Sunday 8th June 2025 – Pentecost
Acts 2: 1-21
Psalm 104: 25-35, 37b
Romans 8: 14-17
John 14: 8-17, (25-27)
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
John 14: 25
All of us have attended school. For some of us, school was a good experience – of school friends, of teachers who cared, of learning skills or information we didn’t know before…
For others of us, our experiences of education might have been more mixed!… Perhaps we had teachers which were mean or even cruel… Perhaps, no matter how hard we tried to study, we got poor grades in one subject – or several subjects… When we are adults, if we are told that we have to take some continuing education for our jobs or other reasons, we might be unhappy… Some of us associate learning with memorizing, or scary tests…
However, likely we need to think about “learning” in a different way… After all, long after we graduated or dropped out of school, we continue to learn in different ways: If a roadway is blocked, we learn to take another route. If we encounter a difficult person, we might learn to be more tactful in dealing with them. If we download a new app on a cell phone, we learn how to use it… In fact, we are constantly learning in informal ways in daily life…
Part of belonging to the Church family involves learning… For example, I obviously hope that sermons are opportunities to learn more about how to follow Jesus Christ… Learning doesn’t end at the time of our Confirmations… Discovering more about the wonder of God, and what is means to live in response to God, is a life-long process… The Lord Jesus upheld the Shema, the Summary of the Law:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Have we considered that part of learning how to love God is to use our minds?… If some of us dread learning, we aren’t anti-learning… Rather, none of us wants learning to be boring; and, none of us wants learning to be so difficult that we feel like a failure, rather than as achievers… We all can learn. Truth, ultimately, has its source in God himself…
Today is the Festival of Pentecost. We are celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit upon all the followers of Jesus, from the apostles to St. Brice’s… (Pentecost is the third-most important festival on the Church’s calendar, following Easter and Christmas…)
On the night before he died, the Lord Jesus said this about the gift of the Holy Spirit: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
So, the work of God the Holy Spirit in our lives teaches us; the Spirit reminds us of the message of Jesus… Before we are Christians, the Holy Spirit is stirring, working on our hard hearts, helping us to be open to a Friend who will never leave us – a Saviour who can reach us, no matter how deep our sins or our troubles!… When we are Christians, God the Holy Spirit helps us draw closer to Jesus Christ…
The Holy Spirit, the Advocate on our behalf, teaches us in all kinds of ways. Here are a few ways the Holy Spirit is at work – by no means a final list. Our God is a creative God, and God often surprises us!…
First, the Holy Spirit helps us see sin for its ugliness… We often want to take a softer view of human brokenness. “Oh, it’s not that bad!” “We’re all kind of messed up.” Or, “Yes, I do have this addiction to X or Y or Z, Lord; but apart from that, I’m pretty decent!” Deep down, many Canadians have a view that we can earn our way to heaven, with more positive points than demerits. We can’t earn our way to heaven, though, because God is perfect!… Any pernicious habit or poison which hurts us and our relationships is repulsive to the perfect King of kings… True sin is ugly before God… As we learn and grow, we want to leave behind all the sin – all the sin – which clings so closely. Psalm 5: 4 reads, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you…”
If I might use an example, there’s a member of this congregation who has struggled with alcohol addiction for years… This person has now been sober for over 2 months. Getting groceries, they recently walked passed a selection of beer and wine, and they were repelled. This person cannot drink in moderation. They are determined to live better, following Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit… I was so proud…
So, the Holy Spirit helps convict us of sin – to see sin for the ugliness it is. Positively, the Holy Spirit helps us see Jesus Christ, in all his beauty and glory… Paul writes to the Corinthians, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit… (12: 3b)” As we learn to admire the person and work of Jesus Christ, it is the Spirit of the Lord who is drawing us closer to Jesus…
A third way the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives is when we learn to change… Now, many of us don’t want to change! (We can be quite happy with our lives as they are.) But we’re not supposed to stay the same now, as we once were… Just as fruit grows on a tree over time, we desire to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives over time: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. (Galatians 5: 22-23)”
The Church is sometimes called a “come as you are” party. That is, no matter what our
background is, we are welcome here. Period… The Church is a “come as you are”
party…However, the Church is not a “stay as you are” party… We are expected to learn, to
grow – to shine more beautifully, with Christ’s reflected light…
I hope that for each one of us, we are more loving now than when we were 10 years ago (if we were Christians 10 years ago!)… Even more, if we live for another 10 or 20 or 50 years more, my desire is that each one of us will become even more loving, more gracious; more and more the people we are called to be…
At its core, the Christian story is that we are called to change – to shine more fully with the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts and lives… We change as individuals. As the community of the Church family, the parish, we are expected together to grow deeper and wider in Christ… We are to change as individuals, and all together too…
So, as the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we recognize and seek to avoid the poison of sin; we draw more deeply into the arms of the Lord Jesus; and we change, to become all that we are called to be…
Lastly, the Holy Spirit helps prepare us for eternity… Life is not only for this world. We also need to be prepared, by the grace of God, to be prepared to enjoy eternal life. We keep the big picture – the overarching goal – in mind…
Here is the opening in the Anglican Catechism:
What is your name?
(The Catechist gives his or her name.)
Who gave you this name?
My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism; where I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
May we treasure the gift of the Holy Spirit – not just on Pentecost Sunday, but day by day. Let’s learn, with the help of Christ’s Spirit. May we hate sin; may we love the Lord; may we change; and may we be prepared for eternity…
All glory to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now and for ever.
Amen.