The Holy Spirit Comes
The Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams, The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday, June 8th, 2025
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting…” Acts 2:1
Today is the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost is such an awesome feast day! It falls 50 days after Easter Day and is the culmination of the Easter season. And we hear this wild story from the Acts of the Apostles about a violent wind and flames dancing on the heads of the disciples. They were suddenly able to understand each other, even though they were speaking different languages.
Prior to this, the disciples had been waiting. Jesus had told them after his resurrection and before he ascended to heaven, that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to continue his ministry in the world. They could have all just gone home to their private reflections about everything that had happened. And a lot had happened. They had been with Jesus during his ministry, they had grieved his death and marveled at his post-resurrection appearances to them. They had watched in amazement as he ascended into the clouds. But the disciples didn’t disperse to go back to the life they had before Jesus. Instead, they did what he had told them to do. They stayed together to make sense of things in community. They didn’t lose heart. They went to an upper room in Jerusalem and prayed and waited. And they waited and prayed. Not wringing their hands, locked in fear. No, they prayed expectantly, hopefully. They trusted and believed that Jesus would send his Holy Spirit. And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the Spirit filled the room, and they received a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. And in that instant, Peter realized that the ancient words of the prophet Joel had been fulfilled:
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.”
Just as Joel had prophesied, hundreds of years before, Peter foresees a day when all things will be brought to their fullness. That last great day, when God’s purposes for the world will finally be realized. When all things will be brought to fruition. Where all of humankind is brought into God’s very presence. When everyone is made whole. When all of creation is healed. When human potential has been realized. When all people are united and God is all in all.
What a beautiful vision! What a wonderous hope! And not only that, but Peter sees that they are getting a glimpse of that in the here and now. Just as God brought Jesus into the world to change everything, God is now sending the Holy Spirit to inspire them, to empower them, to carry on Jesus’ radical work of loving the world that killed Jesus, of loving the world that doesn’t always love back, of loving a world that resists love, that tries to stamp out love, but that so desperately needs love, a world that hungers and thirsts for the healing that love brings. That’s what the Holy Spirit rained down on everyone in the upper room that day. This group included Jesus’ mother Mary, his brothers, Peter, and all the many other disciples that day in the upper room on Pentecost. And they went forth after that ecstatic spiritual experience to found the Church.
Today, we too are longing for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We yearn for inspiration, we hunger for empowerment, we thirst for unity, and we cry out for a transformed world. The disruption, chaos and confusion in our public life have left so many people dispirited and hopeless. The loss of jobs, the shameful treatment of many immigrants and refugees, the erosion of our sense of the common good, the divisiveness and strife.
As challenging as this time is in so many ways, it also provides an opportunity to see visions and dream dreams of a transformed world where everyone is valued as a beloved child of God.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room, there was such a commotion that people from all over Jerusalem came to see what was happening. Many of the people who came lived there and others had traveled from far and wide to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost was originally observed 50 days after Passover and it’s purpose was to give thanks for the spring barley harvest. It was also a commemoration of the giving of the law to Moses.
The Acts of the Apostles describes the first Christian Pentecost as a universal event. It is the beginning of the spreading of the Good News of Jesus to the four corners of the earth. The beautiful Jerusalem cross on the altar is a visual way to communicate that – the large cross in the middle- with the four smaller crosses in the quadrants representing the reach of the Gospel around the globe.
So Pentecost, as Acts describes it, is a reinterpretation of what had come before. Christianity coming forth from the rich tradition of Judaism. As Christianity developed, many practices evolved that were rooted in Jewish practice. Just as the Jewish faithful celebrated Pentecost 50 days after Passover, Christians began celebrating Pentecost 50 days after Easter. Easter is our Christian Passover, when Jesus passed from death to new life. And our celebration of Pentecost each year reminds us that we are empowered to carry on Jesus’ work. And his work, the work of preaching and teaching and social justice and pastoral care and outreach, never changes – that work is HIS work and the Spirit empowers us to continue it in our own day and time, just in different ways. The Holy Spirit is always, always calling us to innovation and creativity.
The Spirit is teaching us new ways of taking Jesus’ message to the four corners of the earth. Here at Saint George’s, the Spirit has inspired incredible growth and vitality and we are looking toward the future with great expectation. You should have received an email last Sunday afternoon outlining the new strategic plan, a plan for implementing our communal vision for the future, and we are doing that during a very turbulent time in our nation. Our last strategic plan was also completed during a very challenging time. It was May 2020 and we were in the thick of the pandemic. And that is significant, the fact that both of these hopeful, aspirational plans were forged during a time of great angst. When things are hard, it helps us to see what is most important, to clarify our values. And right now, especially now, we see the importance of being an inclusive, loving, joyful, justice-seeking community of faith. Our life together in Christ is more important than ever, offering us an alternative narrative for our lives and for the world that Jesus came to save. Our 2025 plan is about making God’s new dream for us a reality. We all had an opportunity provide input, the vestry, ministry leaders and congregation.
Themes the committee heard during this process included people’s eagerness to get more involved at Saint George’s, to engage in fellowship and small group faith formation, to minister to the world through outreach and social justice opportunities, and deep appreciation for Saint George’s liturgy, music, and children and youth. I encourage you to review it. Like any good plan, it is both aspirational and actionable.
The Holy Spirit is at work in the world and here at Saint George’s. God’s Spirit has always been at work. In the beginning of creation, the Spirit moved over the deep and brought forth all kinds of new life. That same Spirit came upon Mary when she was a young girl, and through her, sent Jesus into the world to show us the way of life. The Holy Spirit came upon the first Christians and brought forth the Church. And the Spirit is alive and well today, inspiring us to live the rich tradition we have inherited in new ways, sharing God’s all-embracing love with the world. Here in June 2025, in the context of political and social upheaval, a new thing is coming into being through us. We are dreaming dreams and seeing a new vision for the hopeful future that God is calling us to.
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.”
