Enfield Uniting Church

The Feast of Pentecost - 2010

Acts 2.1-21

Some years ago Alan Alda, the star of the TV series M*A*S*H, in a university commencement address, reminded the graduates that “they were being flung into a world that’s running about as smoothly as a car with square wheels,” and that they were adults in a time when too many leaders of the world were behaving like children. But then having given this rather uneasy analysis, Alda went on to give some wise advice. “It’s a complex world,” he said, and “I hope you’ll learn to make distinctions. A peach is not its fuzz, a toad is not its warts, and a person is not his or her crankiness. If we can make distinctions, we can get to the heart of our problems without wrestling endlessly with their gross exteriors.” Further, he went on to say, “”when you meet the absurdities of life, use your skills, dig into the world and push it into better shape. Try to clean the air and water, try to make the justice system work, and try to bring the day a little closer when the rich and privileged will have to live by the same standards as the poor and outcaste.” And finally Alda advised those graduates, “have chutzpa – be bold, and above all laugh at yourself. Be brave enough to live life creatively. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go to the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get their by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing, but what you discover in the process will be wonderful.”

I like his advice. It has the Spirit of the Church in it. It has in it the Spirit of Christ who has brought us here to celebrate this Feast of Pentecost, and Christ’s presence in our lives as well. It has this spirit, because while Alan Alda had the good sense to avoid giving simple and stale answers to complex questions, he also had the faith to be courageous, free, hopeful and above all loving… All of which are the results of the Spirit at work, not only in the ancient church but in us as well.

Pentecost rightly understood is about profound new life and unexpected visions. We need to remember that the disciples didn’t have much of a clue as to what they should do after the Ascension when Jesus was no longer present with them physically. Maybe the whole ministry thing had been a lovely dream that had gone terribly wrong and now it was time for the disciples to go back home and see if they could get their lives back on track again? Would family and friends have a bar of them after they had deserted them and their responsibilities to follow after the carpenter prophet? Maybe they should strive to continue on with the ministry? Perhaps they should try to bring together Jesus’ words and thoughts in order to live out the kind of life he taught them about? Maybe they had gone too far in their mission to reorder society and God (or Rome) had effectively pulled the plug?

But these aren’t the final questions. Just as Advent begins in human doubt and limitation and leads into the unexpected joy of Christmas, so struggling with Jesus’ post-Easter absence created a space in the spirits of the early followers where they could experience the invitations of God in new, unexpected and extraordinary ways.

And so it was that the author of Acts would pull out all the stops in writing about Pentecost’s new movement of God: gale force winds; tongues of flame; a great chaos of languages; crowds too-ing and fro-ing; acclamations of wonder and accusations of too much plonk. Truly an amazing event. And yet, as Ivor Bailey once wrote, “Pentecost is for little people… It was a spectacle but it wasn’t long before the spectacle had passed and the power was harnessed to very ordinary situations… Power is given for a purpose. It is meant to empower people. To give them strength and hope and confidence… The spirit of the Lord came upon Jesus so that he could fulfil the very down to earth business of ministering to the poor, bringing sight to the blind, freeing the captives and those who are oppressed… Wherever people draw their strength and courage to carry on, there they are being resourced by the Spirit of God.” And so the infant church set out on a journey that, as it turned out, would not only transform their own lives, but the lives of so many around the world as well. And such a story is not limited to the past.

To find out what the Feast of Pentecost may have to say to us today I’d like us to do some exploring with a Russian icon painted in the 15^th century called “The Descent of the Holy Spirit”. Now for those of you who are not familiar with this art form, it needs to be said that icons are not so much religious paintings for us to admire as they are pages out of a prayer book written with images instead of words. Every icon is a prayer with many things to share with us about God and our relationship with what is holy. Because this is true there are very strict rules that apply to who can paint icons, and how they are produced, so that the truths they embody don’t get diluted as they are passed down from one generation to the next. With that in mind let’s look at “The Descent of the Holy Spirit” to see what we might learn for the living of our days.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Now at first glance we may think that the painter has lost the plot. What does this scene have to do with the excitement of Acts Chapter 2? What the painter has done is to show us what’s happening inside of the disciples’ spirits instead of the hurly-burly that’s around them. And the first thing that’s happening is that they are together; they are not having this experience as separate individuals at their solitary prayers; instead they are quite different individuals brought together in a community created not by friendship or common interests but by the Spirit. Notice the serenity and peace of this scene; this is no congregational meeting with marked by polity and discussion. No, they are all listening, and what they are listening to is voice of God within them. Pentecost is a new revelation of God. We have known God for us in the Exodus, God with us in Jesus, and now through the Spirit God is in us.

Yet, as Henri Nouwen reminds us, “The community of faith fashion by the God-within, the Holy Spirit, is not fashioned simply for the well-being of its members but for the liberation of the world… Pentecost is not the beautiful end to the salvation story, but the beginning of a mission to go out into the world…to liberate those who dwell in ‘darkness and the shadow of death (Lk. 1.79).” Here we find this kingly figure in the gateway at the bottom of the icon (who has traditionally been named “Cosmos”) who represents the lost and broken, all those living in darkness that we are called to bring the light of Christ to.

On this Feast of Pentecost we at Enfield are beginning our own time of seeking more clearly God’s vision for the life and ministry here over the next few years. I’d like to invite you to reflect on this icon for a few minutes in silence before we begin this journey. Consider these questions: Like those first disciples at Pentecost what will it mean for us to listen deeply to one another and to God? How does this icon challenge us in the way we form community (outside of the fact they’re all men!)? What would it look like and feel like if Enfield Uniting Church were to exist “not simply for the well-being of its members but for the liberation of the world”? Who is “Cosmos” here in the shopping centre that we are called to bring the light of Christ to? What prayer does this icon encourage within you? Pause…Amen.

© Alan Biglow 2007

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