Come Holy Spirit!
Happy Mother's Day and Happy Pentecost! This day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, and it makes sense that it falls on Mother's Day. Pentecost is the day the promised Holy Spirit came to the disciples like a loving mother and brought the church into being. The Spirit came to all who were assembled, not to a special few, but to all, so that they would all proclaim the joy of Easter. This is the same Spirit who hovered over the chaos of the void and breathed out creation and new life. This Spirit invigorates our lives with one another. It makes us the Church.
Times are tough for the Church. It's bad enough people stay away from the church out of indifference, or because their kids have soccer practice on Sunday mornings, or because charging their spiritual vitality is irrelevant to them. The Church also struggles with scandal and strife. You saw the news this week about KGO's "God Talk" host Bernie Ward. The Church gets another black eye. God-loving people reject that kind of church, and that kind of church deserves to be rejected.
So we have the strife-ridden Church and the Church born on the Pentecost. The strife-ridden church is a political entity, a judgment chair, a landowner, an exclusive club, or a place where hypocrites are comfortable.
The Church born on Pentecost is a lively celebration of all we know about living from Jesus Christ. The Church born on Pentecost is people proclaiming the miracle of Easter and reconciling ourselves with one another and with God. The Church born on Pentecost is where we get second chances and third chances, because we're human, and because the Spirit backs us as we amend our actions and lives and move forward.
Last weekend, I was with a rather large group of complete strangers and a few known faces enjoying a Cursillo. A Cursillo is an opportunity to get together with a rather large group of complete strangers and reinvigorate your faith. Some people experience a life-shaking recharge to their faith or get the first charge, the one they've always wanted and never had. Prayer comes in many forms and styles. Some people are moved to their cores, and cry, watering their own growth. A good many people work long and hard to allow space for the Holy Spirit to come to us all. And, so you don't get the wrong idea about it, this Cursillo thing was also a total hoot. For the record.
I didn't have a life-changing experience last weekend, but I had a darned good experience. I could see the movement of the Holy Spirit. It was much like that first Pentecost:
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. s
I heard and understood the longings of hearts, of people similar to me and people who could not be more different. I struggled with my own stuttering efforts as I tried to talk about Christ in my life, and understood others as they struggled in their own ways. The devout Jews who heard the disciples speaking in any number of languages, from throughout the world, were astounded they understood what they heard. We were a mixed bag of cultures and ages and beliefs, and we understood one another. That's what happens when we connect in the Spirit. It worked back then, and it happens in the same way when two or more of us are gathered, even if we are gathered at Starbucks, and we connect with one another's souls: That is the gift of Pentecost.
This is all well and good, and even kind of charming, but does it really matter?
Ask the people who are struggling to survive Cyclone Nargis. Ask them what they
think of the Spirit's ability to communicate and to renew the face of the earth.
Slowly.
On May 2 and 3, Cyclone Nargis weakened. Tragically, the storm regained strength and, on May 4, it made landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta of the Myanmar Republic, Burma.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind…
The number of dead and injured is still unclear and it's expected to surpass 100,000 people. Over a million are homeless. Water is scarce and food prices are soaring. A government more interested in a referendum to guarantee its own power than in meeting the needs of the people has made assessment efforts and aid extremely difficult. But the gifts of the Holy Spirit are many.
Episcopal Relief and Development has worked in partnership with the local Anglican church and other churches in Burma since 2006. Where other aid organizations have not been able to get into the country, the ER-D was already on the ground through its local partners. For the past two years, ER-D has "helped people to achieve economic stability through education, vocational training, and micro-finance initiatives. We have also provided tools and training to improve the food supply and access to clean water." Their work was invaluable then, and it's providential now.
Despite governments and religious differences, ER-D is able to get money to the area immediately, to allow for purchase of emergency supplies and food.
I don't believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do believe that we can often see the finger of God in our lives. ER-D has been working in the Irrawaddy Delta and in Yangon for two years. We can understand the suffering of the Burmese people; we can communicate with aid, and with love. 80% of the people of Burma are Buddhist. We are doing God's work with God's people.
When we are in the Spirit, we can change ourselves and from there, we can make ourselves available to carry Christ's message elsewhere. We can celebrate it as our parish goals and objectives are brought into life with our help and the inspiration of the Spirit. We can celebrate it with one another at our Pentecost picnic and with our mom's – whoever they may be, whatever their names. And we can celebrate it whenever we connect to the Holy Spirit.
Let's take a moment to settle down and connect to the Holy Spirit. OK, feet on the floor. Breathe in…. Breathe out…. Breathe in….Breathe out…. Breathe in… Breathe out…...
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of Your Divine Love. Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.