Lately, Yvette and I have spent a whole lot of time underground. I don’t mean to say we’ve become cave-dwellers, or even clandestine spies, but rather our subterranean existence came about as an effective way to get across the vast cities of Paris and London.
We became quite adept at figuring out the metro system, walking through the turnstiles like we’re locals, figuring how which line we needed to change on to get where we needed to go and then, eventually, exiting up a steep escalator to surface level only to look like the tourists we were to find where we wanted to go. And google maps was, for the most part, less than helpful to us!
There were occasions, however, when we went from A to B by foot – about 10,000 steps a day on average – or by taxi. And we got to see a whole different city that we missed entirely traversing the underground system. Above ground we saw buildings and streets and people gathering in cafés and shops and landmarks and bearings in a way that we totally missed below ground.
The gospel reading today more or less begins with an important request: “show”. “Show us the Father” Philip asks Jesus.
For us, moving across this familiar underground map, there was a point where we too asked “show” – “show us what’s above ground”. We couldn’t live all the time in the tunnels, never to see the light of day; but nor could we easily get from one place to another without moving within this unseen world.
This Pentecost Sunday reminds me of those two worlds – “of all that is, seen and unseen”. The work of the Spirit is sometimes evident, experienced and in full view. And it is sometimes beyond our horizon, understanding, and grasp; sometimes it’s subterranean.
On Friday, which was the day after we arrived back in the country and on which I was preparing this sermon, I saw an email Simon had sent to the staff to say that the waterpipe on Fendalton Road had burst open, resulting in a large hole in the road [see slide].
This struck me as a wonderful metaphor for what we see happening on Pentecost Sunday. All this while, at a subterranean level, the Spirit is at work and then, in one bold moment, bursts forth such that the only explanation from those who see and don’t understand is that those speaking in tongues must be drunk!
At what’s more, this sinkhole in Fendalton Road made the news. Radio New Zealand reported it this way “the sinkhole is near St Barnabas Church which is a prominent landmark in the city”.
It wasn’t entirely clear whether we are a prominent landmark in the city because, at least on Friday, we had a sinkhole in front of us, or perhaps, a bit like that church in Acts, we too are known for the overflowing, bursting forth work of the Spirit!?
That overflowing work of the Spirit, by the way, that has been running underground for 150 years.
That overflowing work of the Spirit that inspired and enabled the men and women of this parish 100 years ago to build this stone building, that inspires and enables us still to come here on a Sunday and through the week and inspires and enables us to go out into our neighbourhood, city, country, and world.
The genius of Philip’s question is that he asks “show” not “tell”. He doesn’t say “Tell us about the Father and that will be enough for us” but “show us”. Philip is inviting an answer rooted in the real- world, with practical consequences. Jesus responds that having been with them all this time, so it will be the Spirit of Jesus with us all the time. In other words, the spirit is not some amorphous, ephemeral ‘may the force be with you’ warm fuzzy kind of spirit but the Holy Spirit, here explained by Jesus in a deep and profound notion of the very Trinity itself.
The work of the Spirit is not always underground; it is not always unseen. It surfaces and is visible among us. Expression and experience lead to witness and action. The Spirit’s work is both outward and inward, it is not in our feelings alone but also in our actions, it shows and tells.
Wherever the life of Jesus is remembered, wherever his “works” are performed anew and translated into our present life, there the Spirit is present. The Holy Spirit is simply the presence of Jesus in the Church, at all times and in all ways, in struggle as well as in joy. Above all else, “the Spirit is known in the keeping of Jesus’ commandments, and hence of love of him and of each other.”[1]
Sometimes the Spirit is visible among us in manifestations and experiences we cannot explain, and in ways that those looking in from the outside can’t understand. It is also visible in how the Spirit enables us to do the works that Jesus did, in ways that demonstrate in who we are and how we act toward one another, especially the last, the least and the lost, that God is present and active in the world today through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus remains in the world, is in the lives of his followers, continually bringing to our hearts and minds what he has taught and enabling and empowering us to be the kinds of followers he asks us to be.
This Pentecost Sunday, let me pray to conclude:
Sprit of light: let your wisdom shine on us
Spirit of courage: make us aware of God’s presence
Spirit of fire: enflame us with the love of Jesus
Spirit of peace: help us to be still and listen to God in our life
Spirit of joy: inspire us to proclaim the good news
Spirit of love: help us open ourselves to the needs of others
Spirit of power: give us all your help and strength
Spirit of truth: guide us in the way of Jesus.[2]
Amen.