I always feel awed and humbled by the great privilege of administering baptism. Especially on the feast of Pentecost, we stand in the long line of succession from the early church, welcoming 5 newly baptised people into the Body of Christ. When I prepare people for baaptism, I talk to them about the four meanings of this sacrament. The first meaning is union with Christ in his death and resurrection. The second meaning is the washing away of our old sinful nature. The third meaning is incorporation into the church, the Body of Christ. And the fourth meaning is the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are all things God does for us, when we say both inwardly, and out loud, Yes, I want to be baptized.

In our reading from the Book of Acts, we heard about the very first baptism after the resurrection of Jesus. It is an event made vivid by the "rush of a violent wind", and by tongues of fire. This is one of those times when something happened which was beyond human ability to explain. The disciples were aware of a mighty presence surrounding them, and an overpowering spiritual energy coming into them. The best way they could describe their experience was to say, a mighty wind came into the room, and we felt fire upon us. They knew, and we know, that God is not wind, and God is not fire. But sometimes, the only way we can describe our experience is to say, God is LIKE a wind, and God is LIKE fire.

The first meaning of this Pentecost event, is that the living presence of the Holy Spirit was given to the Christian community--all 120 of them. Pay attention to the fact that the Spirit was given to every Christian, not just to the leaders. The Spirit was given to the whole community. This means that we are all equal in Christ: a newly baptized 7 year old is equal to someone baptized 70 years ago! Women are equal to men. People of every race, every nationality, are equal to one another, as st. Paul says, "there is no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). Although we baptize people one by one, it is the Christian community, the church, which together is inspired, energized and guided by the Holy Spirit.

As a result, the church is crippled when its members are not present at Sunday worship. Each of us who are incorporated by baptism into the Body of Christ is a crucial contributor to that spiritual reality. It is our presence together which is the transmitter of the Holy Spirit, and allows the Spirit to become active in our lives. This means that it is VERY important to come to church every Sunday, unless one is sick. Even when we are out of town, we should do our best to go to church in the place we are visiting, because worship is not primarily a private or individual action. In worship, we contribute spiritually as much as we receive spiritually. We give to the other worshippers our faith, our prayers, our welcome, our music sung and played, our work to prepare the altar and the picnic, and our appreciation of each other. We give to God our praise, our confession, our thanksgivings, and our commitment to serve Christ.

Therefore I challenge you, in the name of Christ, to take very seriously your responsibility to worship on Sundays. When you are planning your weekend, give priority to worship, and arrange other plans around it. Since we have 3 services every Sunday, and since there is no rule about attending the same service every week, you can do this! In the summer, the 5:30 service takes place in the only air-conditioned building on our property, the Disciples Room in the Education Center. My absence in order to attend General Convention, and later on vacation, are irrelevant. Your responsibility is to this community of the Body of Christ, to give your presence and faith and prayers each week.

As the Episcopal Church prepares for the General Convention, there has been much talk about church growth. All these messages in the bulletins about General Convention are entitled GROW to emphasize this point. We all agree that we want the Episcopal Church to grow, and we especially want St. Thomas to grow. BUT, we certainly don't want to get involved in evangelism. The thought of trying to persuade an unwilling listener, is something we never want to try. Fortunately, there is something much easier that we can all do, which is to engage in the ministry of welcome. We usually have many visitors during the summer, some just visiting family, and others who are looking for a church home. I challenge you to introduce yourself to anyone whose name you don't know, when you come to church these next months. If the person whose name you don't know, turns out to be a member who usually attends the 5:30 service, then you have built up the church by getting acquainted. If the unknown person is someone looking for a church home, you will be able to show them around, and tell them why you come to St. Thomas. Newcomers to church tend to be willing listeners, and what they need, is to know that they are welcome. And they may want to know something about who we are as a community. Whether you tell them about our love of liturgy, our commitment to feeding the hungry, our enjoyment of theological discussion, our ministry of healing, or our choir, you will be doing what St. Paul encourages us to do: "welcome one another in the name of Christ"

Our ability to do this, does not come from our own personality or strength. That spiritual energy which was poured out at Pentecost on the whole community, which we also receive in baptism, includes spiritual gifts. Last Sunday when I talked about the ascension of Jesus into heaven, I said the real meaning of the ascension, is that heaven is open, and God is available to us all. But its more than God being available, the good news is the abundance of gifts that God pours out generously to each one of us. Some of these gifts were identified by St. Paul: wisdom, healing, faith, generosity, truthful speech, prophecy, patience, peace, self-control, and kindness are identified in 2nd Corinthians and Galatians.

These gifts of the Spirit are for us to use, both in the church, and in our daily lives. For example, take the gift of patience. Every day I am aware of times when the spiritual energy of patience helps me: when I must wait in line, when someone is, in my opinion, driving too slowly, or working too slowly, or giving a long roundabout explanation. In church, children can use the gift of patience to listen to all those long sentences I say over the bread and the wine. Adults can use the gift of patience when there are wiggling or whispering children, just to be happy they are with us. We can all use the gift of patience when the names of those who need healing are read. I recommend that you use your imagination as you listen to the Bidding prayers, to visualize everyone present standing in a circle, and then all the people for whom we are praying, as being inside the circle. By our prayers for their healing and strength and guidance, we are including them in our worship, and bringing them into God's presence. I assure you, it makes a difference.

A few moments ago, I said that St. Paul identified some of the gifts of the Spirit. I believe there is a greater diversity of gifts than St. Paul was aware of, and that each of us is given those gifts that we can best make us of, according to our personalities and circumstances in life. So the gifts given to Avery Chin, will be different from the gifts given to Ana Shirazi, and in turn each of Ana's daughters have received different gifts. The good news of Pentecost, is that each of us who has been baptized, has received an abundance of gifts, which we are empowered to use in the church, and in the world, in partnership with Jesus Christ.

Will you join me now in prayer, that the Holy Spirit will guide our Deputies and Bishops gathered for General Convention, which opens in 8 days, using the prayer printed in your bulletins:

A Prayer for the 75th General Convention O God our Wisdom, who eternally makes all things new: encourage by your Holy Spirit those who prepare for General Convention, to labor together for the building up of your world and your Church; counsel them when to act and when to wait; turn their hearts always toward those in greatest need, and away from their own preoccupations and fears; help them nver forget that love and mercy are your greatest gifts, given us all to offer one another, as we see in them Jesus Christ, who alone is our joy, our way, our truth, and our life. Amen