Dear St Paul’s Community,

Welcome to this season of the Spirit in the life of our community. On Sunday, May 31, we celebrate the Day of Pentecost and remember how the Holy Spirit of the risen Christ infused and empowered the disciples to be witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but also beyond there into Judea; and not only in Judea but also beyond there and beyond their comfort zones into Samaria (where the dirty, rotten scoundrels lived); and not only in Samara but beyond their wildest imagination to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Pentecost isn’t just about remembering how the Spirit infused and empowered the disciples then. It’s claiming the Spirit’s presence and power among us now, as we gather as disciples who, like the first twelve, are often fearful, stuck in neutral, or distracted by the details of life. To us as to them, the Spirit as divine fool “rushes in where angels fear to tread” and makes of each one of us a witness, giving us the ability to tell in our unique language the mighty deeds of God.

In the words of one of our hymns for Pentecost Sunday: God of tempest, God of whirlwind, as on Pentecost descend! Drive us out from sheltered comfort, past these walls your people send! Sweep us into costly service, there with Christ to bear the cross, there with Christ to bear the cross.  I’m reminded of the dynamic witness of Father Robert Capon, an Episcopal priest who was a keynote speaker at a Synod Assembly some years back. With great passion and fire, he said of our worship gatherings: “Never do you have a ‘dismissal’ at the end of the service. Don’t call it that. The people of God are never ‘dismissed’, rather they are ‘dispersed’!”

To what and to whom are you being dispersed as a Spirit-driven witness? By virtue of your baptism into the saving death and resurrection of Jesus, you have been given a unique calling in life. Martin Luther referred to baptism as your ordination into the “priesthood of all believers.” Filled with the Holy Spirit, you are called to serve your own unique “parish” — a parish of your friends and family, your neighbors and associates, the world around you.

The writer of Acts says that on the Day of Pentecost, “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among (the disciples), and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:3-4a)  This Sunday we’ll see a visual reminder of those fiery tongues hanging above us in the arch of the chancel, calling us to disperse into the world with the message of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ, a grace which is so amazing we can hardly believe it ourselves. A grace that is for all people without exception, costly to Christ and free to us.

In the words of a cruise line commercial, “Get out there!” Be dispersed as the Spirited people of God in the world!

James E Boline