THE FIRST DAY OF PENTECOST

Today, Whitsunday, is the day we commemorate the first Day of Pentecost. The term Whitsunday has its origins in the Old English, Hwita Sunnandaeg, which meant White Sunday and referred to the white robes worn by those who were baptized during the Saturday evening vigil which preceded the actual feast. The Old English morphed into the Middle English term Whitsone and then later into Whitsun.

The feast day occurs fifty days after Easter, as the BCP says, and hence ther term Pentecost, from the Greek word for “fiftieth”. This day coincided with the ancient Jewish “Feast of the Weeks”, a feast commanded by God to Moses, as we find in Exodus 34:22. As a Christian feast, Whitsunday dates back to the first century and its importance to the Church today is evidenced by the fact that Whitsunday has an octave.

That is right and proper when you consider what the feast commemorates and th huge significance of those events.

When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Acts 2:1.

The words we modern Christians seriously need to take to heart are, all with one accord.

Mankind was, at the time, suffering under a perfectly dreadful curse imposed by God at Babel. In Genesis 11:1 we are told, And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Language is a great binding force of community and this community decided to do something which displeased God. They decided to, ..build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name. Gen.11:4. They wanted to glorify themselves, not God. So God confounded their plans, showing both His almighty power and great wisdom in the process.

God said, Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. Gen.11:7. That brought the construction project to a screeching halt, because the uniting force of the community was no longer available, and the people were scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.

That one, punishing act of God greatly hampered the spread of knowledge and religion. And it was not until the first Pentecost that God saw fit to provide relief for the predicament. The disciples of Jesus were gathered together, they were all with one accord in one place.

Some time ago, Bishop Carl pointed out to me that those same words as used in the prayer of St. Chrysostom refer to God’s accord and to us being in one accord first with the will of God. That is exactly what happened on the first Pentecost - the gathering in one place was, first and foremost in accord with God’s will. In these circumstances, Jesus fulfilled His great promise, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. John 14:16-17.

This marked the restoration of a united community which crosses all the fault lines of divided humanity. A community united by the Love of God and in the Love of God. A community bound by the one common language of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A community formed in and forever expanding through the sacrament of Bapism. A community fed by the body and blood of Christ crucified. A community infused with the Holy Spirit, taught by the Holy Spirit and led to its heavenly mansions by the Holy Spirit.

On that first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with great force, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it rested upon each of them.

No one in that blessed group of disciples was left untouched, ….they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Through the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, the curse of Babel was lifted on the day of Pentecost. And it is important to grasp that just as in the Holy Eucharist we come to receive Jesus Christ in His perpetual sacrifice, once and perfectly offered, so on Whitsunday we come to receive the renewal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, perpetually offered on that first day of Pentecost.

This great miracle was not a transient sign, but God’s enduring, empowering gift to all Christian believers. It is a gift which can transform the worst of us in an instant, or lift our leaden feet step by weary step along the road of sanctification.

Yet the lessons of that day, which cascade through the ages as a shimmering beacon are ignored by so many who call themselves Christian. We seem to be afraid to welcome the power of the Holy Spirit as those disciples did. We seem to forget that these were the same men who fled from the judgement hall as the vile, cruel treatment of their gentle Master began.

We seem to forget that these were the same men who doubted by the open grave. We seem to forget Peter, who fearfully denied ever knowing Jesus – once, twice and a third time, just as Jesus told him he would do.

And we also seem to forget that after the Spirit filled them, their fear and misgivings were banished. When that promised power filled them, they spoke in tongues. Around them were, men out of every nation under heaven. And they were all amazed and marveled at what was happening.

In the midst of these momentous events we find a stark, dark lesson. This new community was to have limits, not limits imposed by God, but by the evil working in fallen man. Verse 13 says, Others, mocking said, These men are full of new wine. There, in the immediate presence of the most powerful signs of the Holy Spirit, men still managed to reject the one true God. The miraculous simply failed to touch them and they remained outside the new community, in the legion of lost souls. We cannot call that a community because it is riven with tensions and warring at one level or another. It has no common language.

It is fitting that verse 13, dark though it is, is very short and it gives way at once to the glorious light of Christ. Dismissing the mocking, Peter – that fearful denier of his Lord, stands and delivers a most powerful sermon. Towards the end the Spirit filled fisherman says, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and unto your children and to all that are afar off. Acts 2:38,39

Write those words of St. Peter on your hearts, For the promise is unto you, and unto your children and to all that are afar off. That promise has never been rescinded.

And the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Our access to the power which caused that to happen has never been revoked.

The Church of Jesus Christ is said to have been born that first day of Pentecost. As members of that Church we are heirs of the promise of Pentecost, we can be participants in the same, vigorous, active life given then to the early Christians. We can share in the unfinished work given to those men. We are also faced with the challenge of Pentecost, for there is indeed a challenge.

Will we be like those disciples when they were fear filled and doubting?

Or are we ready to seek the help of The Holy Spirit to make us individually the temple in which God wishes to dwell?

And that community in Jesus Christ, what of that? Are we ready to claim our place in it, to shoulder our share of the burdens within it. Do we have the courage to ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit in all His power and make us fearless soldiers in the army of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, dismissing as St. Peter did, the mockery of those outside that community which began so powerfully on that first day of Pentecost?

Are we all here in this one place with one accord?

Peter Jardine+

Whitsunday, May 27^th, 2007