A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
The Day of Pentecost
May 23, 2010
Scripture readings: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17, 25-27
I
What a marvelous feast that we are celebrating today: the Day of Pentecost. This feast pushes us to go beyond ourselves and the limitations that we put on ourselves.
The disciples at the first Pentecost were terrified that they would be arrested as Jesus had been. They worried that like Jesus they might be put to death. So they locked themselves in a house and hoped the authorities would leave them alone. But then, "there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting ... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability."
In our worship service this morning, we heard the story of the first Pentecost read in French, Italian, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Finnish, Korean, Portuguese, Indonesian, Koine Greek, German, and Spanish. How marvelous to hear the Acts of the Apostles read in these different languages. The message is that the Gospel of Christ is not bound to any one language or cultural expression. The challenge for us as individuals and as a parish is to be expansive and inclusive as we welcome all to the Lord's table.
In the first generation, the new Jesus movement was already outgrowing its Jewish roots. St. Paul and the other disciples were taking the message of Jesus by land and by sea to all regions of the Roman Empire. The gospel was embracing all sectors and classes of society, including slaves and people of lowly caste. As today's reading from Romans teaches us, those who were called to follow Christ did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back in fear. The message is that you may have been a slave when you first heard the message of Christ, but in the eyes of God you are not a slave. You are an adopted child of God. You are an heir of God, a person of great dignity. You are worth more than you can ever imagine.
In a few minutes, we will celebrate the worth and dignity of the five newest members of our Christian community who will be baptized into the Body of Christ. In the past few weeks I have been meeting with the parents of these children to review the sacrament of baptism. I reflected with the parents that baptism is an adoption ceremony. In the baptismal ritual, God will adopt Sydney, Benjamin, Reed, Calista, and Oliver as beloved daughters and sons, heirs of the Kingdom with a divine destiny and value.
When I discussed baptism with the parents of these children, we talked about the ministry of parents to create homes where their children can be nurtured in the life of faith. Parents have the responsibility of raising these children in God's name. Parents teach their children to love, share, and learn so that these children may become the unique persons God created them to be.
II
In addition to being responsible for our own children, we have a responsibility for the children of the world. In the baptismal covenant, we profess that we will "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." We need to learn from the example of people like Mary Fisher and John Goucher, Methodist ministers in the nineteenth century who founded missionary schools in China, Japan and Korea. In 1885, Mary Fisher and John Goucher founded the Woman's College of Baltimore to give girls the same opportunity for education as boys. Yesterday, one hundred and twenty five years later, I was in Baltimore at this college, now named Goucher College, for the graduation of my son Brendan. It was a wonderful moment for my wife Barbara and me – not only because we were proud of our son's graduation – but because we could be inspired by the idealism of John and Mary Goucher, who teach us how to go beyond caring for one's own family to care for the families of the world. John and Mary Goucher are part of the great tradition of Christian educators inspired by the Holy Spirit to push away ignorance to promote the dignity of all of God's children.
III
The Holy Spirit who inspired John and Mary Goucher inspires each of us to go beyond ourselves to think of the needs of others. Who inspires you? Who challenges you to see your worth and your power to do good? We all need people to inspire us and to urge us beyond ourselves. Here at All Saints Parish we have been called to build the blessed community. Like the disciples at the first Pentecost, we may be fearful and timid in living our Christian faith. We may not literally lock ourselves behind closed doors, but we may be reticent about sharing our faith with others or standing up for our beliefs.
The Holy Spirit wants to open those doors and free our tongues to speak with confidence and hope. For example, in our workplace or neighborhood when someone puts down a person of another nationality or color, the Holy Spirit calls us to say that we don't approve of discrimination. When someone speaks disparagingly of persons of another race or culture, the Spirit leads us to say that we think differently.
The Holy Spirit wants to empower each of us to be confident in our faith and the Holy Spirit wants to empower our parish to accept its leadership role in our community. The Holy Spirit is at work in our parish every Saturday evening as we open our doors to the Brookline Young Peoples Alcoholics Anonymous Group. For over a hundred young adults in their 20s and 30s, this group is a life-line of support on the path of sobriety. If you come to one of these meetings you might say, "Yes, there is a lot of good work being done here tonight." If you were a Christian believer, you might add, "The Holy Spirit is at work here tonight."
This summer a group of young people and adults from our parish will go on a mission trip to the El Hogar Orphanage in Honduras. This is not just a humanitarian effort. This is the Holy Spirit leading our young people and adults to combat poverty and injustice. The Holy Spirit wants each of us to stretch beyond our comfort zone to find God in the people and places around us. This is our challenge and this is the great gift of the Spirit on this Pentecost Day.
Amen.