Meditation on This Sunday's Gospel and the Feast of Pentecost

The readings for Sunday, May 19, 2024, Pentecost:

• First reading
  • Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14
• Psalm
  • Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
• Second reading
  • Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21
• Gospel
  • John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

It's been an interesting experience, saying the doctrinal creeds each week at church, after a week of reflecting on them for Systematic Theology.  It will be interesting celebrating Pentecost after having spent significant amounts of time exploring the Trinity in Systematic Theology, asking questions like, who precedes from whom?  Does Jesus have power because the Holy Spirit overtakes him at baptism?  Does Jesus release the Holy Spirit by breathing on the disciples or is the Holy Spirit working independently in the form of flame and wind?

I do realize that most of us will not be thinking about Trinitarian theology as we approach this holiday.  We'll wear the red clothes that we keep for Pentecost and Reformation.  Maybe we'll take part in a multi-lingual reading.  Maybe there will be confirmation and/or cake.  But how many of us will reflect deeply on the beginning of this church holiday?

It's worth considering.  The festival day of Pentecost reminds us that great things can happen when the Holy Spirit takes hold of a community. If we need a reminder of that, all we need to do is to look at the state of the church on Pentecost morning, and then think about the spread of Christianity in the decade after Pentecost.

And Christianity was spread by regular people--sure, there were some superstars like Paul. But Paul came and went, and then regular people had to keep the vision alive.

They did. Pentecost both celebrates that fact and invites us to welcome the Holy Spirit in to our modern communities.  The idea of the Holy Spirit coming to our 21st century communities might inspire fear--or perhaps weariness.  We've had so many years of thinking about how the Church is faltering or failing.  We worry about dwindling membership.  We worry about what will happen to our buildings and cemeteries when support finally dies.

Christmas tells us that God loves us so much that God comes to be with us in human form.  Easter tells us that God defeats the forces of death that want to crush us.  Pentecost tells us that we don't have to have a five year plan, that the Holy Spirit is loose in the world, and that transformation awaits.

Pentecost reassures us with the mystical promise of the Spirit. We do not have to know what we are doing; we just need to be open to the movement of the Spirit. Pentecost promises daring visions; we don’t have to know how we’re going to accomplish them. God will take care of that.

God became incarnate to prepare humans to carry on the work of Kingdom creation. And Pentecost reminds us of our job description, to let the Holy Spirit blow into our hollowed out spaces and to fill us with the fire to dream and the resources to bring our visions to life.