Before the beginning of Time the Holy Spirit moved upon the waters in Creation
During the middle of time,
that same Spirit inspired a man named Abraham to begin a new life, blessed him with memory, reason, and skill,
And send him forth into the world with a new name, and a new calling, to be the Father of many nations.
Somewhere farther down in time,
The Holy Spirit came upon an old woman whose name was Elizabeth, and in her aged state, she gave birth to a prophet named John.
At a similar time, the Spirit of God came upon a young woman whose name was Mary,
And the result was a child born in an obscure suburb of Jerusalem,
baptized by John the prophet in the Jordan,
where the Spirit of God rested upon him in the form of a dove.
And his name was Jesus.
A bit later in Time, this same Jesus,
after bearing witness throughout his short life to the work of the Holy Spirit in the people of God,
was crucified by those who were unable to discern the Holy Spirit at work.
Yet in a short time,
Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of that Same Spirit,
and for 50 more measures of time,
he proclaimed his resurrection power,
and prepared his disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new and living way.
Today we celebrate Pentecost, given 50 days after Passover.
For the Jews it was a day to rejoice before God for all the ways God had blessed his people.
Jews came from all across the diaspora,
all having grown up in different cultures, but with one thing in common -
- a bond of faith that united them to the One God.
On Pentecost they gathered,
bringing the first fruits of their harvest to celebrate the goodness of that One to whom they owed everything.
Is it any wonder that on that very day,
God would choose to pour out his Spirit on his disciples?
There on the day of Pentecost,
God gathered in to his heavenly barn the first fruits of the new Covenant,
as Jesus' disciples came out of hiding,
speaking in multiple languages,
empowered by the Spirit.
That day, a band of bedraggled and fearful disciples
became the People of God in a new way,
as Abram had become Abraham, a long time before.
On that day, the scattered People of God,
gathered in Jerusalem,
were united once again as the children of Abraham,
the children of God's promise,
as the Promised Holy Spirit came to dwell in humanity.
Farther down the road of time, we are here today, and the first fruits of that infant church have long since passed away.
Yet the harvest of that day of Pentecost continues
We come together to rejoice today as God's people,
as the very Body of Christ, individually and corporately,
a body in which the Holy Spirit dwells.
Today we will celebrate a variety of gifts,
through a variety of activities, all the work of the same Spirit of God.
We will baptize five new members of this corporate body of Christ, and seal them with the Holy Spirit.
We will commission our Vestry members and officers for the work of ministry to which they have been called.
We will bless our Sunday School teachers and children as they transition out of the classroom and into the joys and plans of summer.
And we will celebrate the gift of music as we bless our Choir and its members.
After the service, there will be about 30 people gathered for lunch who will be confirmed and received into the church by Bishop Rabb on Tuesday evening.
And this week, St. James Academy prepares for its 8th grade graduation.
All of these activities are proof of the Spirit of God at work in our midst.
For God is ever present, and God's work in the church is
ever unfolding before our eyes.
And while we would like that work to be as predictable as the rising of the Sun in the morning,
all we have is the promise that the Holy Spirit is at work.
We cannot predict the moving of God's Spirit -
We cannot know the when, or the how, or the where.
We do know that God promises to show up.
No other details are given.
Will the Spirit come to us as mighty rushing wind?
Will God come as tongues of fire?
Or will he come instead in the gentleness of a baby's breath?
Only time will tell.
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