Today is the Sunday when we celebrate the Holy Spirit. I hope I can explain who the Holy Spirit it, and what the Spirit does, in order for us all to understand how the Holy Spirit has already influenced, and is influencing each of us right now. The plainest way to describe the Holy Spirit is to say, the Spirit is the active, immediate presence of God. At the very beginning of the Bible, when God began to create, the Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters. That is, the Spirit was ready to execute the designs of God . . . ready to create electrons and atoms, ready to create elements and bring them together into new structures, and ultimately, to breathe life into some of them. God the Creator is the architect, and the Holy Spirit is, as it were, the whole construction company. And this work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing: giving a new image to this artist, a new insight to that scientist, an extra helping of wisdom to this mother, and extra patience to that father.

One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit is to make us aware of God. The word “inspiration” means, breath or spirit coming in, bringing increased recognition and new understanding. I experienced this quite recently, on May 9th, when I went to visit my mother’s companion Floyd, in the hospital. On the way toward the reception desk, the Holy Spirit suggested to me that I get flowers for him at the little gift shop there. I believe it was the Spirit’s idea, and not mine, because I was preoccupied with many other things. I didn’t even see the gift shop, and when the idea first came, I thought maybe they wouldn’t allow flowers in the Cardiac Care Unit. The experience was just like receiving a note that is blown by the wind, and seems to have arrived by chance.

In the ancient world, it was believed generally that only seers, prophets and oracles received such communications. Although the ordinary person was encouraged to observe the festivals and bring offerings to the holy places, it was again only the priests who had the special knowledge or ability to present the offering to God. In the Hebrew religion, both the prophets and the priests were anointed, as a sign that God gave them authority to listen to His word, and to approach His altar. This is the context for an extraordinary prophecy made by the minor prophet Joel early in the 5th century BC. He said that someday, God would pour out the Spirit upon “all flesh”. No longer would prophets or priests be necessary, because everyone could approach God, and all would be anointed. This was the distant signal of what would happen on Pentecost.’

We believe the next event in the history of the Holy Spirit is Gabriel’s announcement to made, that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and she will bear a son. We will be singing a song about this at the 10:30 service, called, “She Comes Sailing on the Wind”. Now the Holy Spirit has no form, and no gender, so perhaps we might have sung, “it comes sailing on the wind”, however the Holy Spirit is personal. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruah, a feminine noun, which means either wind, or breath. So the Spirit is sometimes referred to as she. The third verse of our song says, “To a gentle girl in Galilee, a gentle breeze she came, a whisper softly calling in the dark, the promise of a child of peace whose reign would never end”. So the Holy Spirit calls us, or sometimes pushes us to do something, but we always have a choice. And this is what happened when the angel came to Mary: after she had asked a few questions, she consented. She was free to say no, just as you and I are free to say no when the Spirit whispers. I chose to get those flowers at the hospital, but I didn’t have to; it wasn’t a command.

Everything I’ve said so far, is background necessary to understand Pentecost. The word Pentecost means (in Greek) fiftieth day. It refers to a Jewish agricultural festival. Jews from all over the ancient world came to Jerusalem for the 3 major festivals of the year, as our reading from Acts says. Meanwhile, as the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room, a strong wind came into the house, which is depicted on the cover of the bulletin. This was an intense energy, which took on the appearance of flames resting on the disciples. Each was given the ability to speak in a language unknown to them, and all those foreign Jews out in the street, heard their own languages. Why did this happen? First, it is a sign of the task to which the disciples are sent: to bring the Gospel to all nations. And second, both the wind and the flames are intense forms of energy, of power to fulfill the task.

We have always understood this event as the birthday of the church. This is the reason Pentecost is a major feast, along with Christmas and Easter. And the church has always understood this event as the Anointing by the Holy Spirit . . . in the long tradition of anointing priests and prophets, and also in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that all flesh would receive the Spirit. All of this is symbolized by the flame. Who wears a flame as a symbol? (show the flame) Bishops wear flame hats as a reminder of Pentecost.

The crucial message of Pentecost is that all Christians are anointed: it is no longer an exclusive group. All are empowered to speak with God, to offer worship, to witness to the Gospel. St. Paul affirms this in the reading from Romans: “we are children . . . heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ “. St. Peter affirms this in his first letter when he says, “Come to Christ, a living stone . . . and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God . . . for you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”(2:4-9). So in the early church, for the first two centuries at least, all Christians were actually equal, and insofar as anyone was a priest, all were priests. This is called the priesthood of all believers, and it is represented in the Outline of the Faith (page 855) where the question is asked, “Who are the ministers of the church? the answer is, The ministers of the church are laypersons, bishops, priest and deacons”.

Historically, this crucial doctrine began to be submerged when Christianity became a legal religion, early in the 4th century. First bishops, and then presbyters, were called priests. In this way, the priesthood of all believed was obscured, and almost forgotten. Jesus is our model for the priesthood of the whole people of God, for several reasons. First, he himself was not a priest in the Temple, and he was not involved much with the religious institutions of his time. Instead, he carried his closeness to God into his everyday life, into the events, the meetings, and the dinner parties he attended. Third, he did not claim a special status for himself, but instead, modeled servanthood. Fourth, he shared his own wisdom, his gifts from God, his time, and energy, with friends and strangers; he lived generously. And, above all, he demonstrated in his behavior, love of God and love of neighbor.

My reflections on the priesthood of the whole people of God, are much influenced by Bill Countryman’s book, Living on the Border of the Holy. Countryman’s definition of priestly ministry is, sharing, revealing or explaining the secrets, the hidden things, to someone else. Whether the secret concerns an ordinary aspect of daily life, or is specifically about a spiritual matter, it is the willingness to share that which is hidden, which is the priestly action. This is one of the reasons we are sharing our faith stories on Wednesday evenings: we are being priests to one another.

So now we come to the question toward which I have been heading: how is the Holy Spirit influencing us, all of us, right now? How are we anointed, or empowered by the Spirit, and what does this mean? Well, I don’t know the whole answer to these questions, but here is the part I do know: first, all Christians are called to share our own stories of faith: how we came to faith, what our doubts are, how our faith has changed, where the spiritual journey has led us, and what we have learned. Second, we are called to listen to the stories of faith other people tell, called to listen, and to learn. Third, we are given particular spiritual gifts to use in our priesthood: some of the gifts are humble ones, being a helper, having patience. Other gifts are more prominent ones: being a leader, creating a new approach. Fourth, all Christians are called to lead generous lives: that is, we are to be generous with our time, our energy, our resources, our knowledge and our money. Fifth, we are all called to be people of prayer, and especially to lift up to God those who need healing or strength.

Finally, we are all called to offer sacrifices to God. Of course, I am not talking about animal sacrifice. Rather I am using the word sacrifice in its original meaning: to make something holy. We are called to make things holy for God. For example, we may make a meal holy by saying grace before we eat; we can make our daily work holy by intentionally doing it for God; we can make the cleaning of the kitchen, or the reading of a story to a child holy, by our deliberate intention to offer it to God.

Today, we will remember the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the upper room, by each person saying the Lord’s Prayer (later in the service) in his or her first language. Today, I invite you to recognize yourself as a member of that royal priesthood, having been anointed in baptism, and being called to the responsibilities I have just described. During our short time of silence following the sermon, we will give a stole to each person as a sign of your ministry.