Pentecost 2007

It was my son’s 23rd birthday last week. His girlfriend sent him a card with two penguins on the front. The penguin on the left was a typical penguin – black with a white chest and front. But the penguin on the right was all white with a black chest and front. The first penguin was saying – ‘What did the doctor say?’ To which the penguin on the right replied – ‘Try to stop feeling so negative’.

I imagine most of you will have guessed why two of our more adventurous choir members have decked the church out with red and yellow balloons. Its Pentecost and today is the church’s birthday. If the appointment of the first Rector is to be a guide then it is this church’s 841st birthday. Which when you think about it is pretty amazing.

The thinking behind putting up the balloons was in fact less frivolous than it might appear. We have lost sight a bit in the church of the significance of Pentecost. It is, after Easter, the second most important festival in the Church’s year. And yet in many years it passes almost without particular notice. So we can lose the significance of the birth of the church as the completion of God’s work in Jesus Christ. Our own significance, in fact!

As our reading from Acts records, on that day of Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the followers of Jesus witnessed the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit Their response was one of truly ‘living in the spirit’. John Pridmore writing in the Church Times said ‘note the response many of them made – their delight in each other’s company, their readiness to share their meals and everything else, their prayerfulness, their reckless generosity. Those were the days. Perhaps those would be the days, if we ever took our Christianity seriously.’

John Pridmore is slightly inclined towards negativity, and like the doctor’s advice to the penguin, I think sometimes the Church should try to stop feeling so negative. But being serious about our Christianity is the challenge for all of us. Jesus said to his disciples that world cannot receive the spirit of truth because it neither sees him nor knows him. Jane Williams says ‘perhaps the world is too obsessed with its own truth, to receive the spirit whose job it is to unite us with the Father and the Son’.

For 841 years this church has been declaring that being obsessed with our own concerns is not the way of God. Not because we are in any way wiser or better than anyone else, but simply because we have come to know that we are dependent upon God. In fact it is because we have no illusions about our own gifts that we are prepared to turn to God and ask for his help. Help that comes to us in the shape of the Holy Spirit. And hand in hand with the understanding that comes from the Holy Spirit comes the help we need to share that understanding with others.

In what ways might we celebrate our church’s birthday? We could reach again for the help of the Holy Spirit. Anniversaries are often used as opportunities for renewal and recommitment. At Easter we begin our worship each year by renewing our Baptism vows. On Friday of this week a couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary are to come to the church for a service of thanksgiving in which they will have an opportunity to reaffirm their marriage vows.

It is also part of our tradition to give presents on birthdays. These traditions can all be brought together for us as we celebrate the church’s birthday. Anniversaries are times for celebrating the past and anticipating the future. Something to celebrate is the way Spirit is moving in this place. There are so many exciting things happening at the moment that are coming from people, knowingly or otherwise, responding to the Holy Spirit. Forty people confirmed in the past three years. A flow of vocations to ordained ministry, pastoral ministry and reader ministry which will build our church’s capacity to spread the good news and offer God’s love. About £200,000 donated to the church for projects that have restored and renewed our place of worship. Wonderful energy and vision for future developments such as the new organ project. Flourishing children and youth work with exciting new ventures such as SAY its Friday. One of the most dynamic and rich groups of musicians and singers in the Diocese with our unique blend of modern and traditional music. A seriously good education programme. And most importantly, a church family that truly seems to be living in harmony with a sense of purpose and a concern for pastoral care and mission. Going out into the world and living the Gospel.

The holy spirit is moving in this place. But is calling us to do more exciting things. Birthdays are time when as part of our celebrations we bring gifts. This prompts me to ask myself the question ‘what present am I bringing to the Church today?’ Perhaps this is a question all of us should be asking. There may be a lot happening in our church, but I feel there is an area of our work where God is calling us to begin to do much more. St Peter quoted the prophet Joel on the day of Pentecost:

     I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh

     and your sons and daughters shall prophesy,

     and your young men shall see visions

     and your old men shall dream dreams.

Hopefully having visions is not limited to the young man. My vision and dream for St Andrew’s is of a church spreading the word of its presence to the people of our parish. Drawing people into a real and living faith. A faith where the Spirit gives us the ability to understand our need of God and his love for us.

Jane Williams wrote ‘over and over again God chooses as his messengers those who seem inadequate and wholly unsuited for their great task.’ Isn’t that how most of us feel when faced with the challenge of evangelism. But perhaps that is because we don’t value ourselves as God does, and we don’t place sufficient trust in the Holy Spirit. When we turn to God in prayer, worship, conversation and fellowship, we will be given the energy for our visions and our dreams to become reality. Pentecost is a time to renew our commitment to God and his Church. To realise afresh what wonderful gifts each and every one of us has to offer, thanks to the Holy Spirit working in us.

© Robert Jenkins May 2007