Pentecost Sunday, Mass during the Day

Lectionary: 63

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Of the three major feasts – Christmas and Easter being the other two – Pentecost may be the hardest to get our arms around. It might even be the most forgettable – it doesn’t get the attention of Christmas, Easter and Ash Wednesday – although the other celebrations would mean nothing without it.

Pentecost is to the church year as the Holy Spirit is to the Church as breath is to the body. A body without breath is dead.  

tendrils of last year's vines

Periodically Veterans arrive at the hospital with an ominous diagnosis, “failure to thrive.” Often, they have been here before. They left this or another hospital with reason to hope their recovery would continue. But they returned to their silent worlds and their tiny rooms where they cared for no one and no one cared for them. A dog and a television couldn’t do it for them. Sometimes the VA can find a foster care home where the gentlemen thrive. Surrendering the illusion of heroic solitude, they rejoin the human race, start caring about others, and enjoy life again.

The Holy Spirit fills our lives with the cycles of giving and receiving, which are like breathing. We inhale and exhale. One who only receives is dying, as is the one who only gives. Ordinary life is filled with giving and receiving. Much of it is like breathing, unconscious. We just naturally help each other and receive help from one another. No can remember how many times she has said, “please,” “thank you” and “you’re welcome.”

With Pentecost the Church celebrate our opportunity to give back to the Lord. We have seen his birth, watched his death and been amazed by his resurrection. We believe he has done these things for us, to gather us to himself as a shepherd gathers his sheep. Until this moment, however, we could not respond. We lacked the vitality, the breath to say Amen.

Pentecost fills our lungs with breath, our minds with words and our mouths with songs. Pentecost gathers choirs and congregations to breathe in unison as they worship.

Pentecost makes such a noise that people in the street wonder what’s going on there in the Upper Room. They want to be a part of it too. They join the crowd in droves, despite their speaking hundreds of different languages. Within a short time they are singing Hebrew words, Alleluia Amen. Joined in the Body with Christ as our head, we cry out, “This is the Day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it.”