Sermon for Pentecost

admin | 24 May 2010

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind”

Sometimes the things that come upon us suddenly are the things that unsettle us most. Is it so with the Descent of the Holy Ghost? He came down “suddenly” upon the disciples, but was his coming suddenly a coming unexpectedly? That he came suddenly we read; his coming unexpectedly, we do not read. In fact, Jesus tells us to expect the coming of the Holy Ghost, “commanding them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father,” even the descent of the Holy Ghost.

Yet we may wait expectantly and still be caught unawares, for the realisation of what we await may far exceed our expectations and so catch us by surprise. We await for what we do not fully understand. The grace of God is always something more; the mystery of God something more yet again. The promise of the Ascension was the coming down of the Holy Ghost for which Jesus prepares us and bids us wait, yet “suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind.”

Certainly, the effects of this coming down would appear to be most unsettling, the manner of their appearing no less so – “a rushing mighty wind” and “cloven tongues like as of fire” lighting upon the disciples gathered in Jerusalem, filling them with the Holy Spirit and moving them “to speak with other tongues.” To all appearances an event most unsettling and more than a little bit disconcerting.

We all know about the winds that unsettle us – the rushing, mighty winds of rumour and slander, of whisperings and murmurings, of allegations and accusations which seek to belittle and destroy. The winds of hatred and revenge are the winds of death. These are the winds that unsettle us as sure as the sea-storms which come up suddenly and trouble ships upon the waters. But our Lord would not have us unsettled and troubled. In the midst of the sea-storms of our hearts and our world, even in the midst of the sea-storms of our churches and our communities, he bids the seas be calm and our hearts be still; “it is I,” he says, “have no fear.”

The “wind” of Pentecost is a rushing mighty wind but it is not given to unsettle us. Not every blast of hot air is the Holy Spirit. Not every wind that blows is perforce of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost in sound “as of a rushing mighty wind” and in sight as “cloven tongues like as of fire,” that through wind and fire, through sight and sound, something more that is something beyond might be known and communicated, revealed and received. Such are the motions of the Holy Spirit coming down, not to unsettle us – for such are the winds of the world – but to settle us upon the word and will of God.

Nowhere is this made more clear than in the Gospel for Pentecost. Our Lord, who promises the Holy Ghost, says unto his disciples, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And how shall that happen except through the gift of the Holy Ghost? He who is the bond of the Father’s love for the Son and the principle of their abiding in love comes down that we may abide in their love. “If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

And how shall we keep his words except through the Holy Spirit who “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”? All things and all the things which Christ has said to us – his word written in the order of Redemption, the things revealed, and his word written in the order of Creation, the things that are made. For there is no truth, whether of nature or of grace, which does not belong to Christ, no truth that is known as truth which does not come from and return to Christ, except by way of the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would settle us upon the order of his love – God’s word and commandments – and would have us abide in his life – in the love of the Father and the Son.

The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of unity and order. And so, too, his coming down means order and unity, the order and unity of our lives together in the all-togetherness of God. Out of the confusion of the tongues of the world, out of the Babel of the nations, comes the one word of God’s praise. In the midst of the many of the world’s peoples, all are united in the praise of God. “We do>hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”

This is the marvel and the truth of this day upon which we should be settled. This is a different wind from the unsettling, soul-destroying and troubling winds of this world. Here is God’s wind, even God the Holy Spirit, who would settle us upon his love and order our lives upon his truth.