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A Sermon for the Feast Day of Pentecost Rev. SAM DESSORDI

Let us pray: God of abundant life, we remember the day of your creation of the church as the amazing day of a new beginning in the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless us to be renewed and empowered by the healing and prophetic energy of the Holy Spirit, so that we may serve you and the world in joy, strength, and unity. Give the church the courage to struggle for justice and peace, as a witness of your creative work of grace and love. Amen.

Happy birthday St. James! Today we celebrate the birth of Christianity. The church wears red as a sign of the motion of the Holy Spirit.

It is an interesting feast because we play with the symbolism of fire and we play with water. Clearly, they complement each other in sacredness.

Water is the symbol of Baptism. Today, through the asperges, we renew our understanding that we belong to God, as was done in our Baptism.

(Tongues of) Fire is the symbol of the Holy Spirit descending over those in the upper room. But wait? Just to those in the upper room?

What does that mean? Is the Bible saying that the Holy Spirit isn’t contained in these walls? It isn’t contained in the invisible walls of the institution? the Bible is filled with stories about the movement of the Holy Spirit.

The event in the book of Acts is the opposite of the event in the Old Testament: Babel.

They look similar and they teach us an important lesson. Babel and Pentecost both talk about diversity, and diversity of languages.

In Babel’s narrative, people were too proud of their achievements. However, their awesomeness had nothing to do with God’s plans. They were not led by the Spirit. Which turned their diversity into a massive confusion. It was destructive.

Pentecost is the reverse of Babel. They come together with humble hearts knowing that only God could point the right direction. And even though they were coming from different cultures and spoke different languages, the Spirit of God entered them. And empowered them.

At Babel, the people of the world were scattered to many nations with many languages, but on the Day of Pentecost, they were gathered from many nations. The unity in the diversity establishes the beginning of the church.

Have you ever noticed that the word CHURCH is only used after the event of Pentecost?

Well, before it was just the Movement of Jesus. In early texts of the New Testament, that movement was called “The Way”, not church. It became Church when all those who were different came together with their linguistics and cultural and social differences and even though they were different, they understood each other.

In theory, it sounds beautiful. (In reality, as you saw in the 2nd reading today) it can be challenging.

Now, they were not just a group of people who knew Jesus Christ and his ministry. They were transformed and they became true Christians because they followed the steps of their master.

That’s the definition of discipleship. A disciple of Jesus Christ, not only follows him but practices through service and ministry the Good News in Christ.

The Holy Spirit was given by Jesus not to empower religious institutions but to live our lives in such a way that we will promote justice and peace.

Let’s meditate a little longer on that thought.

Have you ever heard the following statement?

“All we do is a part of our struggle to remain obedient to God’s call: to feed the hungry, bind up the wounds of those in pain, care for the orphan and the old, welcome the stranger, and speak up for those who have no voice. We strive continually to do justice and love mercy as we move forward, faithful to the One who assures us, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” (Micah 6:8; Rev. 21:5)

That statement comes from the book of the prophet Micah. The prophets always spoke filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

So in today’s reading, Paul points out another prophet: Joel.

That’s because the mission of the church is not confined to the task of reaching out to witness but is to draw people and communities to become open, just, and inclusive communities.

An upper room, a humble corner at the margins of Jerusalem, thus became the birthplace of a Spirit-filled creative movement - the church. This mission from the margins continues in the next chapters of the book of Acts and is seen in the mission of Jesus Christ himself, who came to serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45).

Finally, the last two verses in Acts, demonstrate two opposing responses to this astonishing manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit through the Galileans (12-13). Some, in amazement and perplexity, began to seek the meaning of this new event, while others, remaining numb and apathetic, intensified their deep-rooted traditional prejudice and insulted the disciples by dubbing them drunkards.

It is not uncommon to find people who resist the wisdom from on high. There is a Chinese proverb that expresses that feeling quite well. It says: “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills”.

A litmus test for true unity in the church is its power to affect the common good and to create new realities for all, particularly for those marginalized, disenfranchised, and those minorities who are often left out.

The Spirit invites us to shake our old paradigms and renew our vocations.

Today, a group of people from St. James will renew their call at the ritual of commissioning for the ministry of serving at the altar table as Lay Liturgical ministers. With them, we are all invited to renew our baptismal vows through the Baptismal covenant.

I invite our Lay Liturgical ministers to come up front for the commissioning... (It follows with The Ritual for Commissioning.)

ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, TEMPE, ARIZONA
Created By
Fr. Sam Dessordi
Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by vetre - "Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost background with flying dove" • Adam Ján Figeľ - "Vienna, Austria. 2019/10/23. "The Tower of Babel" (1563) by Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (1525/30-1569). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum) in Vienna, Austria." • kuarmungadd - "the concept of social sharing : The Hope of the Poor by Donating Charity Food to the Immaculate : Participation in sharing food for the poor : The Concept of Love" • KONSTANTIN SHISHKIN - "A lot of people holds hands in park - dancing performance", and photo of Thurgood Marshall by © 2022 Adsum