St. Andrew’s Pictou, May 15^th 2005 Pentecost

 

Jolted Into Life!

Numbers 11:24-30

Acts 2:1-21

John 20:19-23

 

Everyone of us has seen programs from hospitals on TV where someone’s heart stops, and the medical team jumps into action, puts these paddles on a person’s chest, someone yells, “Stand Clear!” and “ZAP,” a great surge of electricity goes through the man or woman in question, their body lifts off the table, and hopefully the monitor shows that the patient’s heart beat has been re-established.

 

The move from life to death and back again to life is very tense to watch. Sometimes they try it a second or third time. We never know which way it is going to go: Life and death are decided right there.

 

In real life, it must be very distressing from the medical people to be there when they are unable to help; when they are unable to bring the person back and instill in them the spirit of life that enables someone to go on.

 

I remember a brain surgeon telling me about the frustration he experienced when he had a patient die on the table. He took the medical equipment he had and smashed it on the floor.

 

On the other hand, a friend told me of the peace she experienced when she saw her mother gently take that last breath and was released from her battle with cancer.

 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the same word is used for breath, wind and spirit. The word is ruah: meaning breath, wind or spirit.

 

This is the day that the church celebrates as Pentecost, a spiritual event; the day when Jesus’ followers had an experience of the Holy Spirit which appeared as tongues of fire and they were then able to speak different languages.

 

This afternoon in Pictou Landing we are going to have a spiritual event; we are ordaining a woman Karla Wubbenhodst, to the ministry of word and sacrament with prayer and a laying on of hands: an event held after years of study and preparation .

 

A spiritual event doesn’t usually happen in a vacuum and the reading from Numbers describes a kind of ordination:

-it has been a long time since the people of God left Egypt and crossed the Read Sea,

-they are tired and pushed to the limit; the land is no longer producing enough food and they long for meat to eat,

-there has been a fire emergency in the camp,

-Moses himself, is also pushed to the limit and argues face to face with God,

-Moses needs help to manage the 600,000 people he is leading and he needs the help, NOW!.

 

What happens? Does God zap Moses with lightening for his insolence?

 

No. What God does is that he shares his Spirit with 70 elders of the best that Moses chooses from amongst the people. Moses has them circle the tent and God shares his Spirit with these 70 elders who have been chosen. Interestingly, the text says that they only prophesied that one day.

 

A Spiritual event doesn’t usually happen in a vacuum. Two years ago, when I saw the USA dropping all of those bombs on Baghdad, I made a prophecy: I said, “They have more suicide bombers than the US has sky scrapers!”

 

Had CNN been rolling their cameras, I would now be famous.

 

A Spiritual event doesn’t usually happen in a vacuum, Jesus promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and on the day of Pentecost, that Spirit did indeed come and manifest itself to the Christians on their journey, just as it had many years ago with the people of God on their journey.

 

“When that 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.”

 

“Christians will probably discuss for ever the mysterious speech that was heard that day. Was it a once in a life-time literal voicing of many languages, signaling the planetary-wide future of Christian faith? Or was it a speaking of that language beyond all languages, which we come to associate with expressions of the Holy Spirit.” Herbert O’Driscoll  p. 102

 

A spiritual event doesn’t usually happen in a vacuum. The reading in John has an experience of seeing the risen Lord after his resurrection. Unlike the last spiritual event, this one was quiet and serene. Like the people of God in Numbers, like the disciples at Pentecost, we now find the disciples at a pivotal point in their journey: in the upper room behind a locked door with fear.

 

Jesus appears in the upper room. After wishing them his shalom, his peace, Jesus “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 he sins of any, they are retained.’”

 

As judgmental as people usually tend to be, In this powerful event, we have Jesus telling his followers only one thing: go out and forgive people their sins.

 

All three examples of these spiritual events are related to mission; the people are to go out and share with joy what which they have received from God.

 

The receiving of the Holy Spirit precipitates ACTION!

 

Our reading today tells us that people receiving the Spirit are jolted into life!

 

The same thing is true for us today: any one of us receiving the Sprit will be jolted into life.

 

I knew a man who suffered from alcoholism. He went to AA, got in touch with his Higher Power and told me: “I never used to believe in miracles, but now every time I walk down the street, I see them everywhere!”

 

I talked to a beautiful 34 year old woman who had received a new liver transplanted into her body. She pointed to a stack of magazines that had been given to her, but she said “I don’t read them. I just lie here and feel good. I had forgotten what it was to feel good!”

 

She had two little boys and her dream was to see them grow up! Her new liver had jolted her with a new spirit of joy, zest, and hope for life.

 

On Wednesday evening I drove to Springhill to talk to the people from the three churches of the charge where I am interim moderator, (including Oxford, and Riverview.)

 

My only agenda was for them to move forward from where they were, but when I looked at 29 people who came to learn, study and pray together, I was jolted by the Spirit of God that they represent.

 

We came up with a plan that respected where they were and enabled them to take the next step forward.

 

The same thing is true for you and I as individuals, or “the Kirk” as a church.

 

The Holy Spirit can jolt us into life at any time!

 

There is good news in the scriptures today for anybody who experiences fear.

 

It seems from the passages that we studied today, that fear is the fuel that ignites the power of the Spirit for Mission.

 

Imagine! What a concept! Fear is fuel!

 

Just think of it. I keep meeting people who are afraid that their church is going to close. Fear is not our enemy. Fear is the simply the signal that we need an infusion of the Holy Spirit.

 

We human beings are just like the people of God:

-we get fed up when we are in the wilderness.

We are like the disciples after Jesus had died on the day of Pentecost:

-we get scared when we think that our world has fallen apart.

We are like those scared disciples,

-we hide behind locked doors; we hide in many places.

 

Christ calls us to life, and an experience of the Holy Spirit will and can jolt us into life when we need it.

 

That is the reality of the Promise from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour, redeemer, resurrected Lord, and friend.

AMEN                 Rev. Alan Stewart