Sermon preached by The Reverend Dr Sam Cappleman
Pentecost
I saw a great quote earlier this week which indicated that if you were a
frequent traveller and hadn’t missed a plane now and again, you were
probably spending too much time at airports
In a week where I was close to missing 2 flights I can understand the
sentiment but realise its important to leave enough time to catch your
flights
As with many things, it’s a question of balance. The same can be said of
Pentecost
Pentecost is on of the great feasts of the Christian church, and it’s
important not just for what it signifies but because it’s a feast where our
theology meets our spirituality
Our theology, (theo logos), words about God, describe what we know about
God, as individuals, as churches, as denominations or whatever
The truth about God and how He is revealed, through scripture and tradition
Our spirituality is how we live out that truth, how we experience God and
His truth in our lives
Both are important, you can’t have a true spirituality without theology and
you can’t have a true theology without spirituality
What we know about God, must, as Christians, impact the way we live, our
theology impacts our spirituality
And it is the Spirit that came at Pentecost that gives us the power to live
out those beliefs
When the Spirit came at Pentecost the third great facet of the trinity had
appeared
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. The Father who creates, the Son
who redeems, the Spirit who empowers
But sometimes, just like leaving enough time at the airport, we get these
out of balance
Next week we celebrate Trinity Sunday, and will no doubt look at the triune
nature of God
And our theology tells us that we worship one God with 3 natures, it not 3
different, Gods - Father, Son and Spirit as separate entities. Jesus says ‘I
and the Father are one’ and, ‘When I leave I will send my spirit’
One God, three facets, like a prism, a single piece of glass with 3 faces,
not 3 different pieces of glass
And if we get these out of balance, or we begin to split them apart and
dismember the trinity we get an out of balance spirituality
In some churches it can look like the balance has shifted so that there is
an over emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit and the charismatic experience.
What we experience then becomes the truth about God for us. In this
scenario, what we believe is based predominantly on what we experience
For other churches it could appear as if the balance is predominantly on the
redeeming work of Jesus and the need to spread the word (about Him). The
work of Christ is absolutely fundamental to us as Christians. Nonetheless
the creative nature of God and the enabling power of the spirit can seem to
get squeezed out, perhaps positioned as elements of or faith that died out
with the disciples and the early church.
In these cases our spirituality can be reduced to only what we know and our
experience has no place
Others churches it may seem focus heavily on the creative nature of God, His
mystery and His majesty and awe and the redeeming work of the Son seems to
take second place, tradition alone becomes paramount.
So if we’re to understand Pentecost fully, we need to see it in the context
of the triune, yet indivisible God
Because the Spirit coming at Pentecost is not the work of some totally
independent agent, but the completion of a phase of God’s work on earth
For when the spirit came at Pentecost it was not some independent agent who
came but the Spirit of God Himself who, after revealing Himself in Jesus,
sent His Spirit to touch each one of the disciples with flames of fire and
the sound of a rushing wind
And when they were touched by the Spirit of God Himself, they were empowered
for the ministry which God has ordained for them. It was God Himself who was
enabling them
Now that might all seem rather boring and complicated for a Sunday morning
but it’s vitally important for our theology and our spirituality, what we
believe and how that impacts our lives
Because when we become God’s new creations through the redeeming work of His
Son it is the Spirit of God Himself that comes and touches our lives
It’s God Himself who empowers us, just as He did the early disciples, to
spread the good news through our words and our actions
Acts tells us that when this happened through the disciples many people were
amazed and could not believe what was happening
They couldn’t believe the people they knew as Galileans were capable of such
things, and on their own they weren’t, but these were people who had been
touched by God’s Holy Spirit and their lives took on a different dimension.
What they knew (had been told about God) became reality in their experience
in a powerful and dynamic way. Is it the same for us as modern day
disciples?
For some, the work of the Holy Spirit has been focused around their
experience, their spirituality
But in reality, the work of the Holy Spirit is a matter of both our
theology, what we believe, and our spirituality, how that belief works
itself out in out lives
And that can mean being used by God’s Spirit for big miraculous things and
smaller insignificant (?) things
But if we are filled with the Spirit of an all powerful (omnipotent) God,
perhaps we should be surprised if He doesn’t want to do incredible things
through us. We should not limit what He might want to do and how he might
want to speak to others through us
How he might want to radically transform our lives, even now, or use us to
radically transform the lives of those around us. To use us to make a real
difference in the world, empowered by His Spirit
To show signs of His power and Glory here on earth
It’s a question of balance. Of what we believe and how that effects our
lives. Of what we believe about the Holy Spirit and how that effects our
lives. Our theology and our spirituality.
Our openness to the God’s Spirit to work powerfully through us – because
that’s what we believe