PENTECOST B 2009

I usually get up a little earlier on a Thursday morning to go to the office and work on a sermon. This Thursday, around 5:00am my cell phone kept going off in another part of the house. When I was able to answer it, it was my priest friend from Honduras and he told me that they just had a powerful earthquake and San Marcos, the church next to his house, was destroyed. And just as I was writing this he called again to say that the church our group worked on in Puerto Cortes was destroyed, as well as another one that I know well in Omoa.

This last weekend Kathy and I were in the San Diego area to do a wedding for Jennifer Dorsey. We had a great time. On Sunday evening we went to an evensong service at the chapel of Bishops school, a girl’s High School that my mother and aunts and sisters went to. I found my mothers and aunt’s names on plaques in the chapel. The next day we went to a beautiful new housing project for the navy that was named after Matt Axelson, a navy seal was the husband of our niece who was killed in the mountains of Afghanistan. I felt this empty feeling, wondering about life and death and meaning as I looked at pictures of Matt, a handsome young man, now dead, and thought about my mom and Aunts, all now gone.

Then I have been reading a book about Winston Churchill and there I read about the British fighting the tribes in the Swat valley (where fighting is going on right now in Pakistan), and in the Sudan, places that today are still in turmoil.

At times, I wonder what in the world is this life all about. And in a real sense, I feel what the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8:22-25 ( NRSV ) 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in£ hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes£ for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The earthquake in Honduras made me think of Paul’s image of the “whole creation groaning in labor pains.” I have never had a baby, or been in the labor room, but I have watched the movies and TV, and it looks like a pretty intense process!! Moms, am I right? So Paul uses this image of child birth to say that the creation itself, nature all around us, is in a process of intense pain, laboring until a new creation is born.

And then he goes on to say that not only does creation labor and groan, but so also do we Christians, who have the gift of the Spirit of God in our lives. We too groan inwardly as we wait for God to redeem, or save us from the sufferings of this present age.

He then goes on to talk about hope. He writes:

Romans 8:24-25 ( NRSV ) 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, a day we celebrate the coming of the Spirit of God into the world with new power and strength and in a new way. The working of the Holy Spirit is all over the New Testament. We could spend years studying and talking about the Spirit of God. In the lessons that we read this morning, we catch a glimpse of some of the work of the Holy Spirit. But as I pondered the working of the Holy Spirit, because of where I am emotionally, I was led to this concept of hope. I don’t know about you, but having hope is very important to me in my life. For me to keep going in any positive, healthy path of life, I need to have hope. And then of course the question is, what am I going to put my hope in?

This is where the Christian faith becomes real for me, not just a nice religion with some good moral teachings, but it becomes the foundation of my day to day existence. For me, my hope has to be in something that can withstand earthquakes and loss and failure and sickness and even death itself. And this is where the work of the Spirit comes into play. The Spirit of God comes into our lives and opens our eyes to see the truth.

Jesus calls his Spirit the “spirit of truth.” And said that he will “guide you into all truth.” I used to think that this meant that we would have correct Christian doctrine, but now I believe that what the Spirit does is help us to have faith and hope and trust in Jesus in our daily lives. What the Spirit does is point to Jesus. Jesus said: “He will glorify me.”

When our hearts are opened by the Spirit of God, we begin to see the world with different eyes. The phrase we have been using these past weeks is to look out at the world with the eyes of Jesus.

This of course gives us a different view of the world. And one of the things this does is give us a new hope, a hope that transcends the normal things we hope for in this life.

When I look at a picture of a handsome, young, dead Navy seal that I knew, or I look at a plaque on a wall with my mom’s name on it, or I receive a call about people I know who are poor, and now are poorer still because of an earthquake, there is a part of me that feels nothing but emptiness and despair. But then when, by God’s grace, the Spirit of God lifts my eyes to see Jesus, a new principle is infused into my soul, that of hope.

This hope believes that what we see is not all that there is. This hope believes in the love of God revealed to the world in Jesus. This hope believes in the triumph of life over death. This hope believes in the resurrection of the dead. This hope believes in the Church and its role in nurturing and transforming our lives.

There is an image that the writer of Hebrews uses that I have always liked, being a kind of sailor – not a real sailor – but a day sailor. This writer, after he talks about how sure and trustworthy the promises of God are, likens hope in this promises to an anchor:

He writes: We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”

This is a great image for hope. If you have ever been in a boat at anchor, especially when the waters get a little rough, even though the boat will be pushed around and around, the boat remains secure.

All of us, during the course of our lives, will face our personal earthquakes.. we will be pushed around by the waters of life. And as we open up our hearts to the suffering of the world around us, we sense the struggle and pain of life even more. But God, in his mercy, has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us hope and trust in the life and truth that are in Jesus. And this makes a great difference in our day to day lives. I read an article about preaching, and it said that what we preachers often do is talk about things that are totally unrelated to our hearers and their day to day life. I know that often what we say up here seems to have no relevance to you and your life.

But I believe with all my heart that if we open up our heats to the working of the Spirit of God, our lives will be changed.. In our lesson from Acts we read about how the Spirit of God fell upon those early disciples. This day changed their lives forever. I learned from our Pentecostal brothers and sisters the importance of opening up our hearts to the Spirit of God. Pentecostals often pray for the Spirit to come into their lives in new and powerful ways, and this is something that we can learn from them. Imagine that there is a door to the entrance of your soul, then imagine that you open that door and then pray to God on a daily basis, “Holy Spirit of God, I invite you into my soul. Come and dwell with me and be in me and lead me and guide me and teach me.”

Anyone, who with a sincere heart prays this prayer, will have their lives changed. The world and life will begin to be seen with new eyes. What is hoped for and valued will be changed, day by day, year by year.

What we have been about in this church for the last 17 years is seeing lives changed by the power of the Spirit of God. Sometimes, as I have shared, I wonder how effective we are. I wonder if we are not just playing church, and missing the real thing, missing the real Christian life. But then God lets me see again with the eyes of Jesus, and I can see the working of the Spirit of God in our midst. I see again the place and the role of the local church in making and nurturing Christians.

Two thousand years ago God began a new project in the world by entrusting the message of his love to a few followers of Jesus. Since that day, this message has survived and thrived through people like you and me. Christians down through the ages have gathered together in homes and buildings and caves and fields to share and grow and learn and encourage one another and to pass their faith along to their children.

We are their heirs. We are not a club. We are not a social service organization. We are not a group of nice people who try and do nice things. We are followers of Jesus who are striving to be faithful.

As you are asked to make a pledge this morning to help us continue to be faithful, please don’t think about it as just giving to this church. Stop and visualize your gift as being given to God. Imagine Jesus sitting in a chair and you come forward and place your offering before Him. Whenever we see our gift as being given to God, our hearts are joyful. As I have said many times, if we have the opportunity to reflect upon our lives on our death bed, not one of us will ever say that we wish we had not been so generous to the poor or needy…. or wish we had not given so much money to support the local church. Yes, during our lives we might think that, but never at the very end. Why??? because at this point we realize that having money and possessions and pleasures are now irrelevant. Now we face eternity and whatever that might bring.

After the we take up the offering this morning, we are going to ask those of you who want to make a pledge to come forward and place your card in a basket at the front. This is to symbolize that our offering is to God.

You will have time to fill out the card between now and the taking up of the offering.

Please, if you feel resentful about all of this, or are brand new, don’t make a pledge. But if you value this church, and you want to see Spirit of God continue to work in our midst, please make a pledge. Sometimes people feel that they don’t want to make a small pledge, but even if you are only able to give a little, make a pledge, as it both shows your commitment to this church.

Let me end with the words of St. Paul

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 ( NRSV ) Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

AMEN