Pentecost

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I remember a clergyman saying he was slightly nonplussed when his young son, in an attempt to show off his knowledge of Christianity, said proudly to his father: “we worship a bird, don’t we daddy?” Well, err, no, we don’t actually worship a bird. Where did you get that idea from!? Of course it turned out the boy had seen a stained-glass window of Jesus’ baptism, with the Holy Spirit in pride of place depicted as a dove. Now we don’t worship a bird, but we do worship the Holy Trinity; and fifty days after Jesus’ passover, God the Father sent the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, and Jesus baptised the disciples with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

One writer describes this vividly; we can imagine the scene: as it was only 9 o’clock in the morning when Peter stood up to speak, it must have been a little after dawn when the disciples came together, praying, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; when suddenly a deep, strange sound was heard, rapidly gaining momentum, like the roaring of a storm-wind hurrying towards them, before it burst into the room where they sat.

And if we look carefully at Luke’s words, we see that what filled the house was not a violent wind, but ‘a sound like the rush of a violent wind’. This is something so much more mysterious and holy and beautiful. Like the Holy Spirit appearing at Jesus’ baptism in bodily form like a dove, but it wasn’t a dove. Because we don’t actually worship a bird.

But why the fire-y tongues at Pentecost? Why fire? Gregory the Great suggested beautifully that “the disciples’ hearts became a flame within them, because they received God in the apparent form of fire, and so began to burn with a very sweet love for God.” The Spirit was in them as a fire of love and burning zeal for the Lord who has made us, saves us and is with us… now.

We read that the ‘sound’ of the commotion drew a curious crowd who heard the disciples praising God, each in their own language—God’s word speaks directly to them, as it does to us—and all were declaring the mighty works of God; the story of the crucified and victorious exalted Christ.

And what is the long-term effect of that descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples oh so long ago? Well look around, here we are gathered together, a community of prayer waiting on Christ. Pentecost continues still, gathering the church together.

And as God’s Holy Spirit works with us and in us, over time we become better people, the people we are meant to be, forgiving, and learning to love each other, through the mysterious working and power of God.

The Holy Spirit works in us, and so the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—all of this grows organically in us through the Holy Spirit, without us being aware of how it grows, of how we are transformed. The only thing we are aware of is the power of God, the One from whom we receive our life. Because we still live in the flesh, our whole life must be an act of faith in the Son of God who has begun his own life in us through the Holy Spirit.

Ten days passed between the Ascension and Pentecost. Why ten days? Why not send the Holy Spirit immediately after the Ascension? Well, waiting on God can have the effect of intensifying our reliance on God. Sometimes our task in life is to obey Psalm 27: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!… [for we] shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

For on that day of Pentecost was begun a communication of the Holy Spirit to all believers which will never end while the world still stands. The mighty rushing sound has died away to silence, the fiery tongues do not rest on our heads any more, and those miraculous results of the gifts of the Spirit that day have passed away as well, but the gift remains, and the Spirit of God abides for ever with the Church of Christ, producing the fruit of the Spirit in us who give our lives over to God. If we trust the Lord, he will do the rest, and we will be changed. For God will grow the fruit of the Spirit in us, without us even being aware of it.  Trust your life and all your cares to God; our whole life must be an act of faith in the Son of God who has begun his own life in us through the Holy Spirit. For then we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, on earth, and in heaven together.

Amen.

The Rev’d Michael Aylmer,
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, 08/06/2025