Pentecost

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
June 8, 2014

Pentecost 2014

While I was on sabbatical this past spring, I attended a conference in Cincinnati on new ways of being church.  One feature of that conference was an event called "Beer and Hymns" which I am sure is way more fun that most people think Christians have together.  Another feature of the conference was music by "The Theodicy Jazz Collective." The word theodicy refers to the question of why a good God permits evil.  This group of performers believes that music has the power to be an instrument of peace and justice in the world, and they use their music to that end.

As part of the conference, the ensemble talked about improvisational jazz and how they believe their work together demonstrates the way evil and injustice can be fought.  First, in order to improvise, the instrumentalists have to  understand the tradition they are improvising upon.  They have to have deep roots in both their knowledge of music generally and their understanding of jazz specifically.  Only then can they improvise with integrity.  Secondly, they have to trust each other.  They have to trust that the other members of the ensemble have rehearsed and are prepared.  They have to trust that their various gifts, when combined and used together, will produce something harmonious.  When they trust each other and the gifts they have been given, they can try bold new music.  Thirdly, they all know that when one person decides to try something new, the job of everyone else is to support that person and make sure that no one is ever left standing alone with no support.  If that new thing wasn't such a good idea, they talk about that later, but in the moment of performance, they are all in the show together and they work together to create the best possible music.  The Theodicy Jazz Collective works to make a gospel difference in the world not only with the music they play, but by the very way they make their music.

On this Pentecost Sunday, we watch the Holy Spirit descend on the disciples and give them the gift of languages.  This gift was not for the disciples own personal benefit, but so that they could proclaim the gospel for all the world to hear and understand.  The disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which is the Jewish festival that celebrates the giving of the Torah, the Law, to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  The disciples are together in one place, engaged in their tradition, where the Spirit descends on them collectively. They were not scattered all over Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit arrived. Peter did not receive the gift of flames while at the market, while James received that gift at a first century equivalent of a child's soccer game, and John while out fishing.  They disciples were together and through this collective gift of the Spirit, everyone was able to hear the Good News spoken in a language they understood.  From the rest of the book of Acts, we know that the Spirit then pushed the disciples, and later Paul, out into most of the known world.

Today we also hear Paul's own reflection on the gifts of the Spirit as the apostle reminds us of the variety of gifts given to individuals by the one Spirit, all  to be used for the common good.  No one gift alone is adequate for the body to function.  Paul reminds us that we are all part of the one body, not just individuals who are complete unto ourselves.  Indeed, Paul tells us that each person's gifts are incomplete without the gifts of the rest of the body.  All of the gifts and all the of individuals who bear those gifts are necessary for the Body of Chris to function..

This parish, Christ Church, is blessed with an abundance of gifts.  I wrote in my newsletter article about how easily I can take those gifts for granted.  Collectively, we have the gifts of teaching, administration, music, wisdom, cooking, compassion, hospitality, creativity, financial management, the list goes on and on and on.  I do not doubt for one moment that we have, at Christ Church, the gifts to overcome any obstacles we might face.  Our challenge is always how we use those gifts together to build up the Body of Christ for the common good.  Are we grounded in our tradition-in our faith-so that we can use our gifts well to improvise and move in new directions to practice our deeply rooted faith in new ways?  Do we trust each other-trust that each person is prepared, practiced, and ready-and trust the Spirit who gave us those gifts?  Can we live together in such a way that everyone is supported in the use of his or her gifts and no one is left standing alone to try something new?

In a moment, we will renew the promises we made at our baptism.  We will affirm the foundation of our faith in the three questions that lead us into the words of the Apostles' Creed.  Then we will affirm the way we will live in response to our faith.  We will promise to continue in the breaking of bread and in the prayers, to resist evil and whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.  We will promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, to respect the dignity of every human being, and to proclaim the gospel with word and action.  We make those promises as individuals, but we are called to live out those promises collectively as we come together to use the many gifts we have been given to worship, to proclaim the gospel, and to seek and serve Christ in all people.

The Theodicy Jazz Collective works to make a gospel difference in the world not only with the music they make, but by the very way they go about making that music.  Likewise, when we take the abundance of gifts the Spirit has given us, work out of the depth of our tradition to discern how we are called to use those gifts in this day and time, trust each other and the Spirit who gave us those gifts, and work together so that no one is ever afraid of being left standing on their own, both our  bold, creative ministries and the way we go about those ministries make a gospel difference in the world.
  Amen.