But today I want to focus on the Acts version which contains some fascinating elements linking us to several grand Biblical themes. In recent weeks both Father Clair and I have touched on some of these grand themes.

“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.” Here on the Day of Pentecost is a direct reference to the opening verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1,2, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” That “wind of God”, in Hebrew “ruach”, can be translated “mighty wind” or “breath” or indeed “the spirit of God”. So we often talk of the wind of the Spirit. The psalm for today says “You send forth your Spirit (or breath) and they are created.” The wind, or breath, or Spirit of God is the creative force. Like in the Valley of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel it is God’s breath or Spirit which breathes life into the bones and makes them live. So God breathes life into his infant church on the Day of Pentecost. This continues the Resurrection theme of the new creation. The Spirit of the Risen Lord which is the Spirit of Pentecost is that very same Spirit of Creation that gives life to the world.

The opening of the Acts reading has an interesting play on the word “fills”: the wind “filled the entire house”; “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”; even the opening line “When the day of Pentecost had come” is more literally translated “when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled”. This abundant outpouring which filled everyone and everything is the overflowing, extravagant, generous and freely given Spirit of God. This day is one of sheer grace. This day not only recalls the work of God’s Spirit in creation but also the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel, “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” This day is an act of grace, a day of gift, God’s gift to us brought about by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The text describes the crowd in Jerusalem as “devout Jews from every nation under heaven” and names there home countries “Parthians, Medes, Elamites” and so on, people from north, south, east and west, covering the whole of the known world. It is this crowd representing the whole of the known world which touches on the theme of universality: that the work of God is not just for some but for all. Paul takes up the theme in the discussion of gifts in the second reading from 1 Corinthians. “But it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” And not only that “for in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” It is to this crowd that the disciples on whom the spirit had fallen “began to speak in other languages.” The effect was electric for “each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” This linguistic phenomenum bringing about clear communication effects the reversal of Babel in Genesis, when God confused the tongues of arrogant humankind who attempted to build a tower that would reach to heaven. Here the Spirit of the Risen Christ reverses that judgment of old and breaks down that lack of communication that inhibits and divides human growth and development. Think of the lack of communication which caused division in the church between the Greek speaking East and the Latin speaking West; or the wars that have been caused through misunderstanding due to lack of common language.

Creation, Grace, Universality and the end of Babel; these are grand and noble biblical themes; and here all are concentrated on the Day of Pentecost, in this show of fireworks bringing Eastertide to a close.

I want to conclude on a more personal note. Two weeks ago today it was announced that I am to be the Seventh Rector of Transfiguration, itself a remarkable fact when you think that the parish has been here for nearly 160 years. May I say how touched and humbled I have been by the warm and generous response to that announcement not only here in the parish but more widely in the diocese and beyond. People seem genuinely pleased as undoubtedly I am pleased. Bishop Sisk is determined to install me as Rector and the most likely date at this stage is the Feast of St Andrew on the 30th of November. We can all look forward to that occasion.

But in light of all that I have been thinking about what sort of Rector I want to be or to put it another way, what will be the marks of my Rectorship? The readings for the Feast of Pentecost give very helpful clues as to what my priorities and hopefully those of the parish are and will be. The first arises out of the Spirit as the agent of Creation, the breath of God that gives life. For me the Christian religion has always been an agent of life: a faith that brings with it hope, love, joy, peace, truth and justice. Whatever we say and do ought to be lifegiving. I want our worship, our fellowship, our outreach ministries, and our advocacy to be uplifting, strengthening, upbuilding and giving hope.

The second arises from the overflowing and gracious pouring out of the Spirit of God at Pentecost which reminds us of our dependance on God’s grace. “All my hope on God is founded” we will sing at the offertory today. Whatever I do as Rector and whatever we do as God’s people, woe betide us if we forget the source from which all our gifts and abilities come. “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.” It is as we are thrown back again and again on God, that we are dependent on his Spirit alone, that our worship and our works will be blessed.

What I love about Pentecost is the inclusiveness of the event. There were faithful people from everywhere present. Paul builds on that in Corinthians and elsewhere. This was radical stuff then as now. The Spirit of God transcends all the barriers we have set up through our sinfulness and selfishness. The Spirit crashes through our protective walls. Thank God in my Christian upbringing I was never subjected to negative preaching like that epitomized by the late Jerry Falwell (may God have mercy on his soul). I thank God for good preachers and teachers who by word and example were generous and inclusive in their attitudes. The challenges to a true and godly inclusiveness continue not least in our church. I thank God at this time that I am part of the Episcopal Church which against criticism from within and without continues to stand for an inclusive church, a generous and welcoming church, against those who would erect all sorts of barriers and inhibitions. We in this parish are proud inheritors of an inclusive tradition dating back to our founder, Father Houghton, who welcomed not only people of the theater but also members of the African American community, at a time when that was sadly not the norm. I trust and pray that we continue to be that sort of community where all feel welcomed and at home.

And last but not least the Spirit of Pentecost was a communicative and reconciling Spirit bringing understanding and peace. I was appointed here with a particular reconciliatory task. But that work is never finished wherever there is human community. For me and for us all the challenge of bad communication and its consequences of misunderstanding and confusion continues. The Spirit calls and empowers us for this particular ministry. We will exercize it in our families, among our friends, at work, in the community, here in the parish. Wherever there is good communication and the reconciliation it brings there is the Spirit of God.

So let our several ministries which we exercise here at Transfiguration and beyond be life-giving, grace-filled, inclusive and reconciling. If they are so they will be signs of the Spirit of the Risen Christ. Alleluia, Christ is Risen!   Amen

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