Feast of Pentecost 2015

Feast of Pentecost 2015

It seems in spite of our sensibilities, or even what we say we understand about sacraments in the Church, many of us still have this idea that they’re somehow ‘magical.’ In fact, “Hocus Pocus,” allegedly came from the Latin Mass when the priest would say the words “hoc est corpus meum” (this is my Body) during the Eucharistic prayer. But because the people really no longer spoke Latin, and because the Eucharist, like many of the other sacraments, had been kept at such a distance from people—well, they didn’t make a lot of sense. So, we get “hocus pocus” from this magical stuff that the priest apparently did at the altar table…

Now, it could be argued that magical thinking does kind of affirm our sense of mystery, but it also renders these symbols unrealistic—even, otherworldly. Without some kind of rooting then, sacrament sort of just becomes a bit meaningless. So, it shouldn’t be such a surprise when we find some people simply “going through the motions.” Sacraments become simply “what we do” and what’s expected, whether we believe in them or not…which just feels icky to me.   

Whether bad religious education is to blame, or the over-specialization of the sacraments—whatever the case, they have lost their connection to our daily lives. They’ve lost their simplicity…their accessibility. What good is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace” if the outward and visible no longer make sense? What does that say about the inward and invisible grace? Do you suppose?

  

It’s pretty sad actually, because the Sacraments are not only simple, they’re commonplace…they’re elemental. This is why the basic staples of bread and wine can be for us the very Presence of Jesus. This is why our full initiation into New Life and faith can come from something as simple as bath time. And all of these things can easily find their meaning and rooting in story…effectively, God’s story and our own.

So the sacraments are kid’s stuff.

But as to the elemental nature of sacrament—well, we have: Wind; Fire; Water; even Earth. As we heard from the Acts of the Apostles, the wind burst through the windows when the Holy Spirit came. We also heard that tongues of flame appeared above their heads. As to water, baptism of course comes first to mind. But water is also the element we’re told is present with God in the very beginning of Creation. Also, it’s through water that Israel is delivered from Egypt. And, as any biologist, water is essential for life.

Where earth comes into play, then, is simple: it’s us. We’re it. We’re told in the story of Creation that God bent down and grabbed a handful of clay, and molded a person. But, it wasn’t until God breathed into the clay person that it had life. It should be no surprise, then, that the words in Hebrew and Greek for spirit (Ru’ach and Pneuma) both are also the words for wind and breathe.

  

The first thing the doctor or midwife does when we’re born is to see that we’re breathing—that we’re taking in life. And so it was on that day of Pentecost—there was a new birth. Certainly, the Church was born, but these clumsy, shy, followers of Jesus, were suddenly empowered by fire and breath, and thrust out into the world. No longer hiding, but invigorated with wisdom and understanding, they began proclaiming the new life they had been given at their baptism, through Jesus Christ.

It was a kind of waking-up, really. They had already been sent out before—back before Jesus was killed and returned to life. But here we see they’ve become progenitors of the Church, literally a community of the Spirit. And like Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, these apostles have been renewed—they’ve got their their flesh and bones back on them—and now they’re ready to go out, as Jesus commanded them.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given, recklessly, by God, to all people. God was literally prodigal with this gift. It’s why we see later on that Simon Peter and the others are compelled to baptize and include gentiles, and anyone else besides in this emerging faith.

And while the Church, as inheritors of this beautiful and reckless gift, spent centuries restricting all of the abundance that God has given in the Holy Spirit, and likewise the Sacraments; the ways and places which God has chosen to meet us are far too accessible to be completely denied to all of us.

We can find water; we can find bread; we can find wine—and the Spirit has already been given to all of us. So who’s to deny God’s People? All we need to do is allow the Holy Spirit to help us see the mystery of God’s Presence in every…simple…thing.

Today, we have the privilege of baptizing Brooke Charlotte Huddleston into her new life in Christ Jesus, and the family of the Church. Together, we’ll agree with her parents and godparents to do our best to help in forming her into the full stature of Christ. But even as she is the one who is being given to God, and received into the Church—it’s not Brooke’s baptism only. Because all of us reaffirm the promises which we made, or were made on our behalf at our own baptism. Together we re-dedicate ourselves to the covenant life of the baptized, and we also remind ourselves that we are no longer our own, but are sent out into the world to be the skipping, jumping, walking, talking Body of Christ.

What this simple, sacrament of Baptism affirms, then; is the truth that we are also sacrament. In all of our simple, accessible, elemental ways, we are an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace. And what Pentecost teaches us is that as the baptized, we are given generously, graciously, and recklessly to the world that God loves, to continue the work of redemption begun by our Lord, Jesus Christ.  

  

So with regard to sacrament, the reality is, they aren’t magic, per se—but they are actually pretty cool—because somehow, through story, bath and table, God meets us directly. It’s a mystery, but it’s also very elemental: wind, fire, and water for signs of new life—and…us. The earthen vessels, the dust, which has been given life, and given to the world as proof of God’s love and grace. Sacrament can get no simpler than that.