Pentecost Sunday 

Opening Verse of Scripture Romans 5:5

The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

God, who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, ignite in us your holy fire; strengthen your children with the gift of faith, revive your Church with the breath of love,
and renew the face of the earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading Numbers 11.24–30

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

Second Reading Acts 2.1–21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Gospel Reading  John 20.19–23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Post Communion Prayer

Faithful God, who fulfilled the promises of Easter by sending us your Holy Spirit and opening to every race and nation the way of life eternal:
open our lips by your Spirit, that every tongue may tell of your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

The events in John’s Gospel today happen in a room in Jerusalem on the evening of Easter Day, perhaps in the same Upper Room which was used for the Last Supper. On that previous occasion (John 14:18, 16:20), Jesus spoke with his disciples and he reassured them that he would come to them after the events of his death and turn their sorrow into joy. In the passage that we have from John’s Gospel today we read that the disciples were ’overjoyed’ ! They were in the room together, with the doors locked, because they suspected the Jewish leaders who put Jesus to death would come back and arrest them. Then Jesus mysteriously appeared inside the room, showing his ability to materialize. Without wanting to sound disrespectful, imagine something like Star Trek where Captain Kirk is able to disappear and reappear in different places and the resurrection and ascension stories make much more sense ! As Jesus appears he says ’peace be with you,’ just as we wish each other peace at the start of our worship today. With the unexplained appearance of Jesus comes the very real demonstration of his wounds to prove that he is the ‘real’ Jesus and they are not just imagining something. Jesus is not an apparition or a ghost, he shows them his real hand and the place where the nails went through. (Note: If Romans nailed somebody to a cross they drove the nails through the wrist, it wouldn’t work if they nailed the hands as the body was too heavy! The Hebrew word for had (yad) and the Greek word (cheir) can include not just hands but wrists and forearm -problem solved). The important message is that this is the real, blood and flesh Jesus who was killed on a cross and is now risen. No wonder that they are full of joy and that joy is God’s blessing to us as an Easter people for we live in the presence of a Lord who has passed through death and who reassures us of life in all of its fullness. I have no idea how Jesus can appear and disappear but I am attracted by the fact that the resurrection body of Jesus is not ‘healed.’ There is a reassuring message to all of us that Jesus is identified by scars. 

A new time has now come for the disciples, they are to be sent by Jesus, out of the locked room and into the world. Just as God had entered the world in human form to be alongside humanity, so now the disciples were all to be sent with a mission and ministry by God. The work of Jesus is not complete in his death and resurrection, it must now be continued by the disciples who will be the ongoing heart, hands, feet, voice of Jesus in the world. It is important to appreciate that Jesus is not handing over the baton to the disciples and saying, ‘I have done my bit, now it is over to you’! The disciples are to continue with the work of Jesus, not begin a new one. Rather Jesus is saying to them, ‘you need to be me in the world, when you are thinking and acting like me, then I will be working through you.’ This is what Jesus says meant when he told the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans. (John 14:18). He would come and be with them again and he would live in them (14:20).

This all sounds very weird, how could Jesus be working inside his disciples? Well, we are then told that Jesus ‘breathed’ on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Again in a strange spiritual way Jesus enters them and energizes them giving them strength and abilities which are not of themselves. Think back to when God first did this to humans. In Genesis (2:7) God ‘breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life’ and humankind was created. John wants to show us a new creation which is taking place, just as Jesus appearance as the gardener (20:15) reminds us of the original Garden of Eden and the recreation for the world from the death and resurrection of Jesus. Some of you may also be reminded of the dry bones of Ezekiel which were revived by breath, symbolic of resurrection and the giving of life. 

You may be wondering now what is going on, because in Luke we read that the Spirit was given at Pentecost but here in John’s account it is Jesus who gives the disciples the Spirit directly at Easter. Theologians have struggled with too many different explanations, we do know that John doesn’t seem to worry about putting events in chronological order, but many believe that this is an accurate presentation of events, not a making up of history to support a theological truth. It really doesn’t matter that Christians disagree over this, because what is important is not the timing of the first event. The giving of the Holy Spirit is not something which happened a long time ago and we remember every year at a certain time. Each one of us is called to know our own willingness to receive God’s Spirit day by day. The disciples met behind closed doors, afraid of the Jews, possibly even afraid of Jesus who they had betrayed and who some believed they had seen. In their fear they heard Jesus speak forgiveness to them and an opportunity to let bygones be bygones. 

It is really important for us to see that this passage is a ‘sending story.’ Jesus tells the disciples that just as he was sent by the father, so now he is sending them. The disciples are not given the Spirit so that they can have a special time of worship! The Holy Spirit is there to empower them to be not just workers for Jesus in the world, but more accurately for them to be Jesus in the world. That might sound amazing but it makes sense of the statement at the end of the passage in which Jesus tells his disciples that they too can forgive sins. They can do so because when they are living authentic obedient lives to the teaching of Jesus, Jesus is acting and speaking through them. 

Those beautiful words, "Peace be with you" are words from God which we are called to share. We together with the first disciples know that the past, with all its regrets has been forgiven. We are set at peace with God and one another. We are recreated, new creatures, through the Word of God. Where once there was sin, compromise, half-hearted discipleship, cowardice and blindness, now there is forgiveness and a chance to begin again. We are called now to live a new life, strengthened by a transforming Spirit. We need to be recreated. And that is what Jesus does, he breathes his Spirit upon us so that we too can practice forgiveness and reconciliation in our conflicted and divided world.

Seeing the risen Christ was a cause for the disciples to know joy. However we are reminded that our work is not easy, Jesus died in the process. As we serve Christ in the world, like those first disciples we concentrate on the wounds of Jesus, his nailed hands and pierced side. Peacemaking and reconciliation is dangerous work, may we find courage like the disciples to come out from behind our locked doors to go out in to God's world with his message of love. Charles Royden 

Meditation

Rather than "lifting us up" above others into a group that is somehow favoured by God, Pentecost "pulls us down" to connect with those that we would never naturally have the strength or inclination to relate to. Rather than leading us out of the world, Pentecost drives us back into it to proclaim and live the prophetic message of God’s reign, as Christ did. In what ways is your church community tempted to separate itself from the world around it? In what ways do you sense the Spirit driving you out to proclaim God’s grace and glory to those who are different from you? In what ways are you being equipped and called by the Spirit to bring people together and to serve those who need to experience God’s presence and activity through human hands? 

Hymns

Come down O love divine (Tune Down Ampney) 

O breath of God

Spirit of the living God

Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire

Breathe on me breath of God

O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us

There's a spirit in the air

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.

Spirit of Holiness

Spirit of God unseen as the wind

Born of the Holy Spirit's breath

Head of thy church (Tune Fulda)

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Blessed be the love which chose us before the foundation of the world. Blessed be the grace that saved us before the world began. Blessed be the glory prepared for us from all eternity. Blessed be God for ever and blessed be his glorious Name! Amen Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1834-1892

May Christ inflame the desires of all people to break through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another, and to pardon those who have done them wrong. Through Christ’s power and inspiration may all peoples welcome each other to their hearts as brothers and sisters, and may the peace they long for ever flower and ever reign among them."Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, #171 

Faithful God, you fulfilled the promise of Easter by sending your Holy Spirit and opening the way of eternal life to all the human race. Keep us in the unity of your Spirit, that every tongue may tell of your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

Almighty God, we your children pray: let your glory come down. 

Let the Fire fall as on that first Day of Pentecost. 

Revive our spirits, fill us with new excitement, 

with joy unspeakable and faith for a dying world. 

Empower us to speak your Word; to utter the words of Life; 

using a variety of languages to bring the good news to the poor. 

LORD, let your fire fall once again on this church, on this community, 

on this country, and to the ends of the earth. 

In Jesus name and in the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Additional Material

Commentary Pentecost

Marilyn has treated us to an amazing piece of art today, shaped around the words of Catherine of Siena:

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

 Today is Pentecost Sunday, often spoken of as the birthday of the church, the moment the first Christians received the Holy Spirit. Today many Christians associate the Holy Spirit primarily with church worship.  But when we read what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in the New Testament they include things like  Encouragement, Giving, Serving, Administration, as well as teaching

The Apostle Paul said: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice—this is your spiritual worship.”

So the Holy Spirit is about a whole lot more than the three hours of communal worship. They are given for the other 165 hours of worship during the week. The Holy Spirit is mot needed when God’s people are scattered into workplaces, homes, neighbourhoods, and the margins of society during the week. The Holy Spirit is given to equip us for service in the world, not performance in the sanctuary.

Pentecost is not the moment the Church received a spiritual treasure to enjoy—an inner warmth or an uplifting experience. The Spirit does not descend to lift the disciples out of the world, but to thrust them deeper into it. The fire that rests on them is not to provide a spiritual high.

Pentecost is not an escape. It is an entrance—into the world God loves. The miracle of Pentecost is not that the disciples feel wonderful in the Upper Room, the Spirit pulls them down from the safety of that place and pushes them out into the streets, into the noise, into the complexity, into the lives of real people.

The Holy Spirit has been at the centre of the longest-running dispute in Christian history and a constant source of division.

The early church meetings in Corinth were descending into chaos with people speaking in tongues. The Apostle Paul said people will think you are mad (1Cor 14:23) and he laid down rules restricting it and preventing the disorderly worship.  The Great Schism of the Church was doctrinally over the definition of the Holy Spirit in the creed. The Church has used the Holy Spirit as a reason to divide. Yet the Spirit came to unite. The Spirit came to break down walls, yet we have built denominations, factions, and tribes in the Spirit’s name.

Christians get very hot under the collar and disagree but go back to the first great public Pentecost. What happened? At the very moment the Church was born, God chose to make unity the headline. Acts tells us that Jerusalem was filled with people from every nation under heaven — Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Egyptians, Libyans, Romans, Arabs, Cretans, and many more. These were people divided by: language, culture, geography, politics, history, suspicion, and centuries of mutual misunderstanding. And yet, when the Spirit comes, the first thing that happens is understanding. “Each one heard them speaking in their own language.” This is a miracle of connection. The Spirit does not make everyone speak the same language. The Spirit makes everyone understand one another. That is the heart of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit who broke down barriers has been used to build new ones. And Paul saw this coming. This is why, after three chapters of teaching on spiritual gifts, he ends with the words: “The greatest of these is love.” Not tongues. Not prophecy. Not miracles. Not ecstatic experiences. Love. Because without love, the gifts become weapons. Love is the gift that always sends us outward.

This is why Catherine of Siena’s words ring so true on this feast: “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” She does not say, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will feel wonderful.” She does not promise spiritual thrills or emotional uplift. She promises fire—the fire of a life poured out in love.

Catherine understood Pentecost far better than many of us. She knew that the Spirit’s work is not to inflate the ego but to ignite the heart. Not to make us feel special, but to make us servants. Not to draw us away from the world, but to send us into its deepest needs. And she lived it. She stepped into places everyone else avoided. When the plague swept through Siena, Catherine walked straight into the homes of the dying. She washed their wounds, fed them, prayed with them, and held them as they passed from this life. She reconciled enemies who had given up on peace. She travelled between warring Italian city states, urging forgiveness, calling leaders to humility, and pleading for peace.

She confronted corruption with fearless love. She wrote boldly to popes and rulers, challenging injustice and calling the Church back to holiness.

She cared for those society discarded. She sat with condemned prisoners, prayed with them, and walked with them to their execution so they would not die alone. She poured herself out until her body gave way. She died at 33, exhausted by love.

This is Pentecost in flesh and blood. Catherine’s fire is not confined to the 14th century. The same Spirit is at work now — often in ways so ordinary we barely notice them. Whenever someone steps toward suffering instead of away from it, the Spirit is at work. Whenever someone gives themselves away in love, the Spirit is at work.

• The carer who shows up day after day.
• The foster parent who opens their home.
• The neighbour who checks on the elderly man next door.
• The volunteer who quietly stocks the food bank shelves.
• The parent who sits with a struggling child after a long day.
• The congregation which refuses to listen to gossip.
• The teacher who advocates for the overlooked child.
• The nurse who challenges unsafe practice.
• The young person who stands with the one being bullied.

Whenever someone crosses a boundary of fear or prejudice, the Spirit is at work.  Most people doing these things would never describe themselves as “Spirit filled.” But they are. They are living Pentecost without realising it. So the question for us this Pentecost is not, “Do I feel the Spirit?” but “Where is the Spirit already calling me to go out ?” The Spirit is not waiting for us to feel spiritual. The Spirit is waiting for us to be available. And when we are — even in small, hidden, ordinary ways — we join Catherine, we join the disciples, we join the great movement of God’s Spirit filled love in the world.   Charles Royden

 

Commentary

Pentecost reminds us of the relationship which exists between God and Jesus. It would have been so much easier and more convenient if Jesus had been more specific and told us precisely all we needed to know in words of one syllable. But of course, it is never made that simple: we have to do some of the work ourselves. We have to commit ourselves first to the loving lifestyle of the God who is known to us in Jesus: 

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth..." 

Yet again, it appears, we are being told that to know God is to act like God in love and compassion; we shall discover the Spirit of truth as we live by the truth. In the Old Testament in Genesis Chapter 11 there is the story of the story of the Tower of Babel or Babylon. Babel stood for all that was evil in the Jewish tradition and this was because the people of that city had dared to build a tower which reached up towards the heavens. Of course, there is a play on words here, because the word Babel has connotations of confusion, and the punishment for thinking that they could build such a tall tower was the confusion of their language. The Acts story reverses this judgement, and tells us how the Spirit of God now brought people from different countries, normally separated by their language together, and then enabled each of them to hear what being said in their own language. This meant that all the visitors to Jerusalem heard the disciples speaking in their own tongue. Luke's theological creativity has brought these two stories together and makes a point about the significance of language and speech, especially with regard to the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ.

A passage which has been omitted from today's readings, but which is included in the Lectionary readings for today is Romans 8: 14-17 where Paul writes about the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given to all believers. He goes on to say that this Spirit is God at his creative work. He continues by saying that there are no distinctions to be drawn between the various works of God. Thus, God creates, God judges, God reconciles; all is the work of the one God. It is the Spirit of God which undertakes all that God wills, and it is the grace of God which underlies all God's actions. This Spirit makes us the children, the inheritors, of the estate of God. The one proviso is that we remember the cost of this grace to God, bearing in mind that what we suffer is also to be offered to the Father to be made holy, just as was the offering of Christ himself.

Meditation

The Holy Spirit gives life to the people of God. This is challenging for us. The life to animate us as Christians and as churches is a power which is beyond our controlling. The picture of the tongues of fire, leaping around, is a good way of stressing that the Spirit is uncontrollable. The fire was not constrained within a grate, it was a fire which rendered the disciples powerless to control it. We do not like loosing control, we like to manage and legislate but the Holy Spirit is not to be controlled but to fill us and take us over. At Pentecost we remind ourselves that we must not be too busy, too tired, too poor, too spiritually apathetic —to face up to the task which God has called us to do. We must open ourselves to the Spirit of God to move us. 

• What gifts do I have? 
• With whom do I share them? 
• What are the gifts that I don't share as freely as I could or should? 
• Why am I reluctant to get involved in sharing those gifts? 
• How can God help take away any fear that might hold me back? 

What is Pentecost ?

Pentecost is the festival when Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is celebrated on the Sunday 50 days after Easter. Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church, and the start of the church's mission to the world. The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that is the way Christians understand God.

Celebrating Pentecost - Pentecost is a happy festival. Ministers in church often wear robes with red in the design as a symbol of the flames in which the Holy Spirit came to earth. 

Hymns sung at Pentecost take the Holy Spirit as their theme, and include: Come down O Love Divine, Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire, Breathe on me breath of God, O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us, There's a spirit in the air and Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.

Pentecost Symbols - The symbols of Pentecost are those of the Holy Spirit and include: flames, wind, the breath of God and a Dove.

The first Pentecost - Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot.

The apostles were celebrating this festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. 

It sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. 

The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

People passing by at first thought that they must be drunk, but the apostle Peter told the crowd that the apostles were full of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost Prayers

Almighty and Everlasting God look with favour upon your people. As on this day you sent upon the first disciples the gift of your Holy Spirit, so pour that Spirit out upon us this day. Open our hearts to your living power. Cleanse us from every impurity and forgive our sin as you have promised. Lead us and teach us and grace us with your presence. Grant us the dreams and visions you have promised and make us messengers of the good news of Christ Jesus our Lord. Indeed, unite us through the power of your Spirit so that all people may be moved by the witness we make and so that songs of praise may rise to you here and everywhere, both now and for ever more.

Lord, lead us to be peace-makers, building connections between individuals, focusing on what unites people rather than on what separates us and highlights our differences. Lord, it's easy to harm relationships; forgive us the divisions and bitterness which we have created in our homes and families with friends and colleagues at work. Enable us to seek for a fresh start and give us the power of your Spirit to use opportunities to build up and make new the bonds between people.

Gracious God, Spirit of Life, surging freely, loving generously, seeking endlessly, move upon the face of our world and embrace all its creatures with grace. Startle the powerful and the humble with your power and tenderness, your purpose and determination, your patience and mercy. Hear our prayers of thankfulness and our requests for your intercession. 

O living God, come and make our souls temples of thy Spirit.

Sanctify us, O Lord. Baptise thy whole Church with fire, that the divisions soon may cease, and that it may stand before the world as a pillar and buttress of thy truth.

Sanctify us, O Lord.

Grant us all the fruits of thy Holy Spirit: brotherly love, joy, peace, patience, goodwill and faithfulness.

Sanctify us, O Lord.

May the Holy Spirit speak by the voice of thy servants, here and everywhere, as they preach thy word.

Sanctify us, O Lord.

Send thy Holy Spirit, the comforter, to all who face adversity, or who are the victims of men's wickedness.

Sanctify us, O Lord.

Preserve all nations and their leaders from hatred and war, and build up a > community among nations, through the power of thy Spirit.

Sanctify us, O Lord.

Holy Spirit, Lord and source of life, giver of the seven gifts,

Sanctify us, O Comforter.

Spirit of wisdom and understanding, Spirit of counsel and strength,

Sanctify us, O Comforter.

Spirit of knowledge and devotion, Spirit of obedience to the Lord.

Sanctify us, O Comforter.

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