Pentecost: Gifts of the Spirit

Sermon Preached Sunday, June 4, 2006
The Day of Pentecost: Psalm 104:25-37, Acts 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:4-13, John 20:19-23

Today we celebrate the work that the Church has done through the power of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate that the commission given by Christ to spread the gospel to whole world has been followed. Our work is not done, but today we celebrate this feast on the other side of the world from Jerusalem, knowing that the power of the Spirit has shown the love of God to the ends of the earth.

Pentecost isn't specifically about the giving of the Spirit, its more about being filled with the Spirit and using the gifts that the Spirit gives to go out into the world. In our first lesson from Acts we see how the disciples were filled with the Spirit and they began to preach the good news to those around them. The Acts of the Apostles narrates how the various Apostles continued to spread the Gospel accross the known world.

How did they do it? They used with the gifts that the Spirit gave them to spread Christ's Gospel. They didn't all have the same gifts and they didn't spread the Gospel in the same way. On the first Pentecost we see how the Apostles spoke to the people in many different languages. It wasn't just Saint Peter speaking in all those different languages, it was the different apostles speaking different languages to different people.

I look around at the Apostles who grace the walls of this church and think: 'how can anyone live up to that?" I don;'t know all of those languages, I don't have all of those gifts? I look on my life and wonder how often someone has said that I was letting them down in Jesus' name because I couldn't do what they asked of me. I didn't have the money they needed or the time they wanted me to spend with them. On Pentecost I am reminded that the different Apostles each had different gifts. I am also reminded that I know languages they didn't speak that day.

You and I have many gifts, but our gifts are not the same. One person might be given the gift of being the legs of Christ in the world, spreading the gospel to others. Perhaps another is given the gift of being the hands of Christ in the world, showing God's love to those around him. Perhaps anothers is being the arms of Christ, comforting those in need. Perhaps yours is being the body of Christ, showing God's presence to those who are alone in this world.

If I try to be everything for everyone, I will find that I am letting some people down. When I worry that I can't be all things for all people I remember that neither could the apostles. I think the apostles would be amazed at the various gifts that we all have. I think they would tell us to cultivate the gifts we have, learn how to use them to spread the Gospel, and find those gifts that we have but aren't using.

Today is a celebration of the work that we have all done, beginning with the Apostles and continuing today to us here in the church. All of this work has been accomplished because God has filled us all with his Spirit. Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Let us cultivate the gifts he has given us, and find and use gifts that we never knew we had.