Year B

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Breath of Life

Come, O Holy Spirit, come.
Come as the wind and cleanse;
Come as the fire and burn;
Convert and consecrate our lives to our great good and your great glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There are many kinds of spirits in the world and lots of spiritualities. Just as there are many sorts of gatherings or meetings which are “spirited” and that spirit may be something which delights us or at times that spirit can be something that oppresses us. For instance, when we look back at history we can definitely see now that Nazi rallies and American lynch mobs had very powerful spirits that were extremely oppressive to certain peoples. And sometimes concert audiences and fans at sporting events, and even crowds in shopping malls can be pretty spirited, though in these latter cases hopefully the spirit is somewhat sweeter. And if our worship is really a meeting in the presence of God, the texts for today make clear that the Spirit that gives life to that group, will be the Spirit of God. And what is the Spirit of God? How do we know it?  According to the gospel today, the Spirit is God present. It is all that belongs to Christ alive here and given to us.

Therefore, the focus on this festive day that proclaims the birth of the Church, is us the community of disciples known as the church. Through the Holy Spirit, the church is given an identity, a direction and an authority by Jesus that lives in the hearts and minds of all those who love God. It is when those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside them, that the church takes its shape and mission, enabling the church to proclaim the gospel and to witness to Christ “to the ends of the earth.” Through the help of the Holy Spirit, we become the wind and breath of God set loose. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” The day of Pentecost is a Jewish festival that remembers the day God first spoke to God’s people Israel at Mount Sinai. Jewish people from all over the known world would be in Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration that followed that first Easter day. And what a day it was!

The disciples began the day all huddled together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, know all over the world for her sermons and who Time Magazine listed as one of the 100 most influential people, in her book ‘Home by Another Way’ offers an interesting take on the violent wind she says, “When Jesus let go of his last breath on the cross—willingly, we believe, for love of us—that breath hovered in the air in front of him for a moment and then it was set loose on earth. It was such pungent breath—so full of passion, so full of life—that it did not simply dissipate as so many breaths do. It grew, in strength and in volume, until it was a mighty wind, which God sent spinning through an upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. God wanted to make sure that Jesus’ friends were the inheritors of Jesus’ breath, and it worked.”

By the end of that day the breath of Jesus had grown the church from one hundred twenty to more than three thousand. Disciples were doing the things that Jesus did and proclaiming with the words that Jesus said. They had breathed in the breath of God and were never the same. We read of their adventures in the book of Acts where even Peter, the disciple who denied Christ, becomes a bold preacher or Paul who set about killing the followers of Christ becomes the most zealous for spreading God’s kingdom. The presence of God’s breath in his followers announces something new and spirited is happening in God’s kingdom. It demonstrates God’s intentions for the gospel to be for everyone with repentance and forgiveness offered to all who call on the name of Jesus. It is offered to all who breathe in the breath of Christ.

Pentecost reminds us that we are not in this alone and even though all our faith practices take place in this place where the Holy Spirit is very much alive and at work, the church and her identity extends beyond our congregation to every congregation, denomination and cultural tradition that breathe in the breath of Jesus. Pentecost celebrates this reality all over our world and it challenges us to continue the work of Christ here and out there. At times, it may seem daunting but what we learn from the book of Acts is that the giving of the Holy Spirit is not just a one time event. Disciples are given gifts as needed to fulfill their mission, God’s mission because the church is constantly changing, according to the Spirits leading. The book of Acts reminds us that such change is rarely easy or harmonious, as disciples were persecuted, stoned and killed because of the gospel message, as they still are today.

We are challenged to live into the promise that Christ is with us and alive in the midst of the changing church in our world. It is the Spirit, Jesus’ presence that comes to live within us that breathe of Jesus that gifts us, encourages us, guides us, strengthens us and leads us into all truth so we are able to witness to Christ in spite of what the world may bring. Unfortunately, the possibility of offense has grown even more since those early days of the church when disciples were thrown out of the synagogue and persecuted all in the name of the love of God in Christ. But, the Holy Spirit can also give us a way back into relationship for “the Spirit blows where it chooses” to bring love and unity, to glorify God.

I pray that we would not just be satisfied to hear this teaching today of the breath that changes everything, but that we would want this breath to fill our hearts, souls and lives. We just have to ask and believe that the Spirit still speaks through us and through the church. May the Spirit give life to this group and use us to continue the work of Christ, making us faithful witnesses to God’s love. It is the spirit of truth who speaks in our hearts that Christ is with us. So take that breath and just see what happens, just see how the Spirit of God will glorify God in your life and in the church.

Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of those who love you and kindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.