Acts 2:1-21
It seems that whenever we look at the news these days, we see stories of division and disagreement. Those who do not want society to include people who are different from them have become emboldened to spin a narrative of fear and exclusion. This now even comes dressed up in fake Christian language and symbolism, with far-right protestors carrying crosses in the street.
But Christians should not be deceived. For a different vision opens up today, the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit of God is sent with transforming power on the small group of disciples, enabling them to proclaim God’s deeds of power in other languages, gathering in to one the diverse crowd gathered from all over the known world. Pentecost opens a new future for humanity in which all the ancient divisions of race and culture and nation are overcome, sending the Church to proclaim the mighty deeds of God in every language and gather all peoples into unity in Christ.
Unity in diversity was part of the nature of the Church from the beginning. Even on day one, we see that Christianity cannot be identified with any particular culture or nation, but is rather a transforming movement of God’s Spirit that reaches out to, and draws in, all cultures and nations. We don’t have to look far to see this. Here we are, gathered from many nations, celebrating the liturgy in this recognisable Anglican form. In the hall next door, our Christian brothers and sisters are celebrating the Byzantine liturgy in Romanian, with rather more adornment and colour than we are used to. And for a lot longer – they start at seven in the morning. Christianity does not look the same in every place. But in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body, and we all confess one Lord Jesus Christ.
The unity that the Holy Spirit gives is completely different from the false unity of the frightened group, aligned against others, founded on fear and casting out those who are different. It is not a unity that says to others, you must become like us in order to belong. Rather, it is a unity that comes from the assurance of God’s Spirit that we, and all the people who are different from us, are together children of God.
Today’s Gospel reading from John is set on the evening of Easter day. It is the day of the resurrection, and the disciples have locked themselves away out of fear.
But when Jesus comes into that closed place of their fear, he says, “peace be with you”. And they rejoice. The risen Jesus inhabits a world in which there is no fear, no blame, no curse. In coming to the disciples, he draws them into that world, and frees them from their fear. And he breathes on them the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who creates unity in diversity, the Spirit who sends them into the world to draw others in, too.
And they are sent, as Jesus was sent into the world, on the Father’s mission of forgiveness and reconciliation. The Holy Spirit is given to the Church, as St Peter says in his speech today, so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”.
The world that opens up at Pentecost is the different story of being human, into which we have been drawn by God’s Holy Spirit, and into which we are called to draw others, too. Love, in place of fear. Forgiveness, instead of blame. Blessing, not curse. The gathering of all people into God’s Kingdom, in place of a culture of violence defined by the victims it casts out.
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”, says Jesus. As the people of God we are sent by God’s Spirit, bearing God’s Spirit, to bring reconciliation and peace, to enlarge the reign of God’s love in the world. This is the alternative world we seek to inhabit, the different way of being human we seek to live, every day, in every situation.
And yet, this is not our doing, but the work of God’s Spirit in us. An essential condition of this work is our own transformation by grace. God has graciously poured out on his Church the gift of the Spirit. But each disciple must co-operate with the Spirit, to allow the Spirit room to breathe within us. This needs the daily discipline of prayer and sacrament, the study of scripture, the practice of repentance and conversion of life. By these means the fruits of the Spirit will grow in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, as St Paul says in 1 Corinthians. Freedom, first of all, from fear, from all our hidden motivations, interior compulsions and anxieties that keep us from the glorious liberty of the children of God. And freedom, then, to proclaim God’s deeds of power.
The evangelism of the Church is rooted in freedom and joy. A few years ago the former Papal Preacher, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, said this: “Christian evangelization is not a conquest, not propaganda; it is the gift of God to the world in his Son Jesus. It is to give the Head [Jesus] the joy of feeling life flow from his heart towards his body [the Church], to the point of giving life to its most distant limbs.”
Evangelisation is good news-ing. That’s what the word means. It is gift and joy. It is poles apart from those dreary and controlling sects who stand around handing out leaflets outside tube stations. True evangelism begins with the Spirit teaching us not to be afraid. That we do not need to validate ourselves by turning other people into copies of ourselves, but rather to rejoice in their difference. Evangelism celebrates, with the joy of the Spirit, the diversity of God’s creation and God’s manifold gifts.
