20 May 2018
I worked on my sermon on Friday, and like you I was and still am in shock over the news of yet another mass shooting in a school. Only, this time it was in our own backyard, just up the road in Santa Fe. This time many of us know people directly impacted in one way or another. I know a retired teacher who had the assailant in his math class last year. At least three of the wounded were taken to the Level 1 trauma center at UTMB. When the dust cleared on this thing, 10 persons, two teachers and 8 students were dead. This is heartbreaking, and we are left wondering how we will respond in the days to come.
Even while the news was breaking your senior warden, Ellie Hanley, was vetting ways that Grace Episcopal Church might respond. Marti Pittsenbarger suggested that the church be opened Friday evening for those who wished to gather in prayer, and a small group did just that. When I heard that idea I was struck by how much it was in sync with a theme I was seeing in the readings for the Day of Pentecost. More on this in a moment.
Pentecost comes from a Greek word meaning fiftieth referring to this celebration being on the Sunday fifty days after Easter. Pentecost is the day set aside to recognize the gift of God’s Holy Spirit to empower and sustain the early Church. We think of this day as the birthday of the Church because the Holy Spirit made it possible for the Church to begin to carry out its ministry in the world. The Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Trinity, is traditionally and often symbolized by fire and water (not to mention the other images). I’m using these two symbols to structure my thoughts.
First there is fire. We have in our reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles the story of the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit to believers gathered in Jerusalem. The Spirit was manifested in divided tongues of flame that rested on the heads of those who participated. It is the memory of this sight that inspired the design of the mitres worn by our bishops...the ecclesiastical accessory known to the uninitiated as those “funny pointed hats.”
What is so striking to me in this story is what continues to this day whenever the Spirit is present. What happens when the very life of God has a place among us is that people are drawn together. In the reading from Acts, people were able to understand one another even though they were from various places with different languages. The presence of the Spirit broke down barriers and helped folks hear one another and hear particularly the good news preached by Peter. Christians who learn of tragedy tend to feel a “tug,” so to speak to come together as a community to pray for peace, healing, and a way forward. I sensed this movement of the Spirit as many churches prepared to open their doors in an unscheduled way on Friday evening. (We would not be surprised if the faithful are drawn in numbers greater than usual this morning in all houses of worship.)
So, when I think of the flame, I think of the Bishop’s mitre, and how the Church was formed as people were drawn together and barriers between them were taken down.
Second, there is the theme of water. Our reading from Romans speaks of how the whole creation is waiting for a promised hope. In the beginning the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The gift of God’s Spirit is symbolized with water in our baptism so our spiritual journey of transformation begins as a kind of new creation. The Spirit endows us with Spiritual gifts and the gift highlighted in our reading from Romans is that of hope. Hope is not something seen; otherwise hope would not be necessary. Hope is something we trust will be. Life is such that circumstances so often threaten our hope. Do we have the strength to do what we need to do? When we feel overwhelmed, are we going to be able to keep going? How do we figure out going forward when tragedy is constant and seems to be never ending?
Sometimes, a strong sense of hope is all that we need to stay in the game and see things through. I am reminded of a dream I had in my first year as a priest when I was serving as curate at the parish and chaplain at the parish day school. The dream went like this: I was teaching a religion class and everything seemed normal except that the classroom was on a 747 jet airplane. Suddenly there was trouble, and the plane was headed down. After the plane crashed into a lake, I managed to open a door and lead the students through the water and into an opening in the side of the lake. Once into the opening there was a spiral staircase which I climbed with my class to the top. Upon opening the hatch at the top, we were greeted by archaeologists who were jumping up and down for joy that we had helped them find the opening for which they had been looking. I pondered this over a few days wondering what my Dream Maker was telling me.
Many dreams are gossamer-like, and you forget them quickly. This one stayed with me. At some point, I remembered something that Carl Jung had written about the importance of the context of the dreamer’s life when trying to figure out a dream’s meaning…. suddenly, the meaning hit me. I was in my first year of ministry, preaching 4 or 5 times a week and teaching classes. I was going through seminary notes to figure out what I needed to cover and I was worried I was going to run out of things to say...that the well would run dry, so to speak. It was like I was drawing cards from a deck and worried that any day I was going to draw the last card. In the midst of this anxiety, I came to believe that God was telling me that there was much more to me than what I was consciously aware of at any moment. I was given hope that the ideas would keep coming, that I could leave the lecture notes and depend on God to inspire me. Well, here it is after almost 31 years and I keep having ideas every day.
Finally, by way of review...let us notice the color red used liturgically today and so remember that day when the Spirit manifested as tongues of flame and brought people together. Let us also note that the Spirit still brings people together today even in the face of tragedy. Regard the water in the font as we come and go from this church and so remember that the Spirit was present at Creation and is also present with us as the one Jesus called the Advocate. We do not face life without hope but have One called alongside of us who will give us strength, ideas, creativity, and wisdom to meet the challenges ahead. AMEN
Pentecost comes from a Greek word meaning fiftieth referring to this celebration being on the Sunday fifty days after Easter. Pentecost is the day set aside to recognize the gift of God’s Holy Spirit to empower and sustain the early Church. We think of this day as the birthday of the Church because the Holy Spirit made it possible for the Church to begin to carry out its ministry in the world. The Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Trinity, is traditionally and often symbolized by fire and water (not to mention the other images). I’m using these two symbols to structure my thoughts.
First there is fire. We have in our reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles the story of the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit to believers gathered in Jerusalem. The Spirit was manifested in divided tongues of flame that rested on the heads of those who participated. It is the memory of this sight that inspired the design of the mitres worn by our bishops...the ecclesiastical accessory known to the uninitiated as those “funny pointed hats.”
What is so striking to me in this story is what continues to this day whenever the Spirit is present. What happens when the very life of God has a place among us is that people are drawn together. In the reading from Acts, people were able to understand one another even though they were from various places with different languages. The presence of the Spirit broke down barriers and helped folks hear one another and hear particularly the good news preached by Peter. Christians who learn of tragedy tend to feel a “tug,” so to speak to come together as a community to pray for peace, healing, and a way forward. I sensed this movement of the Spirit as many churches prepared to open their doors in an unscheduled way on Friday evening. (We would not be surprised if the faithful are drawn in numbers greater than usual this morning in all houses of worship.)
So, when I think of the flame, I think of the Bishop’s mitre, and how the Church was formed as people were drawn together and barriers between them were taken down.
Second, there is the theme of water. Our reading from Romans speaks of how the whole creation is waiting for a promised hope. In the beginning the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The gift of God’s Spirit is symbolized with water in our baptism so our spiritual journey of transformation begins as a kind of new creation. The Spirit endows us with Spiritual gifts and the gift highlighted in our reading from Romans is that of hope. Hope is not something seen; otherwise hope would not be necessary. Hope is something we trust will be. Life is such that circumstances so often threaten our hope. Do we have the strength to do what we need to do? When we feel overwhelmed, are we going to be able to keep going? How do we figure out going forward when tragedy is constant and seems to be never ending?
Sometimes, a strong sense of hope is all that we need to stay in the game and see things through. I am reminded of a dream I had in my first year as a priest when I was serving as curate at the parish and chaplain at the parish day school. The dream went like this: I was teaching a religion class and everything seemed normal except that the classroom was on a 747 jet airplane. Suddenly there was trouble, and the plane was headed down. After the plane crashed into a lake, I managed to open a door and lead the students through the water and into an opening in the side of the lake. Once into the opening there was a spiral staircase which I climbed with my class to the top. Upon opening the hatch at the top, we were greeted by archaeologists who were jumping up and down for joy that we had helped them find the opening for which they had been looking. I pondered this over a few days wondering what my Dream Maker was telling me.
Many dreams are gossamer-like, and you forget them quickly. This one stayed with me. At some point, I remembered something that Carl Jung had written about the importance of the context of the dreamer’s life when trying to figure out a dream’s meaning…. suddenly, the meaning hit me. I was in my first year of ministry, preaching 4 or 5 times a week and teaching classes. I was going through seminary notes to figure out what I needed to cover and I was worried I was going to run out of things to say...that the well would run dry, so to speak. It was like I was drawing cards from a deck and worried that any day I was going to draw the last card. In the midst of this anxiety, I came to believe that God was telling me that there was much more to me than what I was consciously aware of at any moment. I was given hope that the ideas would keep coming, that I could leave the lecture notes and depend on God to inspire me. Well, here it is after almost 31 years and I keep having ideas every day.
Finally, by way of review...let us notice the color red used liturgically today and so remember that day when the Spirit manifested as tongues of flame and brought people together. Let us also note that the Spirit still brings people together today even in the face of tragedy. Regard the water in the font as we come and go from this church and so remember that the Spirit was present at Creation and is also present with us as the one Jesus called the Advocate. We do not face life without hope but have One called alongside of us who will give us strength, ideas, creativity, and wisdom to meet the challenges ahead. AMEN
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