The Day of Pentecost-Year C

Pentecost Year C May 19, 2013 I’ve had two different conversations with two different priests this very week, and both began by posing almost the identical question to me: “Do you think that the Episcopal Church is still relevant?” Our numbers in the national church are steadily declining. We are closing more congregations that we are opening. We used to be a voice that people listened to, and now, not so much. Do you think the Episcopal Church is still relevant? What an interesting question to ponder on this major feast day in the life of the church, the Feast Day of Pentecost which is originally a Jewish festival or holiday when the Jews who lived outside of Jerusalem would come home. For us, Pentecost is the conclusion of our Easter season, the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the movement that became the church. It is also a day when it is especially appropriate to baptize people, and when we don’t have a baptism (like today) then we renew our baptismal covenant in order to remember The vestry and I are reading a book together called I will bless you and you will be a blessing, and in the introduction, the authors are writing about covenant. They write, “Baptism binds us to God by binding us to one another. Salvation is inherently social and communal. This bond, furthermore, does not depend on our agreement with one another but instead relies on what God has done and is doing among us. In fact, our unity in God gives us room to disagree safely, ideally without threat of breaking our unity, which is God’s own gift. This principle is the very foundation of all covenants, beginning with the covenant between God and God’s people, exemplified in baptism, reflected in ordained ministry, lived in vowed religious life and marriage, and encompassing the life of the Church. Our common call as God’s people is not to find unanimity in all matters of faith and morals, but to go out into all nations as witnesses to the good news of God in Christ.” (Location 307 of 2902 Kindle version) So maybe the question isn’t so much, “Is the church still relevant?” But rather how are we, as the Church, called to relevant? How are we called to live more fully into the covenant that God has already made with us? How are we called to “go out into all nations as witnesses to the good news of God in Christ?” How is the Holy Spirit already working in our lives to inspire us to witness to the good news of God in Christ? I want to invite you to take a moment to think about that question in the light of your own particular situation. Is the church relevant in your life outside these walls? Does your following of Jesus Christ make any difference in how you live your life when you are not here? How are you as the Church called to help make the good news of God in Christ relevant to the people whom you encounter in your life? Here are two other seeds that have been planted in my soul this week, that I want to share with you. The first is the short meditation from SSJE-- Brother, Give Us a Word--titled Identity. Brother David Vryhof writes, “Whether you are a success in the world’s eyes or a failure, you belong to God. Whether you achieve all you hope for in life or few of your dreams come true, you belong to God. Whether you were born into a happy home or a troubled one, whether you’ve had a comfortable life or you’re struggled all the way, whether you’ve been much loved or largely ignored, you belong to GOD.” This is the truth of the body of Christ into which we are all baptized, and it is through our proclamation of this truth to those in the world which can make the Church relevant. Second, I’ve been haunted by a simple African hymn in preparation for this feast day of Pentecost that goes—“If you believe and I believe and we together pray/ the Holy Spirit must come down and set God’s people free/And set God’s people free/And set God’s people free/The Holy Spirit must come down and set God’s people free.” Last week, I asked you what is holding you captive in your life? Today, it is appropriate to ask you, in light of the gift of the Holy Spirit, what are the places in your life where you are being set free? (For that is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work there.) And how might you be called to share that good news with others? How is the Holy Spirit already at work to set us free as a people and as individuals? How are we being set free to be the Church who is relevant to the world through the spreading of the good news of God in Christ? Then let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.