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Sermon May 31, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Pentecost, Year A
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/APentDay_RCL.html
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Cor 12:7
Today is an emotional day for me. Right after the sermon, we will baptize Tiffany. Some of you know the story about the friendship between Tiff and me.
Moving to Kansas in 1994 was tough. I’m pretty much a “stay close to family” kind of person. Moving halfway across the country from my parents, children and friends was definitely a challenge. Now Tiff remembers it a little differently. What I remember is that one day this little girl from the neighborhood came to the door to ask me if I’d buy some jewelry to support her softball team. Of course I did and also asked when her games were, so I could attend one. That little girl was Tiffany and she was 9 years old.
Thus started a friendship that has gone on for 26 years. While even I thought our friendship was odd, because I’m 28 years older than Tiff, I felt like God had sent an angel to me in a very difficult time. I’m sure you’ve known children who seem much wiser than their years.
Needless to say, I returned to the east coast by 1996, but Tiff and I kept in touch through letters, phone calls and occasional visits. Tiff was in the army and stationed in Maryland. I was able to pick her up one weekend and bring her to Harrisburg where I was living at the time. Well, didn’t it snow about 26 inches! Tiff had to be back on base by Monday evening. The roads were hardly open in PA, but we got in my little Toyota Corolla and got her back to the base in time. The highways were in good shape, especially in Maryland, but oh my, I almost got stuck at the army base.
As you may guess, Tiff is my friend and like another daughter. She calls me “ma” and my daughter thinks of her as her sister. In other words, God brought us together and we are family.
And of course, Tiff’s partner, Nic, is part of our family too.
In the early part of the year, we had an announcement in the bulletin about baptisms and if anyone wanted to be baptized, they should let me know. One Sunday as I went to give a blessing to Tiff at the altar rail, she says, “I want to be baptized.”
When I asked her why our church, she explained that she liked the Episcopalian understanding that there is room for differing understandings of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The whole tradition, reason and scripture. The whole common prayer aspect of our faith – it’s how we pray together, even though we may not have exactly the same understandings of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
She also said that our parish was really welcoming and she felt comfortable with us.
So, here we are on this Pentecost day. Ten days ago, Jesus had ascended into heaven. The disciples had not seen him anymore. Jesus promised he would send a guide, a comforter, a companion to us. And the Holy Spirit arrives in a profound way, with tongues of fire and multiple, diverse languages.
In seminary, we read an article about whether Pentecost really happened the way it is written in Acts…the reading we heard earlier. Well, we can’t say for sure, but our professor said that something powerful happened, because the Christian faith spread so quickly after that and to many different parts of the Mediterranean world.
We are people of the Pentecost, guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul, in our reading from the first Letter to the Corinthians, talks about the necessity of our diversity. We are all given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, says Paul.
The baptismal covenant that we will say in a few minutes helps us understand what it means and how we can work for the common good.
We are to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We are to be in community with one another. We are to keep growing and learning.
We are to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord. We are not perfect, by any means. We are to keep examining ourselves and to be aware of and confess our sins. Sin is when we move away from God, maybe even turn our back on God and go our own way. Yet, we always have the choice to turn back towards God – to repent and to be welcomed back with open arms.
We are to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. Yes, it’s not only knowing the words of the Gospel; it is living those words, summed up by love God, love your neighbor, love yourself, which is the next part of the Covenant.
We are to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. We readily see this challenge placed before us, especially in the past few months. Will we wear a mask? What will we do to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus? Do we think about others in our actions or only ourselves?
What are we willing to do to work on racial justice and reconciliation? We’ve seen the pain and violence of living in the status quo.
How will we step up our efforts to respect the dignity of every human being?
Tiffany seals this covenant today and all of us affirm it for ourselves. She formally joins our community and we agree to support her, even as we continue our own work to live more fully into these promises.
Praise God for the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good! Amen
