The Challenge of Pentecost

We often hear Pentecost, or Whitsunday, called "the birthday of the church." And as such, it ought to be a day of great celebration. In the history of the church Pentecost was often a day when great changes and renewals were made. For example, on Whitsunday in 1549 that the first Book of Common Prayer was first used in a service in England. But as great a day as this is for the whole church, I want us to reflect upon what it means to each one of us individually. First let's look at today's scripture readings.

We see the birth of the church most clearly in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles. This is one of those scripture passages with difficult to pronounce place names that our poor lay readers dread. But they are names that define the length and breadth of the whole Roman empire of that day and thus give us a message of inclusiveness - of a church that leaves no one out. It is about a spirit-filled church, about a group of people so "fired up", so to speak, that the story tells us they had little tongues of fire on their heads (reminding us of God speaking to Moses from the burning bush). This is a story about a rag-tag little band of illiterate, uneducated cowards that becomes a new, focused unstoppable organization - a church - by breaking out of the boundaries of their individual pasts and their narrow world and embracing the whole world.

It is the Holy Spirit that empowers the disciples to break these personal and geographic boundaries and to speak movingly and compellingly to peoples of all languages. We see the church suddenly going beyond the Jewish world and becoming multi-ethnic and multi-racial. It is truly a church for those who are far off as well as those who are near. The writer of Acts tells us in a passage just following the one we heard tonight that gender boundaries are also broken when he says in two places that women, as well as men, shall be prophets.

So, this is a spirit-filled church with new rules, a new charge to be an inclusive, diverse assembly for all people everywhere. It is a church proclaiming the fabulously good news of the love of God for us shown to us in Jesus Christ.

But a somber note is struck in the Gospel of John where the disciples have locked themselves in a room, scared out of their wits. Now, these people have been through a lot in the last several weeks and we can imagine that their nerves are shot. Jesus comes to them and says not once, but twice: "Peace be with you, peace be with you." In other words, he is saying, "Calm down. Get hold of yourselves. Everything will be alright." Then, the Gospel says, he breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit.

I love this image of God breathing upon the diciples - breathing upon us. The Greek word which we have translated as "spirit" - pneuma - is the word not for spirit in the sense of a soul or a ghost, but instead is the word for breath or wind. So the disciples received the very breath of God upon them, and this breath changed them forever. And it is the breath of God, or a wind that is God, that is upon us now.

I have said to you before that the disciples are like us and in many ways they represent us in the Gospels. They are scared, confused, unsure of themselves, feeling lost and alone - just as we so often are. I've spoken with several seniors who are terrified about what their lives will be like after leaving the relative order and comfort of Princeton, and even one sophomore who is already clear in her mind that her life would be safer and simpler if she could just stay here forever. And others are just as worried about career choices and all that is ahead of them before they leave here. But Jesus gives his disciples his peace and his breath to reassure them and so that they can go out and do amazing things in the world. And he does the same thing for us.

And in the reading from Acts, the disciples here are just like us too. They are asked, just as we are asked - as the reading from First Corinthians tells us each in their own way with the special gifts that each one has - to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world.

This brings me to what all this means for each one of us individually, today in this place. This is where each and every one of us is on the hook, where we have a personal responsibility to spread the good news that our God is a God of radical love, compassion, inclusion, and forgiveness. It is about responding to the yearning in others for meaning, for a sense of the transcendent, for the spiritual by telling them the good news we have found in Christ. It is about realizing that we are the church - each one of us. It is about knowing that cultivating a relationship with God is not solitary work but something we can only do successfully in community with one another. As we experience the benefits of this community for ourselves, we are called to share it with others.

You know, when we see a movie or a TV show we like, we tell our roommates, our friends or teammates and encourage them to watch. If we read a good book, we often pass it on to a friend and urge them to read it. We do the same for restaurants, sports teams, musical recordings, consumer products, cars, and nearly everything else in the world. We feel compelled to share good things with others. And nothing is more natural for us than to tell someone else about a discovery we have made that has given us pleasure or joy and that we know the other person would like too.

But do we talk about our Christian community that way? Do we tell others about the joy in our lives that comes from being a part of Christ's church here? Well, I am certain that some of us do because I have seen amazing acts of evangelism here at Princeton. And this is the challenge of Pentecost to each and every one of us: to go forth and preach the good news of Christ to our friends, roommates, neighbors, and families.

What would happen if each person in this church, a couple of times a year, introduced just one new person to the Christian community? This is exactly the message of Pentecost. This is the personal responsibility each one of us has. And the message of Pentecost is that Jesus and the Spirit of God are with us - the very breath of God is upon us - to give us courage and inspire us about what we shall say and do to bring our friends and family, and everyone we meet to Christ.

I raise this issue knowing that most of you are as uncomfortable as I am with a style of evangelism that is intrusive or that gives others the uncomfortable feeling that if they don't come along with us, or believe what we believe that they are condemned in our eyes. I'm not talking about that kind of evangelism. The evangelism I'm talking about is not intrusive, rather it is responsive to the needs of others who may be searching for a larger meaning in their lives. I believe that if we are sensitive and intelligent about this we can share our faith without offending others.

Bishop Gordon Scruton of Western Massachusetts stresses the importance of being a community that knows Christ in order to make Christ known. He says that our talk comes from the love of Christ and our gratitude for that love. Therefore, he says, we need to love in order to tell the story.

So, let each of us resolve right now this Pentecost to go out into the world willing and eager to let others know that our God is a God of love, acceptance, tolerance, inclusion - that our God is a God of peace and justice and our church is one in which there are no outsiders. As our ads in The Prince proclaim every week: Absolute faith is not a requirement in our church. An open mind and heart are.

Amen.