Pentecost

John 20: 19-23

May 19, 2013

If you had to name one of the most quoted speeches of the 20th century, one near the top of any list would be the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

On a cold and blustery Washington day, a young man stood before the world, coatless and hatless, and while the wind blew, he challenged all who heard and saw him to Aask not.@

AAsk not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do

for your country.@

The phrase has become emblematic of Kennedy.

 It may well be the one great quote by which he will be forever remembered.

But earlier in that same speech, he alerted the world that Athe torch had been passed to a new generation.@

And he began that statement with a grand declaration:

ALet the word go forth.@

There is a missionary zeal in that phrase C and a kind of dignity and grace that you don=t hear much in political speeches anymore.

Let the word go forth.

It occurs to me, on this particular Sunday, that those five words could also summon up the true meaning of this feast, Pentecost.

For in the dramatic events of that dramatic day, when the bewildered disciples poured into the streets, their purpose was exactly that: to let the Word go forth.

Let the Word go forth...beyond the streets and alleys of Jerusalem, into the hill country of Judea and beyond.

Let the Word go forth...across the blue waters

of the Mediterranean, to Greece and Rome, to Africa and Spain.

Let the Word go forth...into every continent,to be heard in every home, to be lived in every heart.

And it all began on this day we celebrate, Pentecost.

The wind blew, flames flickered, and the disciples could not contain themselves any longer.

They needed to spread the Word.

They needed to tell what they knew, and who they knew...and let the Word go forth.

It is astonishing to consider where Christ=s Gospel has gone, and how far and wide it is preached.

What began with a few frightened people in a darkened room in Jerusalem has spilled out and touched every corner of the globe.

You=ll find it in great, stained-glass cathedrals in Europe...in thatched huts in Asia...in hotel ballrooms and cruise ship dining rooms and hospital chapels from Bangkok to Brooklyn.

 It is spread in storefront churches and tiny private chapels, and even brought alive without any kind of church at all, in the daily actions of believers everywhere. You=ll find the Word preached in dozens of tongues C just as on that very first Pentecost C and understood in billions of hearts.

Our challenge today is to keep the Word going, to remind ourselves of the rugged beginnings of this rugged faith... and to carry it on.

To follow the mandate of those very first believers.

To throw open the windows of our fear and uncertainty...to let in the light... and to let the Word go forth.

It is a daunting prospect.

And, maybe, dangerous.

I don=t think any of us is eager to be measured for the martyr=s crown.

(Personally, if that=s a gift God has in mind for me, I=d rather he give me a nice sweater.)

But there are many ways, large and small, that we can keep the flames of that first Pentecost aglow.

We do it every time we whisper a prayer for peace.

We do it if we volunteer at a soup kitchen, or give to a clothing drive, or donate to missionaries overseas.

We do it every time we choose to spend our Sunday mornings praising God, instead of finishing the sports pages.

We do it when a nurse holds the hand of a dying patient, or a wife holds the hand of a worried husband, or a stranger bends down to help an elderly woman collect a bag of groceries she=s dropped.

We do it when we support policies and politicians who embrace and nurture life, both the born and the unborn.

We do it when we strive to love, to give, to guide, and to hope.

We do it when we surrender our will to God=s... and trust that it is the better way.

We keep the flame of Pentecost burning when our greatest ambition is simply to be like Christ.           

Or, to borrow that famous phrase from President Kennedy: we do it when we ask not what God can do for us, but what we can do for God.

Two millennia ago, men and women who had followed Jesus asked themselves that question on the first Pentecost.

And we are the beneficiaries of their answer.

All of us who gather to pray and remember on this Pentecost are part of their legacy.

They cleared the path, and often died trying, so that we could walk in their

footsteps today.

Where will those footsteps take us?

Who will be the beneficiaries of our choices?

Who will carry the flame, the torch of faith, as it is passed?

It is up to each of us.

Let the Spirit touch your heart this Pentecost, as she touched the hearts of the disciples on the first Pentecost.

Let the fire burn over you, so the flame can spread.

Let the great work begin.

And let the Word go forth.