The Day of Pentecost, C, June 8, 2025
Today is the Day of Pentecost,
50 days after the Passover,
the day we celebrate
the coming of the Holy Spirit,
the birthday of the Church.
This is a day of celebration,
a day of joy and feasting.
We deck the place
and the minister
in red,
the color of fire,
the color of blood,
the color of love.
Yesterday,
when Deacon Sue was ordained,
we invoked the Holy Spirit,
we laid hands on her,
and we put a red stole across her shoulder,
a symbol of service
derived from the towel Jesus tied around his waist
when he washed the disciples’ feet.
Red is the color of the Church
because it is the color of the Holy Spirit.
This Holy Spirit descended
on the day of Pentecost,
a mighty rushing wind
and tongues, or language,
that spread through the assembled crowd
like a wildfire.
This Holy Spirit fell on ethnic Jews
and on Gentile foreigners alike,
and they all became something new
together.
But like that one-hit wonder
“Closing Time” by Semisonic reminds us
“every new beginning
comes from some other beginning’s end.”
We come to this point
in the metanarrative of the Scriptures
after the Resurrection of Jesus,
his appearances to his followers,
and his ascension into heaven
with the promise of the Holy Spirit
and that he would come again.
And then,
they waited.
The apostles—
including Mary Magdalene—
Jesus’ mother,
the other disciples
and followers
had at this point
already begun to gather
on the first day of the week.
And so they gathered this Sunday morning,
as they had been doing,
to wonder and wait together.
And when this hot and holy wind
blew through like a tornado in a wildfire
these waiting wonderers
were set ablaze
like that burning bush that called to Moses
and set God’s people free.
They each spoke with tongues on fire,
burning with love,
illuminating the gospel,
and purifying the earth.
These Gentile proselytes
from across the Roman world
heard the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of Moses,
the God of David,
speaking to them
in a language they could understand.
Paul called this the spirit of adoption.
There is no human being
who is not a child of God.
God is the father,
the parent of us all.
But to have a mother
and a father
is very different
than having a mom
and a dad.
It is one thing to recognize
that we all have a relationship to God
and it is another to have a relationship with God.
When Paul says in Romans 8
“When we cry, "Abba! Father!"
it is that very Spirit
bearing witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,”
Abba is an Aramaic term of affection,
meaning something like “Daddy.”
The Spirit comes to make us know
that we already have a relationship to God
as parent, creator, sustainer;
but we are invited to have a relationship with God
that is deep, intimate, enduring
There is a principle in counseling
were the relationship between any two people
or things
is actually a third entity.
In the relationship between a married couple
the marriage is that third entity.
That marriage must be nurtured,
prioritized,
calibrated over time
in order to remain healthy.
Theologian Walter Wink
theorizes that this is what the ancient world
meant by talking of spirits and demons.
A toxic and harmful relationship
is a demonic spirit.
A good and healthy relationship
is an angelic spirit.
I think this is how we should think of the Holy Spirit.
The relationship between the Father and the Son,
the relationship between Christ and the Church,
the relationship between individual believers,
that goes beyond a mere relationship to the other
and draws us into relationship with the other,
this is the Holy Spirit;
that third divine entity that makes two into One.
At creation,
God breathes a hot and holy wind
into molded earth
and this created thing
became a living being
precisely because God desired to be more
that related to this creation;
God wanted a relationship with this creation.
So God named this living being,
God walked with this living being,
God saw Godself in this living being;
God and this living being
shared a relationship
as close as breath.
In Hebrew,
the language of the book of Genesis,
ruach means breath, wind, and spirit.
The same ruach that hovered over the waters
before creation
is the same ruach breathed into this living being.
In Greek,
the language of the New Testament,
pneuma means breath, wind, and spirit.
That same mighty rushing pneuma
blowing through that crowd
on the day of Pentecost
is the same pneuma descending like a dove
at Jesus’ baptism,
and that same pneuma
Jesus promises to send to us
to make us one with the Father
as he and the Father are one.
The ancient mystics
tell us that this is precisely why
the Spirit came as a tongue
on Pentecost;
because it is the tongue
that forms the Word within us,
and it is the pneuma within us
that brings that Word to life.
There is more to this Christian faith
than assurance of our relationship to God.
By our baptism
we are marked with the cross of Christ
and sealed with the Holy Spirit,
that is,
we are made aware of our relationship to God
in Christ
and we are invited into a deep, intimate relationship
with God.
And today,
as we come forward for communion,
I invite you to receive again
this anointing oil,
marking your forehead with the sign of the cross
and the seal of the Holy Spirit,
our deep, intimate relationship with God.
Let this tongue of fire
form the Word within you
and the ruach, the pneuma
bring it to life.
Let this encounter lead you
into relationships with your neighbors
and let this relationship lead to mutual understanding.
Let this hot and holy wind
sweep your inner house
“clean of its furniture”
that you might make room
in your heart
for the new thing God is doing.
Let this ruach, this pneuma
be the Holy Spirit,
the relationship between the Father and the Son,
the relationship between Christ and the Church,
the relationship between individual believers,
that goes beyond a mere relationship to the other
and draws us into relationship with the other.
This is the Holy Spirit;
that third divine entity that makes us into One.
Amen.



