Readings: Numbers 11. 24-30, Acts 2. 1-21, John 20. 19-23
What we have just heard are two different accounts of the gift of the Holy Spirit, one from the Acts of the Apostles and one from John’s gospel. And I have often thought that one account is for extroverts and the other for introverts.
Being more introverted myself I will begin with John’s story for introverts. The disciples are together locked away in a private room. They are afraid of persecution by the Jews. They have not believed what Mary Magdalen has told them about Jesus being risen; they do not know what to make of the fact that the tomb is empty. They have exhausted themselves in discussion and perhaps also recrimination and doubt. The room is quiet. And then silently and without their seeing how, Jesus is with them telling them to have peace in themselves. And an inexpressible joy fills their hearts – for they know it is Jesus – the marks of his crucifixion are still on him. And in the silence which follows Jesus breathes on them and in that quiet breath the Spirit fills them, the Spirit which will enable them to go out into the world with a message of forgiveness and reconciliation; the Spirit of new life. That is the introverts’ story; it is quiet and reflective and personal.
The story we heard from the Acts of the Apostles is noisy, crowded and proclamatory. A violent wind fills the house where the disciples are. Tongues of flame appear. The disciples all begin to talk at once and the noise they make is so loud that a crowd soon gathers. Some in the crowd think they must be roaringly drunk. It is a large crowd full of Jews from all round the Empire, from Turkey and North Africa and Arabia, from Rome and the islands of the Middle Sea. And somehow they all seem to understand what the disciples are saying about the wonderful works of God. That is the story for extroverts; it is crowded, and powerfully communicative.
And at the heart of both stories is the Holy Spirit. Downstairs our Sunday School teachers are trying to explain to the children what the Holy Spirit actually is which is difficult because you can’t see, hear, touch or taste it. You can only say what the Spirit does. You can only feel its effects. You can say what the Spirit inspires, or breathes into you, but you can’t say how it happens. Though the Holy Spirit sounds like a noun it is really a verb. The Holy Spirit creates, sustains, guides, communicates, renews, saves and makes holy. The Holy Spirit comforts, reminds, leads, shapes, discriminates, intercedes and gives the gifts which the church needs to be the church. In Hebrew word for Spirit is ‘ruach’ which not only means spirit but also breath or wind – hence Jesus breathing on the disciples and the mighty wind blowing through the house where they were staying. And with such wind you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going, only that it creates a new way of living in you. A life which is of God.
At this point I am tempted to ask you to raise your hand to say which story you prefer – John or Acts – or alternatively you might raise your hand to indicate whether you feel yourself to be an extrovert or an introvert. But I wont as I suspect the introverts among you would be embarrassed by the very suggestion. We might, however, ask whether as a church we feel perhaps mildly embarrassed by the noisy talkativeness of the story from Acts. We might not only associate that story with extroverts we might also associate it with Evangelicals, who are supposed to be more keen on talking about the faith to strangers unlike more traditional Anglicans like us. Should we think that way?
In fact my so-called introvert Pentecost has a strong extrovert element to it. Jesus says to the disciples ‘As the Father sent me, so I send you.’ And at the end of this service we echo those words of Jesus when we say together, ‘Send us out in the power of your spirit to live and work to your praise and glory.’
So what might it mean for us to take those words seriously? Our diocese has recently made it clear how we are expected to take those words. You may have heard of what the diocese has called ‘Capital Vision 2020’. That vision is summed up in these words; ’We seek to be more confident in speaking and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more compassionate in serving communities with the love of God the Father and more creative in reaching new people and places in the power of the Spirit.’ Confident, compassionate, creative that is what we are to be as Christians. And to that end the diocese wants to commission 100, 000 ambassadors for Christ by 2020.
We may not respond very easily to the idea of being ambassadors for Christ. St Paul uses this phrase to mean people who work for reconciliation as representatives of Christ. For us I suppose the word ambassador might mean what Sir Henry Wootton long ago described as ‘’ an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” Nevertheless, however we describe it, what is intended is that we ‘ go out to live and work’ for God with the people and in the places that we experience from Monday to Saturday.
And what that means is not just trying to be good and kind and honest even though that is very important; it also means being ready to speak for Christianity, to admit to being a worshipping Christian, whenever and however the opportunity arises. That is what being an ambassador for Christ means; and if you feel confident about doing that, if that is what you already do then the diocese wants us to affirm that and to hold a service later this year or next, when you can be encouraged and prayed for and commissioned.
If you don’t feel confident or comfortable with that idea then it is our responsibility as a church to find out why and do something about it. And that is what we will be trying to do over the next few months by seeing what might get in the way of being more explicitly Christian. It might have to do with not wanting to be identified as one of those Christians ie the sort you violently disagree with; it might be because you feel you don’t know enough to respond adequately if challenged to defend what you believe; it might be because you don’t yet feel ready to identify fully as a Christian because you have too many unanswered questions. If you feel any of those things then of course you are not unlike those first disciples who didn’t know what was happening to them or what was waiting for them when they left the room they were in and went out into the world. All they knew and all we know is that the Holy Spirit goes with us and in us and that therefore the inspiration we need is always there for us. Amen.