Pentecost Sunday -- 19 May 2013

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

• When ever we celebrate Pentecost, a number of things happen. We hear the reading from Acts and we wonder about the tongues of fire and the miraculous speaking in all languages; it is a reversal of the Tower of Babel. We listen to the strange, ancient names of places that still exist today, but under new names. We are told of the power of the Spirit of God to warm hearts and inspire people to things that seem incredible to us. Jesus' words speak of “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit” who will teach us and remind us of what Jesus has said.
• It may seem too much and it may seem far beyond us. The amazing gifts of the Holy Spirit leave us wondering where we fit in to that with our rather ordinary lives.
• We might want to remember that it is the seemingly mundane work of the Spirit that is the real work of the Spirit. The spectacular gifts – tongues, prophecy, miracles, important as they are – are extraordinary. The Spirit's real work is to teach and to remind, to grant peace and, in a most particular way, to make us God's children. As John says in his first letter, we are God's children... and not just in name.
• The Spirit comes to teach, to inspire, and ultimately, deepen our relationship with God. All those other “signs” are evidence of the person's relationship with God and they do not stand alone. Were a person to pursue those signs and gifts for themselves, they'd not only be seeking a lesser goal, but they'd be selling themselves short and doing the same to their relationship with God. They could also be in danger of a form of idolatry, placing the sign above what it points to and above the one who grants the sign.
• What I'm saying here is that possibly the Spirit's greatest gift is the intimate relationship with our God that we enjoy in Jesus. Christian history attests to this relational aspect of the Spirit. Our own Lutheran tradition holds firm to this. This quote is from Luther's Small Catechism, on the third article of the Creed:
• “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith…” (Luther's Small Catechism, explanation of the 3^rd article of the Creed)
• The work of the Spirit, then, goes far beyond the realm of inspiration and knowledge. In the passage from his letter to the Romans that we read this morning, Paul writes that it is the Spirit that makes us children of God: ...you have received a spirit of adoption. It is the Spirit that takes us beyond inspiration of thought and mind to the inspiration of our every action.
• For Christians and for the world in general, whether it is recognized or not, it is the Spirit that gives life. I believe that this is not always recognized; many people are willing and ready to see the Spirit working in the extraordinary ways. Sadly they miss the power that is seen and known in the daily lives in people.
• Paul says this: When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God... The Spirit tells us and tells the world that we are children of God.
• He uses a phrase that might seem strange to us. He says we cry out “Abba! Father!” Here an Aramaic word is used; it is the familiar form of “Father,” Abba. This word could probably be rendered in English as “Daddy.” It is a very intimate title, used by children in conversation with their father. Paul takes it as a common way for Christians to address God.
• These terms of endearment are not unusual in human relationships. I hear this sort of term all th time in relationships to express affection and closeness. We all know of names like “Oma”, “Opa”, “Pop-pop”, “Nana”, “Baba”, “Mommy”, “Daddy.” So, why not “Abba”? These titles show a very intimate relationship. The Spirit allows us to have this intimate relationship with our God.
• Now it may be hard to address God with a name like “Abba.” When we face our God in prayer, we are facing the creator and the sustainer of the entire universe. We are in communication with the one who knows everything there is to know about it – our inmost thoughts and feeling, our every action, our successes and our failures. Such an intimacy might come hard with someone who knows us better than we know ourselves. Yet God accepts us as we are. God has saved and redeemed us in Jesus Christ and draws us to Godself in and through the Spirit.
• The hardest part is for us to accept is that we are children of God and heirs with Christ, exactly as we are.
• All the gifts of the Spirit – tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, prophecy, even the baking of pies, as powerful and as necessary as they might be – all point to and support the real gift of the Spirit – the life of God within us that makes us what we really want to be, children of God.
• Pentecost then, the birthday of the Church, is all about relationship with God and in that, our relationship with each other. Although that might be for another day.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ