Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. Today we celebrate the feast commemorating the coming of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. Tomorrow we celebrate Memorial Day, the holiday when we remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country. Pentecost is a day of rejoicing in the presence of God with us. Memorial Day is a day of honor for those who have died but also of profound grief for those of us who remain. How do we hold these two things at the same time? How do we see the Good News in these days that seem to have so little in common?
The feast of Pentecost—more than any other day in the Church’s calendar—brings us to awareness that we are bound together as the Body of Christ. Christmas reminds us of God’s deepest desire for peace in our world. Easter reminds us of Christ’s love for each of us and of God’s abundant grace and overflowing mercy. But Pentecost brings us face to face with our responsibility to respond to God’s grace and Christ’s love with our own actions in the world.
In today’s gospel portion, we hear that the risen Christ breathes on the gathered disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” I shudder to think of the ways we humans have managed to hurt one another in response to these words. It seems to me that these words—perhaps more than any other words in Scripture—set us the task of being the Body of Christ in the world. With these words, Christ sets upon our heads and our hearts the responsibility of forgiving one another. The power of forgiveness he once claimed for himself he now assigns to us, in the same moment he gives us the Holy Spirit to inspire, guide and strengthen us.
To be the Body of Christ in the world is a great gift—and perhaps an even greater responsibility. On this day of Pentecost, we remember that all people are the children of God. On this day of Pentecost, we remember that we are bound together by God’s love for each of us. On this day of Pentecost, we remember that the presence of the Holy Spirit brings us new life in ways that we can’t begin to anticipate. We remember these truths about our lives in Christ, and we become aware that our experience of being part of the Body of Christ helps us hold all these truths.
Being part of the Body of Christ is not something that comes easily to us. Generally our focus is on our individual relationship with the Holy. We give thanks for our individual gifts God has given us and work to bring those to fullness, even as we lament the gifts we don’t have. We tend to focus on those things we are each able to do, and we tend not to imagine those things we can do acting together in Christ’s name. One of the things that helps me to move away from this focus on self happens each week at the 5 o’clock service. Those of you who have attended the Wednesday night service during Lent have also experienced this practice. Each week, as we gather around the table for the Eucharistic prayer, we all say the words of institution together.
“Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
“Drink ye all of this, for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.”
When we say these words together, I am reminded that in my role as priest I am the presider, the leader of our celebration, not the celebrant. We all celebrate the eucharist together. None of us can celebrate alone. This morning, when we pray the Eucharistic prayer, I invite you to say these words with me. I hope that saying these words together will strengthen us as the Body of Christ.
Each week we come to this place to touch the center of our faith, to hear God’s word, to be surrounded by our community, to be nourished at this table with the Body and Blood of Christ, to remember that we—gathered at this table—become the Body of Christ in the world and to the world. Tomorrow’s celebration of Memorial Day reminds us that the peace Jesus came to give us is still not at hand. Today, as we honor all those who have died in the service of this country, we know that there are other persons who will die in war before this day ends. We know that more will die tomorrow as this war continues, and there seems to be little we can do to bring an end to the fighting. As we approach this day of memory, may we each pray that those who are serving come home in safety. Pray that no more families will mourn the loss of their loved ones. Pray that we, working together as the Body of Christ and in the name of Christ, will find the ways to bring the peace of Christ into the world.
As I prepared for this day and this moment, I have asked myself where the good news is to be found on this day when we celebrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit and mourn for those who have given their lives. I keep coming back to the same answer, over and over again.
The good news, my friends, is that in this day and in all the days of our lives, God’s Holy Spirit is with us—to touch our hearts, to move us in ways we may not want to be moved, to open our ears to hear God speaking to us in words that may sound very foreign to us and that we may not want to hear. God’s Holy Spirit is with us—joining us to each other as the Body of Christ, bringing comfort to those who mourn, bringing courage to those who fear, stirring us to act in the name of God to end this war.
The good news is that the Holy Spirit is with us—ready, waiting, poised to break in on the world in ways that startle and amaze us.
Come, Holy Spirit.