Wind

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 20, 2018

Pentecost

When I was growing up, my family spent the summers sailing on Lake Maumelle, just outside of Little Rock. We started off with a Sunfish, a small sailboat with one sail and not much between us and the water. Most summer afternoons, the 5 of us would pile into our old Volkswagen Beetle, with the rudder sticking out the sunroof since there is not room in a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle for 5 people and a rudder, and off we would go, pulling the boat on a trailer behind us.

Sailing, I quickly learned, is all about the wind.  Since there is not one thing we can do to make more wind, less wind, or wind from another direction, we had to learn to work with the wind.  The best ride, of course, was when we wanted to go in the same direction as a nice strong wind. All you have to do is let the sail out to catch the wind and away you go.  Stopping is little hard to do without winding up in the water, but practice makes perfect. The hardest work was when we wanted to sail into the wind. That requires setting the sail as closely as possible to the direction of the wind and using the weight of our bodies to keep the boat tilted at the most effective angle. That was a lot of work, but it was also a thrilling ride. Then, of course, there were the times when the wind completely abandoned us. That is why we always took a paddle with us.  Sailboats were not designed to be paddled, however, so getting around with no wind was a lot of work and no fun.

          On this Pentecost morning, we hear about wind of another sort as a great rushing wind fills the room and tongues of fire land on the disciples.  This year, Pentecost falls at the end of a weekend that has seen both deep grief and great joy.  On Friday, we witnessed yet another school shooting, this time in Texas. This time, 10 people were killed and another 10 were wounded.  While Columbine and Sandy Hook seemed to draw us together in grief and the desire to do something to keep our children safe, now school shootings seem to move us further apart.  If we cannot agree about keeping our children safe, what can we possibly agree on?  In the face of division and inertia, sometimes I feel like the wind has abandoned us and we are left paddling a sailboat upstream with no help. 

          On the other hand, I like many people, got up early yesterday morning to watch the fairy tale wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.  Two people in love, a great liturgy, wonderful music and a spectacular sermon are worth getting out of bed for in my book.  A wedding often brings people together, but this royal wedding brought people together from all over the globe.  Throngs of people lined the streets to see the newly married couple and to rejoice in their love for each other.  Millions more watched the wedding on television.  The love Meghan and Harry have for each other shone in their faces, which were as bright as the sunshine that radiated on the day.  All seemed right with the world for a few brief moments, as if the whole world was sailing with the wind at our backs.

          Our Presiding Bishop began his sermon at the wedding with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  which reminded us that real love is no fairy tale.  He said "We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world. But love, love is the only way."  The wind and fire that the disciples experienced on Pentecost was the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the power of love.  The power of the Holy Spirit that gave the disciples the ability to speak in many languages so that everyone heard the gospel in their native language was the power of love that binds us together as one human family.  That love is easy to see at an event like a royal wedding.  That love is less easy to see as we deal time and again, or perhaps more accurately fail to deal time and again, with the challenges of our time.

          In the gospel reading, we hear Jesus promise the disciples that after he is gone, he will send the Advocate.  Earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus said “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” Then Jesus says “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  What Jesus has said to his followers is that they are to abide in Jesus’ love.  The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will be with the disciples and us forever, to remind us to abide in God’s love. 

          At the end of Bishop Curry’s sermon yesterday, he quoted the 20^th century Jesuit Roman Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who said that fire was one of the greatest discoveries in all of human history.  Curry went on to quote de Chardin as saying that if humanity ever harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captures the energy of love, it will be the second time in history that we have discovered fire.  Actually, Pentecost calls us to the reality that we do not have to discover fire.  On Pentecost, fire and wind discovered us, and gave us the power to conquer all challenges with love.  Pentecost calls us to claim power of the wind that never abandons us and the power of the fire that can never be extinguished and go forth in the name of love to make God’s difference in the world.  God is not going to change the world for us.  Pentecost is God’s declaration that God is going to change the world with us. 

                                                                             Amen.