The Day of Pentecost

May 24                        NOTES FOR REFLECTION                         The Day of Pentecost

Texts:  Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15*

[* The Lectionary offers an alternative: Ezekiel 37:1-14 may be used as the first lesson, in which case the reading from Acts would be used instead of the reading from Romans.  Apart from being constitutionally incapable of showing such disrespect to St Paul, I think this approach would be altogether too wordy.  The passage from Ezekiel is important, but best used on another day when it will not be overshadowed, as it would be by these readings from Acts and John's gospel.]

Theme: The title of this principal feast is the obvious choice; a suitable variant is "The Coming of the Spirit".  If you crave something a little different "The Promise Fulfilled" might do.  Those of more historical bent might consider "God Breathes into All Creation".  I rather like the idea of divine inspiration – perhaps, "God Inspires Us All".

Introduction. I'm not into biblical trivia, but if I was I might wonder if this week's reading from Acts is the longest set passage (other than a gospel reading) in the Lectionary.  Whether that's true or not, it is surely one of the most important and deserves the best reader available (one who can cope with verses 9-11).  It is full of high drama and good theology.  St Paul requires a different approach as he attempts to put into words his extraordinary vision of the significance of the saving work of Christ for all creation.  The gospel passage focuses on the real work of the Spirit.  As with Jesus, teaching is at the heart of the Spirit's mission – He comes to guide us into all truth.

Background.  The thing we often forget about conspiracy theorists is that occasionally they are right – there was a conspiracy going on after all.  This week one of the most outrageous and blatant conspiracies hit the headlines when some of the world's largest banks – including the usual culprits, JP Morgan, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland – admitted that they had conspired together over a period of 5 years to fix exchange rates - to the detriment of their clients and the huge enrichment of their shareholders.  Who'd have thought?

Something similar has been going on in the world of cooking, as any avid reader of recipes must have suspected.  There was a time when nobody had heard of sundried tomatoes, then suddenly every cook on the planet was insisting that they were an essential ingredient of haute cuisine.  Then we entered the age of balsamic vinegar and the same thing happened again.  Balsamic vinegar went viral!  Now quite small supermarkets have a whole shelf devoted to different kinds of vinegar.  We are presently living through the end days (I fervently hope!) of the age of cavalo nero, which even the usually reliable Bevan Smith believes is edible.  Bread producers have their own conspiracy underway: look how many of them now offer breads containing quinoa, for heaven's sake!  Even Ploughmans!

But conspiring cooks probably do not constitute as serious a threat to democracy as conspiring politicians, and clearly something is going on among them.  It involves the political equivalent of a special ingredient, a special word.  Hilary Clinton has used it to explain what her latest tilt at high office is all about; Tony Blair (remember him?) and other people who used to be admired have used it to explain why the Labour Party didn't win the recent U.K. Election; and our own Prime Minister uses it in a wide variety of circumstances to explain why some promise or target has not been met.  The word in such wide use today is "aspiration".

It belongs, of course, to a whole group of words in the English language.  "Respiration", which we all do; "transpiration", which plants do; "perspiration", which women do, and so on.  Two other important ones are "inspiration and expiration".  Now comes "aspiration".  Most of us (even politicians) have managed quite well until recently without using it very much, but now a whole range of politicians and their hangers-on are taking every opportunity to slip it into the public discourse.  Why is that?

The Collins English Dictionary shows us that "aspiration" and its cognates is quite a versatile word.  "To aspirate", for example, is much used in phonetics: one meaning there is to "pronounce a word or syllable with an initial 'h'.  In the medical world "to aspirate" means "to draw in or remove by inhalation or suction, esp. to suck (air or fluid) from a body cavity or to inhale (fluid) into the lungs after vomiting", with or without the aid of "an aspirator".  I shall resist the strong temptation to apply these definitions to the world of politics.

In that world the definition of "aspire" is more appropriate: "to yearn (for) or have a powerful or ambitious plan, desire, or hope (to do or be something)"; in this sense "aspiration" means "a strong desire to achieve something, such as success"; and "aspirant" means "a person who aspires, as to a high office".

Notice that none of the examples given by Collins relate to communal aspirations.  It might make sense to say that I aspire to a New Zealand where child poverty is unknown, but probably that is a misuse of the word.  And it is certainly not what the political conspirators use it to mean.  The game was given away by the unsuccessful Ed Milliband's even less successful brother who said "Labour must learn to speak for the aspirational as well as for the compassionate electors".  That is, for those who seek the good life for themselves, as well as those who seek the good life for others. 

This week we in the Church should be focusing on "inspiration", should we not?  That word, too, has had a very interesting run this week with the decision by Dame Sylvia Cartwright to gift some of her many medals and awards to her old alma mater, Otago Girls High School.  She said she hoped the medals would show the students of today and tomorrow what is possible; she wanted to inspire them to be the best they can be.  Dame Sylvia has had a very long and highly successful career, and is a wonderful role model for the students of that school.  No doubt she has derived great pleasure and financial rewards along the way.  But above all, her life has been (and still is) one of service to others.  Those medals and awards recognise that service.  She may indeed have aspired to high office, but whenever she has achieved it she has used it for the betterment of others.  Her greatest gift to others is surely inspiration.

And that's the major difference between aspiration and inspiration.  Aspiration is self-focused.  It is my plan, my ambition, my desire, that I strive to fulfil.  Inspiration is always a gift – it comes to us from another; this week we remember that true inspiration comes from The Other.  It is God's plan, God's ambition, God's desire that the Spirit comes to inspire us to fulfil.

Acts 2:1-21.  I can never resist the old chestnut that verse 1 records the first miracle of the Day of Pentecost – "they were all together in one place"!  More seriously, to whom does the word "they" apply?  I have seen (awful) art depicting the Spirit falling on the Apostles, but it may be that all 120 referred to in 1:15 are included.  Verses 2-4 graphically describe the experience of the "in-crowd", however many there were.  Whatever else we can say, those who refuse the whole notion of the supernatural might need to turn away, block their ears, or wait outside until the reading has finished.  Verses 5-13 relate to the "out-crowd".  Verses 6-8 are the heart of this passage.  Notice that all hear the good news in their own language.  The reference to "Galileans" may be a nice touch – it was his Galilean accent that blew Peter's cover in the High Priest's courtyard.  Peter gives the exegesis in verses 14-21.  We are tempted to say "again", because of the number of other occasions we have heard about during the Easter Season.  But this, of course, is his debut, his first sermon.  The model is the same: he starts from what has happened; addresses the questions being asked; reminds the crowd of Christ's death and resurrection, and then quotes from the Scriptures to show how it was all according to God's eternal plan.   Verse 13 may also deserve a comment: even in the presence of such an overwhelming demonstration of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, some can only stand and sneer.

Taking It Personally.

• Looking back over your life, what have you aspired to?
• Who or what has inspired you?
• Have you been an inspiration to others?
• Make a short list of those whom you most admire.  Can you identify any common characteristics among those on your list?
• What has been your own experience of the coming of the Holy Spirit?  Could you describe it as intoxicating?

 

Romans 8:22-27.  St Paul has crammed so much into this relatively short passage that it is difficult to paraphrase.   It is set in the context of "the sufferings of this present time", which he sees as the labour pains associated with the birth of a new creation – or perhaps the re-birth of the old one.  The breadth of his vision is mind-blowing: think how much breath has been wasted over who is "saved" and who is "not" among individual human beings.  When was the last time you heard such earnest debate over the salvation or otherwise of the whole of creation?  And yet, 2,000 years ago, Paul was concerned with that very issue.  Those who had received the Spirit at that time were but the "first fruits" of a great harvest to come.  It has been in process of coming ever since, and is not yet complete, but one day it will be.  That is our sure and certain hope.  That is what the Spirit has been doing ever since Pentecost, gathering in the harvest of redeemed creation.  Meanwhile, the Spirit residing in us provides the language with which we speak to God even when we have no idea what to say.  Whoever we are, regardless of ethnicity, through the Spirit we hear God and speak to God in our own language.  Pentecost continues day by day until the end of the age.

 

Taking It Personally.

 

• Recall the expression "speaking the same language", as a metaphor for understanding one another.  Can you think of a person with whom you often seem to be speaking a different language?  (We also say, "talking at cross-purposes" – now there's an interesting term!)
• Christians have often had a bad press about a supposed lack of care or concern for "the environment".  How might this passage form the basis of a "Christian ecology"?
• Spend time in silent prayer, leaving the words to the Holy Spirit.  Finish with a prayer of thanksgiving based on verses 26 and 27.

 

John 15:26-7, 16:4b-15.  Once again the emphasis is on testifying to Jesus.  The Spirit will testify on Jesus' behalf, and we must, too, because we have been with him (we would say, he has been with us) from the beginning of our faith journey.  Jesus must "go away" before his Spirit can come among us – transcend space and time and so become present "everywhere and always – as he did through the Ascension.  The Spirit comes (back) to continue Jesus' teaching ministry, but also to "measure" the world.  His return makes possible the judgment of the world.  However much we might "aspire" to keep religion out of the public square – faith as a purely private matter – that option is not available to us.    There is right and wrong, there is obedience and disobedience, because (and only because) there is a holy God whose Spirit suffuses the whole of creation, bringing it together, purifying it, making it whole, and bringing it back to himself for eternal enjoyment.

 

Taking It Personally.

 

·        This week aspire to hearing what the Spirit is saying to the Church – and to you.

·        Let him lead you into all truth, one small step at a time.