Acts 2:1-11 In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.

O God whose call to us is irresistible, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Happy Pentecost everyone! I don’t know about you, but I am always so taken with the experience of hearing the story of Pentecost in a multitude of languages. It’s thrilling to me to think that almost 25% of the population of the world could have understood the story in their own language as read just now in our little chapel!

According to the Book of Acts, nearly two thousand years ago, devout Jews from every nation under heaven were living in Jerusalem. And others from near and far were arriving in Jerusalem for the great celebration of Pentecost. The city was bustling with Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, folks from Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and my favorite, Pamphylia, from Egypt and Libya, and Rome, all there to celebrate the ancient Jewish holiday where the first fruits of the harvest were offered to God – fifty days after Passover. The Jewish Pentecost holiday (in Hebrew, Shavu’ot) commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. It was in thanksgiving for the gift of God’s rule of love that people joyfully set aside time and wealth to give back to God from the first takings of the harvest – not from the leftovers. Pentecost is a feast of stewardship and thanksgiving.

In our story from Acts, the followers of Jesus, all together in one place, hiding because of their fear, were suddenly so filled with the Holy Spirit, they were suddenly so courageous, suddenly so energized, that they came out of their hiding places and began to speak about God’s deeds of power in languages that people could really understand. Here is another great Biblical coming out story!

And those who were in the city to offer the first fruits of their harvests actually received the first fruits of the Spirit after Jesus had said goodbye for what felt like the very last time. As so often it is with God, just when we set aside some of our time and treasure to give to God in thanksgiving for what we have been given, we find that God’s giving wildly exceeds our expectations.

Of course the Holy Spirit was not absent from the world before this particular day of Pentecost any more than the Holy Spirit is absent from our world now. There were editing decisions that led to the word spirit being capitalized in our Gospel of John – since there were no capital letters in the earliest Greek copies. There were theological decisions that led to the claim that certain inspiration was lacking before Jesus was glorified – that is, before Jesus was honored or praised. But rather than focusing on those decisions, I want you to imagine this day being the annual celebration of noticing something that’s been there all along, that just knocks your sandals off your feet when you let it fill you up.

This past week I represented the Diocese of Massachusetts at a three-day consultation about same-sex blessings hosted by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for the whole Episcopal Church. Two people from every diocese in which same-sex marriage is legal were invited, as well as ecumenical and international conversation partners. There were representatives from the Moravians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ; Anglicans from New Zealand, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany, Scotland and Wales. It turns out that in 2014, half of all Episcopalians now live in places where same-sex marriage is legal. What makes the news is just how much indigestion this continues to cause around the Church for folks who are still struggling mightily to keep Church marriage to heterosexual couples only. For longer than Jesus actually lived on this earth, the Episcopal Church has been actively studying, discussing, and making all kinds of good and bad pronouncements about various aspects of full-inclusion of people who do not identify as heterosexual. Frankly, it makes me tired, but whenever I get tired I think of Bishop Barbara Harris who tells about walking into a beloved mentor’s office and saying, “I am so sick of teaching white people about racism. I’m done.” And he responded, “no you’re not, get back out there.” So I said that I would go to this consultation for more talking and more studying when Bishop Shaw asked me to. And I girded my loins and did my best to protect my heart.

There were about 60 of us there– lay people and ordained people, deacons, priests, bishops, meeting in Kansas City. Our president of the House of Deputies, Gay Clark Jennings was there to participate. Our presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, was there to participate. We all told our stories, personal and parochial, about the fidelity and courage and tremendous blessing of same-sex couples in our lives. Some of us told our stories of being in same-sex marriages. We witnessed the renewal of vows of two married women from Iowa, one a laywoman and one a priest, on the 15^th anniversary of their covenanted relationship!

We talked about our various contexts, aired our questions and complaints, our victories and failures, our sorrows and jubilations. I had expected the conference to be personally – emotionally and physically – costly. Instead, it was exhilarating. For three very long days, I heard stories of struggle and grace, punctuated through and through with enormous thanksgiving for the work of individuals, parishes, and dioceses who have bravely insisted on claiming full inclusion, to complete access to all of the sacraments for all of the people. Here is why it was exhilarating. For three days, we were thanked for how far we had come; for staying in the Church and not leaving; for valuing the sacrament of marriage and not being willing to settle for less. We heard abundant thanksgiving for the faith-filled, courageous witness of dioceses like Massachusetts, for parishes like Emmanuel Boston, for theologians like Patrick Cheng, for couples like Richard Bentley & Grahame Smith who had their wedding in this church in 1982, decades before it was legal, for individuals like each of you who stand with and for the dignity of every human being.

You know, in the Pentecost story as told in the Book of Acts, we don’t know exactly what Jesus’ followers were saying when they were testifying about God’s deeds of power, but my guess is that they were filled to overflowing with thanksgiving. I imagine that they were thanking the people who had come from great distances to give praise to God. I imagine that they were telling people in language that each could really understand that the Love of God is stronger than even the most gruesome death and that we don’t need to be afraid, even of death when we stand on the side of love. I imagine that they were spreading the word about their experiences of being fed and being freed by the extravagant Love of God.

Augustine of Hippo, wrote in about the year 400 CE, a prose-poem to God, called The Confessions. Addressing God, Augustine wrote,

You called and cried aloud and shattered my deafness….You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath, and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.

Pentecost is the story of being set on fire with the love of God – and I think when that happens, a great thanksgiving is the only response possible.

Pentecost is about listening to the prophets both inside and outside of the tent, maybe especially the ones outside of the tent, on the margins of society, on the margins of the community. Pentecost is about telling with our whole lives the news that love trumps everything else – telling it –really, living it where we work and play, on the roads and on the sidewalks, and even in the ditches, in language that people can easily understand. Love is stronger than death. Pentecost is about telling folks, if you are hungry, I know where some bread is. If you are thirsty, come to the water. Drink from the deep well of the Wisdom of God Who is Jesus the Christ. Most important of all, let the living water flow through you so that others can drink too. Don’t try to stop it. Don’t keep it bottled up! Let the living water flow right through your hearts, because God knows, there are a lot of thirsty people out there.

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