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Sunday – Feast of Pentecost

Gospel - John 20:19-23

Acts of Apostles 2:1-11

Church of Dormition, Jerusalem

So just a little background!  In today’s first reading, the Jews from all over the world are gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.  We are celebrating today the Feast of Pentecost.  But they are not the same!  For the Jews, there are 3 feasts known as pilgrimage feasts, days when they travel to the Temple in Jerusalem.  One is Sukkoth, a fall harvest festival also known as Feast of Booths/Tents, remembering when the Israelites traveled in the desert.  Another is the Feast of Passover, celebrating leaving their lives as slaves in Egypt. 

And then 50 days after Passover, Pentecost!  Also known as Shavuoth, it was originally a spring harvest festival where the Jews would bring first fruits of their harvest up to the Temple as an offering of thanksgiving!  Later on it became a celebration of God giving the Law, the Torah, to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  So the Jewish Feast of Pentecost is 50 days after Passover.  And the Christian Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the coming down of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, is 50 days after Easter!

What energizes you?  Your job, your family, a hobby or favorite pastime?  What stirs you up, gives you life?  One part of my ministry that constantly uplifts and energizes me is my work with my altar servers – training them, encouraging them, supporting them!  This past Monday evening I was finishing up a Baptismal Prep class when, out in the parking lot, there arose a chorus of shouts and cheers!  Hi Deacon Bill!  You’re the best!  We love your zucchini bread!  You’re our Deacon!  Looking out, I saw that it was a group of my servers who spontaneously became a cheering section!  And then just a couple of days later, I found a bunch of hand-made thank you cards in my rectory mailbox – again from some of my servers!  How can you not be energized by something like that!

So I ask again!  What gives you life and energy?  What is it that changes you from “I don’t want to do anything but sit and vegetate” to ‘let’s get going.”

We see that energy, that breath of life, in today’s Gospel – Pentecost!  The Holy Spirit coming down upon the Apostles in tongues of fire and a rushing wind!  Upon a group of men who, up until today, were in hiding, fearful for their lives, lacking courage.  A group of men who basically were illiterate, uneducated farmers and fishermen from a tiny village, country bumpkins far removed from life in the big city.  And yet look at them now – filled with the Spirit, energized, stirred up to spread the Word, converting people from around the known world.

We celebrate today the end of the Easter Season and the return of Ordinary Time.  But on this Feast of Pentecost, we also celebrate the birthday of the Church.  This is the beginning, when Jesus’ disciples take up His mission of spreading the Word.  It is a reminder to us that, by our Baptism and Confirmation, we have all been filled with the Spirit.  We have all been given that energy, that stirring of our spirit to spread the Word.  Consider all the time and energy we put in to celebrate a special birthday!  How much does your faith energize you?

These are days of unrest and anger, of violence and pain, of hatred and racial divide, of diseases of the body and of the soul.  Now more than ever we need to remember that we are all temples of the Holy Spirit, that we are all filled with the Spirit and today is the birth of our faith. 

2000 years later, in some ways, we are still huddled together in the Upper Room, in fear.  We pray that the Spirit renew us and renew our troubled world.  We pray for the Spirit to energize us to bring peace and understanding to this broken world.

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