JN 14: 8-17 

Jottings on John…Pentecost…New 2019

At sermon time, why not re-read the opening of the Acts passage, dramatically, as: ‘Suddenly from heaven there comes the sound like the rush of violent wind! It breaks through the roof of the church & fills the entire place! Tongues like fire come down & distribute themselves & sit on each one of us! And we are all filled with Holy Spirit & begin to speak in other languages as the Spirit makes it possible.’

When it comes to the ‘other languages’ I have no problem with re-interpreting the speaking in tongues bit in the light of today’s needs, rather than those of the first spreaders of the Gospel. The language that matters most of all today is that of Love. In short supply in most lands, & in religions of all stripes. Resist any temptation to bog down in fruitless theological dissection of ‘tongues’. To do that would be yet another distraction from that One Language we all need to learn to speak. And we’re all capable of ‘speaking’ when the Spirit empowers us; the language of God’s love. 

Going further, when we reach the Greeting of Peace, & the President says, ‘We are the Body of Christ’ let’s shout back, ‘His Spirit is with us!’ And respond to ‘The Peace of the Lord be always with you’ with an almighty, ‘And also with you!’ Then share that peace with those nearby, looking them straight in the eye with our ‘Peace be with you’ & holding that gaze till they look us straight in the eye, too, with their ‘And also with you!’ A good way to share the Peace, today & every day!

In the Gospel, Philip hovers on the brink of a great discovery: that Jesus really is the human face of God. But he doesn't quite get there. Not even after Jesus explains it to him so simply as to say, "Look at me, Phil; if you see me you see God". Pentecost is our annual celebration of the Spirit of Jesus being God’s Living Reminder that Love is the One Language that speaks across all barriers & boundaries. God’s new creation depends not on speaking in tongues - in any sense - but on people being able to look at us & see God looking back at them in us! As Phil didn’t quite get!

Holy Spirit isn’t a doctrine. Any more than Jesus is. Or the Father! Pentecost is all about God making God-self present & knowable in the Spirit of Jesus the Christ. Putting it another way, Holy Spirit brings us together in ourselves & in each other as God is All Together! All Together One. Pentecost, like Resurrection, needs to be a personal, on-going, & unifying experience if God is to be real for us, & if we're to be real to God & for each other.

 Brian 

Afterthought: In the beginning the Spirit of God sweeps over the waters unifying what God is calling into being step by step, ‘day’ by ‘day’. The Spirit of Love is still at work sweeping over us & unifying us as a New Creation.