Day of Pentecost (Whit Sunday)
Tongues
(The reading from Acts must be used as either the first or second reading.)
Acts 2:1—21 The day of Pentecost; or Num. 11:24—30 The elders receive
the Spirit; Ps. 104:26—36, 37b The Spirit in creation; 1 Cor. 12:3b—13
Different gifts, one Spirit; John 20:19—23 Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit;
or John 7:37—39 Living water of the Spirit
'There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ' 1 Corinthians
12:4 The Holy Bird
A missionary was talking to an enquirer about the Holy Spirit, and used
the Greek word Paraclete, usually translated as ‘Comforter' or ‘Advocate'.
The enquirer misunderstood him. ‘First you tell me God appeared as
a dove,' he said, ‘then I see there's a brass eagle at the front
of your church; and now you tell me God's a parakeet! Holy Father I understand,
Holy Son I understand, but Holy Bird I can't understand.'
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit's a difficult idea to grasp. But the Holy Spirit's not
a theory; the Holy Spirit's an experience. St Paul tells us to look at
what the Holy Spirit has done in our own lives. If you talk to some people
about what it means to be a Christian, the excitement comes bubbling out
of them. ‘When I realized I was a Christian,' they say, ‘I found
I could do things which I never thought I could: I could keep my temper,
stop drinking when I've had enough, stop arguing with my family, tell
a friend about Jesus, give a talk to a group of people, and I could pray.
Before, I couldn't do any of these things.'
God working through people
We can all do these things, and many even more wonderful things, not
through our own power, but through God's power. If you want a short simple
definition, memorize this phrase: ‘The Holy Spirit is God working
through people.' The experience of the first converts was this: God was
using ordinary people to change the world. This gave them enormous self-confidence,
or, rather, ‘God-confidence'.
Prayer in the Spirit
They found, and people still find today, that they could pray. Hear
one Christian, just like you, describe it: ‘I used to kneel by my
bed and wonder what words to use. Then I discovered that Jesus is my friend,
and now my conversation with him just comes tumbling out of my mouth.'
In fact, when you open yourself to the Holy Spirit, sometimes the words
come so fast they all run together, and looking back you can't remember
what you said, only that God was in you, praying through you. St Paul
wrote: ‘The Spirit prays within us with yearnings too deep for words.'
Tongues
When this happened, at first, the early Christians thought it was a
foreign tongue. Like when Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost and everybody
understood him. That hasn't happened very often since. Then they thought
it might be the language or tongue that angels speak. So they called this
experience of the Holy Spirit speaking through their mouths, ‘speaking
in tongues'. You'll find this mentioned in the Bible, and may puzzle what
it means. Ecstatic utterance, or ‘holy babbling', still happens,
when people are praying on their own, or together with others. For those
who are blessed with the gift of praying in tongues, it gives God-confidence:
if God can speak through me like that, he could do through me anything
he wants.
Tolerance
Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit. St Paul wrote: ‘I
thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.' But many Christians
didn't have this gift; they had others instead. So he wrote: ‘There
are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.' Yet some of the Christians
in Corinth started to say that their particular gift was the best; anyone
who couldn't do what they did wasn't a real Christian. That's a cruel
thing to say to anyone. St Paul told the Corinthians that without love,
which binds Christians together in tolerance, ‘though I speak with
the tongues of men or of angels, I am an empty gong', all noise and no
content. The gift of tongues is being used today, in the Pentecostal and
Charismatic churches, but also by many individuals in their private prayers.
If you have it, thank God; if you haven't, don't worry. Love and tolerance
are far more important. But remember that the Holy Spirit is there for
you: open your heart to God, let him take control, and there's no limit
to what God can do through you. Yes, even you.
All-age worship
Ask God to help you to pray. Then write down the words you would like
to say to God, and read them out loud.
Suggested hymns
Come down, 0 Love divine; Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost; Spirit of holiness,
wisdom and faith fulness; Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
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