Happy Pentecost! Good morning.

Can we try a little experiment together?

Let’s all hold our breath for as long as we can.

Go.

Some of us are windier than others! Well done and thank you.

Remember this moment.

The word in the Bible for ‘spirit’ is the same as the word for ‘breath’ in both Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek. Often, they are interchangeable - even from the very beginning, as we read in Genesis 2:7, “Yahweh God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being.” As Jesus is the Beginning and Endgame (Alpha and Omega), so much of his ministry as God Incarnate mirrored and manifested the arc of God’s purposes in relation to the earth and with humanity. To this end, we have a remarkable event recorded by John,in which the resurrected Jesus appeared in the locked room the disciples were hiding in and, following his blessing of peace,commissions his disciples – “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” After which, he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

Wait a minute! What?

The spirit of Christ in the disciples empowered and enabled them to forgive or to keep score of other people’s sins?

I’ve never heard any preacher or power Evangelist talk about that! Have you? When did anyone tell you that if you “ask Jesus into your life,” (a theological impossibility, by the way), you would have the power to forgive or withhold the sins of others?

But I digress.

The passage we heard from Acts relates the momentous occasion when the waiting disciples were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” And how is that Spirit described? “The sound of a mighty and powerful wind from heaven.”

Two things then: “Power” and “Wind”. The two most powerful forces of Nature are Wind and Water. There is nothing we can do to withstand Hurricanes or Tornadoes. Nor can we cope with Floods and raging water.

When Nicodemus came secretly to ask Jesus about his ministry and message, he got more than he bargained for by way of a response! Key metaphors in Jesus’ answer were wind and water; both were associated with spiritual rebirth.

“The wind blows where it pleases,” Jesus warned, “but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.”

Is that how it is with you?

Right there, the Church has a problem, especially the Church of England! Most Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy are far too risk averse to allow for such unpredictability! It’s one reason why we generally prefer all our worship to be scripted and stage-managed! Even our prayers. We might want to think about that.

But not just now.

Now, we need to think a bit more about the implications of the how and why of the Holy Spirit’s operating in and through us.

In our Acts reading we heard Jesus say, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” The power, I suggest, of wind and water!

Is your life powerful, or predictable? Are you continually tired and out of breath? Not just physically – that comes to all of us! But spiritually?

In John 4:4-42 we read the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in Samaria. There is, naturally, much talk about water, and thirst; and then of worship and of Spirit.

We’re not going to read it now – but I highly recommend you do so when you get home.

What does Jesus say about water and spirit?

In essence: “Anyone who drinks the water I shall give will never be thirsty again. The water I give will turn into a spring inside them, welling up into kingdom (“eternal”) life.”

Do you rejoice in the goodness of God’s grace flowing from your inner being in this way? Millions of people have believed in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, crucified, dead, risen and ascended for them and now in and through them. But how many experience the dynamic – the power – of the Spirit transforming them and splashing over those in their lives?

If not, it is often because of ignorance (like the Samaritans who hadn’t heard of the baptism of the Spirit), or resentment and envy at the contrasting experiences of Christianity between theirs and other people’s.

What’s your excuse?

How we handle Pentecostal or Charismatic expressions of Church can be quite toxic. But the real question for us here, today, is: “Can these bones live?” “Am I spiritually arthritic?” Do we pray with the Psalmist when reading or hearing these words from Psalm 143, on the outpouring of Divine water:

I remember the days of old, [Pentecost]

I ponder all your great works

And think about what you have done.

I lift up my hands to you in prayer.

I thirst for you as parched land

Thirsts for rain.

In Luke 11, we read these words of Jesus’ promise:

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

11“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Seek, Ask, Knock – every hour of every day, if necessary. And whether you receive the release of the Spirit in your lives by God’s grace and actions alone, or whether – as so often happened in the Early Church – whether you receive through the laying on of hands by Spirit-empowered brothers or sisters in Christ – ask and receive! It is your inheritance. It is your right as a child of God. It is God’s good pleasure for you.

As Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:8) encourages us:

In the Amplified Bible
Do not quench [subdue or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:6
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Acts 2:17
For ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Let us dare to dream! Let us stop holding our breath! Let us be free children of the Wind, my friends! It matters to our Father: “Or do you suppose that when the Bible says, ‘He yearns jealously over the Spirit he has made to dwell in us,’ it doesn’t mean what it says?” (James 4:5 -TBfE)

Come Wind of the Spirit; Come Breath of God!

Let us dare to ask! Don’t hold your breath! Let us dare to receive on this, the anniversary of the Day of Pentecost: in the name of Yahweh our Father, in the name of the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and of the Holy Spirit, Mother and Giver of life!

Amen!

Toby Perks, LLM in training