RCL
Pentecost A
8
June 2014
Saint
Faith's Anglican Church
Vancouver
BC
In
the summer of 1995 I arrived unexpectedly at a crossroads in my life as a
Christian, as an Anglican and as a priest.
Two years previously I had been a candidate in the episcopal election
that resulted in Michael Ingham becoming our Bishop. In that election the question of the role of
gay and lesbian disciples of Jesus in the life of the Church was asked of each
candidate. At that time I stated that I
supported the then-existing policy of the Anglican Church of Canada: Gay and lesbian Christians were welcome to
participate in the life of the Church but were expected to remain celibate.
At
Diocesan Synod in 1994 I allowed my name to stand as a candidate for election
to General Synod. To my surprise I was
elected. I knew that sexuality was on
the agenda of General Synod, but I was hoping that it would be handled in such
a way that I could remain beneath the radar.
When I arrived in Ottawa, however, I was asked if I would preside and
preach at the eucharists in a multi-point parish in the Ottawa Valley whose
rector had lost her voice completely.
That Sunday was Pentecost and I had to craft a sermon without any of the
tools that I usually used.
As I pondered the scripture readings
for the day, I realized what the real gift of the Holy Spirit was.
If
you think about it, what happened in the 'upper room' was more profound than it
was dramatic. A small group of women and
men, struggling to understand what the consequences of Jesus' resurrection for
their lives, gathered to keep the Jewish festival of Shavuot. On Shavuot Jews then and now remember God's
gift of the Torah, the Teaching and the Wisdom that has shaped Jewish identity
over more than three thousand years. For
that small group of disciples, Shavuot, or 'Pentecost' as it is called in
Greek, was to take on a new meaning. It
was to be the day that God's Spirit came upon them with the gifts of courage
and wisdom. With these gifts the
disciples were unleashed to share their experience and knowledge of Jesus of
Nazareth, his life, teaching, death and resurrection.
It
is easier to focus on the image of tongues of fire and of the disciples
speaking in the many and varied tongues of the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for
the festival than it is to focus on the real implications of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit for you and me in the here and now.
When we focus on the drama rather than the depth of the Pentecost
experience, we can remove ourselves from the picture. With the rush of wind, in the heat of
'pentecostal' fire and in the babble of voices, we can too easily see that
first Pentecost as an exceptional event.
If we do, then we are doomed. If
we do not expect the gifts of courage and wisdom to come upon us today, then we
might as well pack up our books, sell our vestments and find a buyer for this
property.
The
gift of wisdom is what grows in us when our knowledge is seasoned by our
experience. Wisdom grows when we reflect
on our lives and what we have learned about ourselves, our world, our
relationship with God. Wisdom teaches us
to watch, to wait, to listen, to ponder and then to act.
Courage,
my friends, is not the absence of fear but the willingness to take a risk
despite our fear. I don't think that
courage is possible without a deeply-seated conviction that God is for us not
against us, that God is with us not absent from us, that God is working in and
through us rather than indifferent to us.
But courage has its roots in wisdom.
On
that Sunday nineteen years ago I stood before three congregations and preached
about the gifts of courage and wisdom. A
few days later I stood at a microphone in the light of television cameras and
in the midst of the members of General Synod.
My knowledge of the complexities of human sexuality had raised doubts in
my mind as to the rightness of our Church's position on gays and lesbians. My experience of gay and lesbian students at
Vancouver School of Theology who were living in committed relationship was in
conflict with the theological ethos in which I had been raised. I was confronted with a choice: live in the shadow of my fears or face my
fear and act on the basis of my knowledge and experience. I chose to act. I lost some friends and gained some new
ones. Friends from high school and
university wrote to say that they were surprised and found reasons to
reconsider the Christian faith.
My
sisters and brothers, each one of us has experienced the real presence of God
in our lives. We know how God has
enabled us to face the challenges of living in a world that is and is not how
God would have it be. The wisdom that we
have gained is a wisdom needed by our neighbours, our friends, our
families. But we often hesitate to share
that wisdom with them, to invite them to join us in the journey of faith,
because we are afraid of rejection.
Fear
of rejection is one of the obstacles that hinders our participation in God's
work of re-creating, restoring and renewing the whole of creation. Rather than risking being 'outed' as Christians,
we remain silent. Rather than knocking
on the door of another person's soul to invite her or him to travel with us, we
walk by. Rather than facing the
questions about why we believe and what we believe, we keep our faith well and
truly concealed from others. But wisdom
joined with the confidence that God is with us, God is for us, God is working
in and through us, provides the foundation for opening the gift of courage to
face our fears and to act.
When
Peter and the others left the security of the 'upper room' to address the crowd
gathered outside, they faced their fear of rejection. They discovered the gift of courage kindled
in them by the Holy Spirit so that they could share the wisdom they had gained
in Christ. They risked ridicule to speak
of the way, the truth and the life made known in Jesus of Nazareth. They spoke of this way, this truth, this life
to a crowd who were not well-disposed to hear wisdom from a band of rustic
fishermen, tax collectors and others of questionable reputation, not to mention
a few women, from the backwater region of Galilee. Despite all of this, this small group invited
the crowd to join them in the ministry God had entrusted to the followers of
Jesus. We are told that many did join
the movement.
Friends,
wisdom and courage are our Pentecostal birthright. We have good news to share and God promises
to give us the gifts we need to accomplish the ministry begun so long ago and
now active throughout the world. Even if
only one in ten of the people we invite decides to follow the way of Jesus, to
seek the truth of Jesus, to live the life of Jesus, may God be praised. What God asks us to do is quite simple: Invite others to join in this movement. Simply ask.
Whether the person accepts is not in our hands but God's.
The
American pastor, Harry Emerson Fosdick was an outspoken critic of racism and
injustice as well as an advocate for recognizing God at work in the here and
now of our lives. During a difficult
time in his life and that of others who shared his views, he wrote a hymn, 'God
of Grace and God of Glory', which appears in many hymnals including Common
Praise (#577). Its
constant refrain is that God will 'grant us wisdom' and 'grant us
courage'. May God grant us wisdom. May God grant us courage. May that wisdom and courage kindle in us
invite others to follow the way of love, to discover the truth of compassion
and to live a life of self-giving. Amen.
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