The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Day of Pentecost, Year A, 2008, May 11, 2008, St. George’s Church Nashville

“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2).

If you live in South Louisiana, or in Sumner County just to the north of here, or in the Irrawaddy River delta in Myanmar, thousands of miles away, you know about the destructive power of wind. At the very least, it can shake you up and change your life in fundamental ways. It’s a natural force whose origin we can explain in terms of science, but whose moral purpose is more perplexing, hidden with God. If you have experienced the potent combination of wind and water, you know its force and tragic consequence.

The power of God unleashed at Pentecost, with “a sound like the rush of a violent wind”, was by contrast creative not destructive; a force that propelled the disciples out from their place of gathering into the world that God had created and then redeemed through the death of his Son. The disciples are together in one place, as our reading says, but not for long. The wind that comes from God has moral purpose, sending the disciples into all corners of the world to share the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The miraculous sharing of this Good News among the people gathered for the feast, transcending the barriers of language, is another pointer to the universal scope of the Gospel. If globalism is a potent force in the Twenty-first century, then this trend began at least in the First century, with the global mission of the Church.

This is one of the reasons that what happens in Louisiana, or Sumner County, or in distant Myanmar, should matter to us. The Gospel has taught us to think globally, pointing out the common life we are called to share. The idea of our global connection, in its secularized form, has become such a commonplace that we have forgotten its origin in the Gospel imperative. Before the Gospel was preached, people didn’t think this way. The Pentecost story is the exact reversal of the story of Babel, in which the division of the human family was formalized in the confusion of languages. Pentecost sets the trend headed in the opposite direction, as people are able to connect once again. So what happens to other members of the human family, whether nearby or in distant parts, is our common concern, because of our common calling in Christ.

The disciples are together in Jerusalem, but what happened there caused their reach to extend far beyond that place. Over the past couple of years, St George’s Church has come to know Jerusalem and the Holy Land a lot better, through pilgrimage and study. It’s been a powerful experience for many members of this Church. Later this month, St George’s will host the visit of the Most Rev’d Mouneer Anis, Primate of the Church in the Middle East, another link to the Church in that same distant part of the world. These opportunities are reminders of the connection we have in Christ with people all over the world, of the global scope of the Gospel and the universal or catholic nature of the Church. Through the wind of Pentecost, God is propelling us into connection and mission, into a deepened appreciation of the communion that we are offered in Christ with people we have never (yet) met.

Where is that wind blowing you? Some of you have been blown right into St George’s Church, into confirmation, reception, and re-affirmation. The wind of Pentecost is still active, stirring things up and stirring us up as well. Where is God taking you? Is the wind from God making changes for you in your life? God has a purpose for us, though sometimes the purpose is hidden from us. Christian faith tells us that in all the events of our life God is at work. Jesus’ death and resurrection moves us from our old life to a new life in him. The wind from God is sweeping away the old life and propelling us forward into a new life. It’s taking us to new places, new people, new experiences, and making us new people at the same time through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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