Pentecost - what now?

If Pentecost is the day we celebrate the birth of the Church then I’ve spent all day in it marking it’s birthday! 

We are so negative about the Church these days. We spend meetings worrying about how we keep the show on the road. We fret when good givers of money pass away or move away. We can’t find people to do the jobs when most of our members are over 80. We can’t do what we used to do. Our minister should be growing our church! 

I’ve had three really good services today with sparks of grace and signs that God’s Spirit on this day of Pentecost might be moving a bit. 

This morning at Boroughbridge we had a joint service with the Anglican benefice. My lovely Anglican colleague reminded us of the need to breathe. She shared with us we need to let God breathe life into us. The most powerful bit of the service was us sharing communion across denominations in a circle. We then had a lovely lunch. Margaret’s lemon posset was fabulous! The Spirit of God unites us. It feels sensible where it works to be the Church together. Boroughbridge are exploring this. I’m doing a quiet day in a few weeks. So far I only have Anglicans coming! That’s okay. 

This afternoon there were 13 of us at Dallowgill. Our numbers are higher than they used to be. We dedicated a new pulpit bible in memory of a former member. We explored whether we still believe in a God who can confound our expectations and surprise us with explosions of joy and peace today. The fact that, even though they are smaller than they used to be, hundreds of little chapels like Dallowgill meet faithfully to share the good news of Jesus is something to celebrate.

Then tonight the Circuit here joined the monthly King’s Praise informal service in Masham. I was privileged to share leading this with Steve, one of our local preachers. It’s a rare treat for ministers to share worship leading with anyone! I have no worship leaders in my churches. The Spirit of God was tangible in the companionable space we shared. We remembered the Spirit came at Pentecost with exuberance and noise and rattling of the world. But 50 days earlier it also came to demoralised and fearful disciples in a room away from the world as Jesus said “peace be with you” and “receive the Holy Spirit” quietly and pastorally. 

It’s good to be reminded God comes in different ways — and for extroverts and introverts! Crowds are great but so is companionable silence and I reminded the folk who gathered tonight that maybe we’ve forgotten as a church how to party and maybe we’ve forgotten how to be quiet and wait for the Lord. (My wife told me after the service I had “turned evo” —- informal worship isn’t my bag but I had great fun tonight!) 

I was in one of the many coffee shops in Boroughbridge in the week. Vernon Kay was blasting out on Radio 2. The lady opposite me laughed at the minister singing along to the Spice Girls “Who do you think you are” — and then she joined in as he played the T Rex classic “you won’t fool the children of the revolution.” 

 

I am wondering pondering today  whether the feast of Pentecost launched the church as the children of the revolution. Gathered in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus received power. They were given courage to speak about Jesus. Everyone heard God’s story in their own tongue. There were mighty signs something was stirring in the world. I invite you to read Acts in one go. Be amazed again how the early church grew. It grew because Jesus was at the heart of everything. No wonder the authorities say in fear “these people who have turned the world upside down have come here too!” So there might be revolutionary stuff coming which might unsettle things. 

So, where’s the church today? Are we children of the revolution, heralding a new age? Or have we lost our confidence and gone quiet? Maya Angelou has what we need to be summed up well in her poem Continue 

“Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.” Come, Holy Spirit…

 

A good day. I pray we might worry less about our church and be the Church again. May we be so on fire with the love of God we provoke a reaction in people. Oh and let’s remember we need to do this more in the world than in the Church. We only come to a church to be filled up with energy and breath and power so we can be Christ’s people again. I know people worry about their church surviving. Some even get ill over it. Maybe we need as the disciples of old did to seek God and see what happens. Maybe we aren’t called to just keep going but to break free and in the freedom of the Spirit to see where God takes us…