Pentecost 2015

Pentecost (John 15:26-27;16:4b-15)

“When the Advocate comes…”

Pentecost is the celebration of the birthday of the Church. On Pentecost we reflect on how the Holy Spirit gave birth to the church. We use organic language because the church is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.

The language of Pentecost is organic because our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation is organic. The language of Pentecost is also sacramental because our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation is sacramental.

And, the language of Pentecost is the language of personal relationships. There are three primary personal relationships God created us to experience. The first and primary personal relationship is our relationship with God.

The Father sent the Son into the world to seek and save the lost who do not want to be found and who do not believe we need to be saved. The Son sent the Holy Spirit  into the world to continue the Plan of Salvation. The Church, the one holy catholic and apostolic church, is the continuation of the Plan of Salvation.  The Church is the instrumentality of the Plan of Salvation.

The Son, Jesus Christ, sent and continues to send the Holy Spirit to seek the lost who do not want to be found. The means by which the Holy Spirit accomplishes this is the Church, you and I.

We are now the living sacramental instruments of the Plan of Salvation.

Make no mistake. Moses, the prophets and the apostles are very clear. The state of humanity as a species and each of us as individuals is that we are lost. We are lost in separation from God. That separation manifests as a deeply rooted existential spiritual pain we all bear within our souls. That pain distorts the way we think, feel and make choices. Those distortions are what the Bible calls sin. Sin always impels people to live from the place of pride, self-will and fear. That place brings conflict and poverty into our societies and within our own psyche.

The Holy Spirit gave birth to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church to advocate for Jesus in the world. As the advocate for Jesus the Holy Spirit always points to Jesus. He never calls attention to Himself. He always points us to Jesus and He always brings awareness to us and to all people that Jesus is the Way of a new life and a new way of living.

The Holy Spirit always seeks to encourage and to equip the Church to be who God the Father created us to be and God the Son redeemed us to be. We are the Body of Christ on Earth,

As the Body of Christ we are called to be witnesses for Jesus in the world. As the Body of Christ we are called to do the works Jesus did when he was on the Earth. The Bible calls witnessing evangelism. Evangelism is sharing the Good News of Divine Love in Jesus Christ by telling people about your own personal experience with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit does not want us to argue religion. He wants us and inspires us to share our experience of Jesus with other people.

We witness to Divine Love by doing the good works of Divine Love that Jesus did. These works are very simple but not easy. Jesus said: if someone is hungry that is your invitation from the Holy Spirit to feed them.  The Holy Spirit seeks to set us free from the fear of scarcity so we can be a solution to the problem of poverty, isolation and conflict.

The Holy Spirit convicts us and other people of existential pain and the distortions of sin that pain causes. Our job is not to condemn people for their actual sins of omission or commission. The Holy Spirit does that by holding up the mirror of truth to each person. Our job is to offer the one and the only solution to sin. That solution is Jesus Christ.

When Jesus speaks about righteousness he speaks about right relationships. He speaks about our relationship with God, other people and our own souls.

When Jesus speaks about judgment he is speaking about the pride that morphs into despair.

When Jesus speaks about condemnation he speaks about lost souls perpetuating separation from God. He speaks about the law of cause and effect.

When Jesus speaks about truth he speaks about himself. Jesus, the co-eternal Word of God, is the pattern of truth. The Holy Spirit helps people understand that truth derives from a source and manifests in this world according to a pattern. That pattern is Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in two basic ways. First, He helps people understand they are lost and need to be found. Second, he equips us, the Body of Christ on Earth, to help the lost receive the gift of reunification with the Father, through the Son, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost reminds us we, the church, have a divinely appointed job. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to advocate to the Father for us in order to form us and equip us to be the instrumentality of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.