Sermon, Sun 4 June: Pentecost [wk40 WMRBW]

This morning we remembered the birth day of the church, Pentecost, and shared bread and wine together in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
In our prayers of care and concern, we also remembered London - and all connected and affected by the events of last night...
A shorter sermon today, in light of communion.

READINGS/ John 3:1-21;  Acts 2:1-24

SERMON …
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth,
and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

In the darkness of the night, he comes creeping,
seeking out the Rabbi all are talking about.
He hugs the shadows, hoping not to be seen,
filled with questions and assumptions and fear.
He knows God must be with the Rabbi –          
the many miracles are sign enough of that –
and when he finds Jesus, he says just that…
and is met with a response about second birth,
of being born anew,
born again through the power of God’s Spirit.
He… is puzzled by this, but the explanation puzzles him further.
The conversation moves on, focusing upon the manner of God’s love:
‘this is the way in which God shows his love for the world,’ says Rabbi Jesus,
‘God gave his only son – all who believe in him will have eternal life…
He is the light of the world. Those who choose to honestly seek for the truth will find him,
and they will stand in the light of his love for ever.’

I wonder…
how many times Nicodemus turned that meeting, that odd conversation, with Jesus over in his head?
Love, life, new birth in the Spirit.
Strange teachings, from a compelling, miracle-making man,
who some were beginning to believe was the Messiah – Saviour of Israel.
I wonder...
if Nicodemus ever made it out of the darkness and hugging the shadows,
and into the light and love that Jesus spoke of?
I wonder…
if Nicodemus, some time after the betrayal, death, and resurrection of Jesus,
found himself, one morning, some time around nine, filled with wonder:
feeling the power of the Spirit blowing through him,
hearing languages from all the ends of the known earth calling out in praise to God?
I wonder if Nicodemus was there,
among the disciples,
or in the city streets,
feeling perplexed and amazed and strangely alive…
and remembering a conversation about ‘the wind blowing where it will’
about being born of water and the Spirit,
of being reborn
and, in so doing, seeing the kingdom of God?
I wonder…
was Nicodemus there when Peter understood,
and somehow found the strength to stand up in the midst of
the great crowd and preach the good news?
Good news about God’s promises being fulfilled;
of dreaming dreams,
seeing visions,
and of the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon his people –
a people not forgotten,
but loved deeply,
so deeply that, through the Spirit,
God would live in them,
and they in him…
the same Spirit, as Brian MacLaren notes,
who had descended like a dove upon Jesus:
‘the same Spirit who filled him’ and who would ‘fill all who opened their hearts?'
The Spirit of new life and resurrection.

The story of the coming of the Spirit and the birth of the church
has echoes of another, more ancient story.
A story from near the beginning of time.
A story of humans gathering together, and, wanting to be like god,
building a great and mighty tower –
a tower that would be so high that they would reach heaven
under their own steam;
a tower that would be a monument to their achievements,
but which, in reality, was a symbol of their pride, and of overreaching themselves…
a tower that would come crashing down,
along with their dreams of placing themselves above God,
and which would, upon breaking, scatter into a thousand pieces,
send them scattering,
and scramble their one language into many.
A tower built in Babel that ended in babble.
From unity,
into diversity…
and enmity.

And, thousands of years later, a reversal,
for, on that day of Pentecost, a new thing:
unity and diversity –
harmoniously coexisting.
God drawing people –
in all their diversity,
their difference,
together in celebration and praise –
with open hands and hearts.

The Spirit blows where she will –
uncontained,
not able to be placed in a box:
wild and joyful and free.
And for those of us who like things done decently and in good order,
the story of Pentecost is a little unnerving –
a reminder that it’s not we who are in control,
but God…
and God is ceaselessly at work
within us,
through us;
at work in the world in the most unexpected places.
Are we, who are God’s people,
prepared and ready to open ourselves fully to God’s Spirit –
to allow God to move in us, and among us,
empowering and equipping us to, like Peter,
share the good news of God’s love
in a world hugging the shadows and feeling afraid?
Amen.