Parish Newsletter

Greetings for June. I write this as we celebrate Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit – the power of God – that Jesus promised.

I am still in my first year as Rector! Pentecost is the third major festival in the Christian calendar. Of these – Christmas, Easter and Pentecost – this event is the one I start with when, in evangelism, I seek to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone who asks. Because it must have happened! 12 ordinary men start a global phenomenon. When we look at this passage, we can use our imagination to make it come alive.

Of the gospel writers, Luke is the only one to record this event.

· Yes, Matthew records ‘the great commission’ – Jesus saying, “go out and make disciples of all nations, and I am with you always”. (Matthew 28: 20)

· And John writes that his gospel is written “that you might believe’. (John, writing later, may have known Luke’s account of Pentecost, and felt no need to repeat it.)

But Luke records what happened. And we know that:

· He carefully researched things

· He listened to eyewitnesses

· He is thinking

· He is planning his ‘orderly account’ (Luke 1:1-4)

· He must have been wondering, ‘what happened between the resurrection of Jesus and what I saw in Corinth with Paul.’

The book of Acts starts with Luke recording the risen Christ eating with his disciples. After the resurrection, he had travelled around supernaturally, including a walk along the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). He then hears the disciples ask about the timing of any action, and he says that they should wait for power – the Holy Spirit. And then they would be his disciples, his evangelists, ‘to the ends of the earth’. The Parish of Freshford and its churches is one of those ‘ends of the earth’. Our presence today is proof that this event happened then.

Acts 2 records the event. It is an experience of the divine – of God. Let us note:

· The disciples are together

· The Spirit comes suddenly

· There is a violent wind

· A sound

· And what looks like tongues of fire

· That RESTED on each of them – it is interesting to note that in all the commotion the spirit was able to rest on them, implying that they were sitting still to receive. Is this a lesson for us today?

Then the disciples getup, go outside, and speak in other languages as the spirit enables them. There is an international festival in Jerusalem at the time, and all the people hear the good news of Jesus in their own language. God goes global. The people ask, “what does this mean?” And Peter stands up to answer them. Bear in mind that Peter by this point knows first-hand the power of forgiveness in Christ’s name. A few weeks earlier, when he denied knowing his friend Jesus just after he was arrested, Jesus had looked straight at him. Jesus later, alive again and after breakfast by the lake, forgives and restores him (Luke 22: 61 and John 21: 1-19). On the day of Pentecost, Peter explains what is going on, and, quoting Old Testament prophecy, states that ‘everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved. So repent and believe the good news.’ 3,000 converts join the church that day.

Today, in England, there is:

· A need to revive and renew our faith

· A sickness – our society has gone wrong and has lost sight of this foundational reality

· Our human behaviour reveals this sickness, for example:

o The London demonstrations recently

o Tommy Robinson and the far right using the ‘cross’ to promote nationalism and intolerance of “others”

o Civil unrest, causing fear and lack of respect

o Increasing hopelessness

o A judge criticised for the leniency of the sentence of two teenage boys guilty of raping two teenage girls. I agree that this is too lenient (we can take heart at the public dismay from many quarters – perhaps demonstrating the ‘moral law’ that CS Lewis writes about in Mere Christianity, Book 1). But the circumstances do, however, reflect society’s lostness.

People can see this societal sickness. And I believe they are looking for hope and seeking God, however they understand him. And when they do experience the divine (and are aware of something supernatural affecting them) they, like the public on the day of Pentecost, ask ‘what does this mean?’ (and these days most people have less grounding and experience of the Christian faith in their upbringing.)

To conclude: the Holy Spirit is moving in this land. That is the power behind the good news of the Gospel. The church is called to help. Our role, like Peter, is to explain by our lives; our thoughts, words and actions; and our personal faith journeys that, in Jesus’s name, God loves us, God accepts us, and God forgives us.

My final quote shows how Peter did this. When the people ask, ‘brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replies ‘repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all who the Lord our God will call.’ With many other words he warned them; he pleaded with them ‘save yourselves from this corrupt generation’. Those who accepted his message were baptised and about 3,000 were added to the numbers that day. (Acts 2: 38-41)

The Church must be inspired by his efforts. And everyone is welcome!

Amen