unity among the
political party loyalists and even such talk as at the UM General
Conference. Unity among humans according
to strictly human behavior and human desire, however, is a myth. We can seem easily to agree to a common
enemy, but common purpose is lacking because within us as a Body there is
lacking the very Substance of
who we really are; “for all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God”
(Romans 8:14).
*IF* we
are “led by the Spirit”.
We United Methodist Christians have our Book of
Discipline which is our covenant (not strictly “rules”) with and to one
another. It is the covenant we freely
join as members and as clergy. We expect
(demand?) our bishops to uphold certain portions of that Discipline
(especially the parts pertaining to that
issue), but on the local level we almost completely reject those other
portions of this same United
Methodist Covenant which
demand accountability to our vows and care for one another.
In all this human frailty and imperfection there is
the Divine Promise to those who live and love and witness according to The Lord’s
Holy Purpose. This is unconditionally
true regardless of our individual responses because this Divine Promise is not
according to human will, and it is certainly not according to conditional human
involvement or desire.
In spite of these divisions among us, “we are more”. Those who choose to live in covenant and in
peace are more than those who choose not to.
Even those who choose not to are more than even they realize; but they
will not know this unless or until it is brought to their attention and they
are held accountable. United Methodist
Christians only seem to be fixated on that
issue because of the secular media, but in reality we are much more than
just that single issue that haunts us every four years.
We are more than the empty promises of predatory “something
for nothing” lotteries; and we are more than a single moment of escape in
drugs, alcohol, or inappropriate relationships.
We are more than even this great nation of ours, and yet we can be no
more than the cry of a hungry child, the lament of those who are imprisoned, or
the hopelessness of those who have no home to rest in. We are no more than the Gospel of the Lord,
and yet the Gospel is precisely what we must become.
We are more than the constant bickering and infighting
that seem to be the hallmark of the Church universal today. We are much more than our petty differences,
and we are more than even our most profound disagreements. We are more than our notions of individual
salvation.
It all began at Pentecost. In The Lord’s giving of His Covenant and Holy Law at Sinai and in The Lord’s giving so fully of Himself in Jerusalem
on this blessed and glorious Day, we are surely more than we have often settled
for! And because we often settle for
less rather than to reach for more and live for more, we defy the Eternal Word
which is Christ Jesus and we cheat ourselves and our neighbors out of the
fullness of joy and blessedness that is the Divine Promise given – but not always received - on this
blessed Day throughout the generations.
We are more than anything this world can possibly
offer because we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light on a lampstand”
which must shine brightly and boldly. We
are ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We are the people of the United Methodist Church and members of the
Church universal. And now that this time
and Day has been named, it is time to claim it, and to live it – all to the
glory of God our Father in Christ Jesus our Redeemer, our Savior, our Brother,
our Friend. Amen.
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