Let us pray: O God may the rush of the Holy Spirit come upon us, sweeping us up into new understandings of your presence among us and your invitation to share your news in the world. Amen.

    They say that one cure for writer’s block is to sit down and just start putting words down on the page. That’s what happened to me this morning as I tried to come up with something to say on this Pentecost Sunday. It has been a constant theme this week, not only with respect to the reflection for this morning, but also in connection with my contribution to the newsletter, which you will see mentioned in the announcements today as well. I notice that there is a phone number to call with any questions about what to submit to the newsletter, so perhaps I should try that.

    It’s not that I have a problem with Pentecost. In fact, the image of Pentecost as described in our reading from Acts is one of my favourites. I love the image of the wind rushing in to disturb the people in their gathering. It has a barely contained element of confusion to it. This wasn’t just a gentle breeze, it was a gale force wind. And it was followed immediately by tongues of fire, like a wildfire, is the way it is described in one version of the story. All of this brings other people running to find out what’s going on. To their surprise, despite the fact that the onlookers came from all over the world, representing many different linguistic groups, they could hear the gathered people talking about God in all the languages of the onlookers.

    Seizing the opportunity, Peter stands up and with the other apostles behind him, quotes the prophet Joel. This is the time he says, that Joel was talking about, when people will see visions and dream dreams.

    All of this counts as the birthday of the church, for that’s how Pentecost is generally regarded - as the day that the church came into being. At times it is hard to believe that such a complicated, many layered and segmented institution should have its beginnings in  the events described in Acts chapter 2.
   
    There are times when I think we could use a celebration like the first one. We could use a mighty wind to blow some of the structure away and stir everything up, so that we have to start again like the community did in the beginning. We could use a Whoosh to blow everything around so much that it would just be easier to start again.

    Fortunately, it’s only on a bad day that I feel like that. For the most part I’m a team player when it comes to the church, and as much as I believe in ecumenical dialogue, I’m also pleased that our particular denomination, The United Church of Canada is here to be a part of that dialogue. The spirit is blowing through us and we have a role to play in sharing the news as we understand it, of God’s way for God’s people.

    Having said that, however, we need constantly to be reminded that God’s spirit will blow where it will. We should never be so sure of ourselves that we are unable to learn new ways of being God’s people. God’s mighty works are being spoken in many different languages and we need to tune our ears to hear them.

    I like the story of Pentecost because it reminds us that we were born in a state of turbulence and understanding, confusion and clarity. Just enough wind to stir things up, accompanied by a refining fire, and the call of God speaking to us in many different voices - confusing yet understandable at the same time. Its an image which warns us about being too complacent but also one which says that things are not so messed up that we will lose direction.

    Whoosh,
        crackle,
            listen,

                to what the spirit is saying to the church. Amen.