Weekly Update #11: Sunday 31 May

May 29, 2020 / admin / 2020, News

St Columba’s United Reformed Church

30 Northumberland Square | North Shields | NE30 1PW

Weekly Update #11: Sunday 31st May 2020 – Pentecost Sunday

From the Minister – Going Wild

Several months ago we stopped mowing a large circle of grass/moss in our front garden and sowed it with wildflower seeds. Initially the lawn looked as though an alien spaceship had landed on it and then taken off again. Sitting at my desk, overlooking this embryonic wildflower meadow, I have observed people walking by notice it, and comment to each other. Maybe it’s for the best that I can’t lipread. Now, at last, amidst all the tall blades of grass, some flowers are appearing. After a period of uncertainty, when things were out of our hands, something new and beautiful emerges. Let’s hope that’s true of other things in life as well.

Trevor

Pray

Pentecost God,
Pour out your Spirit upon your world,
This world of fields and flowers,
This world of human loves and fears.
Enter now this heart of mine,
That I might find beauty in your world,
Will feel your love in my heart,
And share these things with others.
Amen.

St Columba’s URC – Pentecost Sunday Worship – May 31st 2020, 10.30 a.m.

We will worship together this Sunday, including holding a virtual communion, so you might have bread and wine, or equivalents, to hand.

To participate, click on this link when the time comes to see and hear what’s happening. Alternatively, if you don’t have internet access, dial this local-rate telephone number to listen to the worship: 0131 460 1196. You can join the Zoom session starting from 10.00am on Sunday.

A copy of the order of service can be found here.

Details for joining by telephone:
Meeting ID: 844 4979 0878 Password: 585635
If a Participant ID is requested, you can skip this step by pressing # (hash).

Other Options for Worshipping at home this Sunday

Online URC audio service (https://devotions.urc.org.uk/ ) 10.00 a.m.

Radio Radio 4 Sunday Worship 8.10 a.m.

Television BBC1 Sunday Worship 11.00 a.m.
Songs of Praise 1.15 p.m.

DISCLAIMER: TV and Radio schedules can change, so check the timings are correct!

Bible readings for Sunday

From the Revised Common Lectionary

Acts 2:1-21 The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Psalm 104:24-34, 35^b The spirit of God at work in all creation
To hear a beautiful sung version of this psalm click on this link.

1 Corinthians 12:3^b-13 Many gifts of the Spirit for the body of the Church

John 20:19-23 ‘Peace be with you … receive the Holy Spirit’
A sermon by Trevor Jamison, based on the Acts 2 reading can be found here.

You can read the Bible passages online at https://www.biblegateway.com/

Reflection on the Readings

Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you … receive the Holy Spirit.’ (John 20:21, 22) Usually, we associate receiving the Holy Spirit with Pentecost, as described in Acts 2, with accompanying rushing wind and tongues of fire. It’s not that simple, however, as these verses demonstrate. Before Pentecost, even before his death and resurrection, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on his disciples. When asked to explain what’s going on at Pentecost, Peter quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel about God pouring out his Spirit upon the world. The psalm speaks of God’s Spirit at work in creation. We can’t pin down God’s Spirit. If we could then we would be able to control God. Instead, as Jesus pointed out elsewhere, God’s Spirit – God – is a wind that blows when and where it will. (John 3:8)

For further reflections and prayers relating to these readings, click here.

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

As well as being Pentecost Sunday 31^st May also marks the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-57). To hear a contemporary song that responds to that click on this link.

In his book, Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Canterbury Press, 2012), Malcolm Guite includes this poem:

The Visitation
Here is a meeting made of hidden joys
Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place
From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise
And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.
Two women on the very edge of things
Unnoticed and unknown to men of power
But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings
And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.
And Mary stands with all we call ‘too young’,
Elizabeth with all called ‘past their prime’
They sing today for all the great unsung
Women who turned eternity to time
Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth
Prophets who bring the best in us to birth

To hear the poem, read by its author click on this link.

Changes to Membership of Elders Meeting

Normally, at this time of year we would have inducted new members to the Elders Meeting, whilst others would have completed a period of service. Now Louise Charlton steps back as a serving Elder, whilst continuing in her role as Convenor of the Congregational Care team. Lesley Waugh has been co-opted to join the Elders Meeting at this time. Thanks both to Louise and Lesley for their work on behalf of the congregation.

St Columba’s Coffee and Conversation – Saturdays at
10.00 a.m.

Join the conversation on the day by clicking here.
Meeting ID: 832-0912-6069, Password: 443750

For information or help, contact Mathew Hall: 07792782647 or
mathew.hall@stcolumbas-urc.org.uk.

Online Prayer Gathering on Sunday 31st May at 6.30 p.m.

A thirty-minute opportunity for prayer together and hand it all to God, including learning a shared signed-response to some prayers.

For further information, contact Charlene Clark charleneclark@hotmail.co.uk
To join, when the time comes click here.
Password: 284193

Bible Exploration series on Jonah – Tuesday 2nd June at 7.15p.m.

3 – Jonah and the conversion of Nineveh

Meetings will be one hour long, including spending some time in smaller groups to enable better discussion.

To join the meeting, click on this link.

If you can’t join in online, don’t hesitate to contact Trevor to request a copy of a reflection and the questions relating to the reading.

Keeping in Touch

We will keep in touch with each other. Elders will have a list of members and friends to contact each week, both to provide information and to ensure that people are safe and well. You can contact your designated Elder, the Minister, or Church Secretary.

Minister: Reverend Trevor Jamison Church Secretary: Alison Drew
minister.northshieldsurc@gmail.com alison@jubileedeepdale.plus.com
0191 290 1193 07896 899538 0191 251 9774

Registered Address:

St Columba’s United Reformed Church

30 Northumberland Square

North Shields, Tyne and Wear NE30 1PW

United Kingdom

St Columba’s United Reformed Church Charity is a registered charity in England & Wales, number 1164784.

Acts 2: 1-21, Bible, environment, John 20: 19-23, Luke 1: 39-57, pentecost, prayer, worship

Sermon for Pentecost

May 28, 2020 / admin / 2020, Sermons

Acts 2: 1-21; John 15: 26-27; 16: 4^b – 15

A sermon preached by the Reverend Trevor Jamison at Penicuik North, Church of Scotland, Pentecost 2014. The occasion included presenting an Eco-Congregation award to the church. There was also the appearance of the Eco Congregation wooden baton, which passed from congregation to congregation, to encourage discussion and prayer ahead of the COP 21 inter-governmental climate change conference in Paris in December that year.

In the sermon the preacher wonders if the Holy Spirit will be able to get so many nations to agree on something, and, as it turns out, they did! How might this sermon speak into our current situation in 2020?

I’m not much of a linguist. I am happy in English and I have learned my way around a restaurant menu in French. Beyond it is a matter of isolated words, phrases and the hope that anyone I am attempting to communicate with is good at playing charades.

Even people I normally think of as multi-lingual sometimes have unexpected weaknesses. I was queuing in a McDonalds restaurant in France – for the coffee you understand – whilst the Dutch gentleman in front of me gave his food order. Knowing that a worker in a French McDonalds is unlikely to be fluent in Dutch he confidently gave her his order … in English! When she looked at him blankly, he repeated the order for her benefit, again in English, but this time … LOUDLY!

At least there would have no problems with understanding food orders on the Day of Pentecost, when Jesus’ promise to his closest disciples that, ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you’ (Acts 1: 8) was spectacularly fulfilled: a rush of violent wind, the appearance of fire resting upon each one of them, and this moment when ‘they all began to speak in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them ability.’ (2: 4) God’s Spirit obviously made a bigger impact upon them in an instant than the best efforts of high school French teachers made upon me over the course of five years.

What these Spirit-filled disciples was no gibberish (Double-Dutch you might say). Diaspora Jews – those living outside Palestine – had gathered together for the Pentecost festival. There were Parthians, Medes, Elamites and others from countries of the ancient Mediterranean world, places so exotically named that you are glad you were not the one on Bible-reading duty this morning. And they said, ‘in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ (2: 11)

Even though the great city of Jerusalem was used to visitors, as a site of religious pilgrimage, in a land criss-crossed by trade routes, this must have been an initially disruptive experience for those who were there. The arrival of the Holy Spirit, who in today’s Gospel reading Jesus refers to as an ‘Advocate’ and a ‘Spirit of Truth’ (15: 26) certainly shakes things up. I wonder if another international meeting in another capital city would benefit from a similar experience. The gathering I have in mind is the one in Paris at the end of this year; COP 21, the twenty-first Conference of the Parties, seeking to agree the measures necessary to avoid damaging changes to the planet and its inhabitants, resulting from humanly-caused climate change.

There’s no doubt that the challenge facing these representatives and the world is a huge one. When I visited the website for the Paris conference I discovered that in order to avoid a possibly catastrophic 2°C rise in the global temperature one hundred and ninety-six nations must reach a consensus agreement on a range of measures. Let’s just take a moment to ponder that: one hundred and ninety-six nations … consensus … on a range of measures. How on earth is that going to happen? What will ever get one hundred and ninety-six nations to agree on anything? And the answer is, a good dose of Pentecost Spirit!

I’m just suggesting, not making a guarantee. After all, the reason that this conference is called COP21 is that there have been twenty previous conferences which have failed to make the necessary agreements that will protect this planet and its inhabitants from the impacts of climate change. Yet don’t lose hope for, as today’s scripture readings remind us, God’s Holy Spirit inspires world-sized vision; this Holy Spirit demands world-appropriate truth; and this Spirit directs us, Jesus’ disciples, as we deliver a practical, world-protecting testimony.

Back then, when folk from all those different countries asked ‘what does this mean’ it fell to Saint Peter to stand up and present them with an explanation. His explanation is couched not in terms of how God is at work in the Church through the Spirit (though God is), but how God is at work in the world. Drawing upon the OT prophet, Joel, Peter paints a picture of humankind enlivened by the pouring out of God’s Spirit ‘ on all flesh’ (2: 17). Parents and children, male and female, young and old, slave and free – everyone on earth – they are all empowered by God’s Spirit.

If that seems wide ranging, then hold on to your hats, because Joel and Peter’s picture also includes the Spirit at work upon the rest of creation; heaven above and earth beneath, the sun and the moon, the light and the day. Our experience, our vision of the Holy Spirit at work on Pentecost and every other day of the year cannot, must not, be narrowed down to ourselves and the Church. This biblical vision is a vision for a world, and world conferences need to take note.

What a conference of parties, of one hundred and ninety six nations needs to note is the truth, for as John’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus declares that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth: ‘When the Advocate comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, he will testify on my behalf.’ (15: 26) And here’s my understanding of the truth. There will be a lot of different languages being spoken in Paris at the end of this year; perhaps even more than were heard in Jerusalem on Pentecost day, all those years ago. And it’s not just a question of languages. As well as different languages there will also be different religions, cultures and histories represented. It will be a diverse gathering, but a greater truth lies in what is shared, even in the midst of all this diversity.

From a Christian perspective there is in fact only one humankind; created by, loved by, given dignity by the one God who has created us and loves us. And, lest we get too big for our boots, we should remember that we are only one species in one God-created landscape, on one planet, existing in a vast, vast universe, created, sustained and loved by the God has made it. Take that truth on board, then much of competition between peoples on the basis of perceived self-interest gets put into its proper place. When people meeting in conference recognise that this is God’s planet; that we and they, together, are part of a people that inhabits it along with others, then agreement – consensus – on the measures required to protect the planet becomes a possibility, a need and a desire.

And the Holy Spirit, which inspires a world-sized vision, and which operates on the basis of truth, directs followers of Jesus in delivering a practical, world-protecting testimony. In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit which comes when he departs is an Advocate and a Spirit of Truth. He then goes on to talk about ‘testimony’: ‘He [the Spirit] will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.’ (15: 26^b, 27) On Pentecost day that’s exactly what Peter is doing. With people seeking explanations of strange happenings it falls to Peter to testify; not just to speak in Church – even Church ministers can do that – but to stand up in a public place and address the issue of the day out of his knowledge of God as experienced through being with Jesus.

Don’t let me stop anyone here who wants to follow Peter’s example and address a crowd in a public place in Penicuik or Paris with a sermon based on a passage from one of the less well known OT prophets. What was appropriate for a Jewish audience in the first century, however, might not be so effective with a national or international one in the twenty-first. We need to find actions and words that work for here and now, which give an effective Spirit-inspired testimony for our own time. Although it might not seem so spectacular, the good news is that we are already doing so in a number of ways.

Passing a wooden baton sends a message. The words, literally burned into it, read, “Time for Climate Justice: Churches in Scotland demand a deal in Paris, December 2015.” It’s not just words that are shared but also the action of passing it from person to person and church to church; shared in a very twenty-first century way of pictures on websites and social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Registering as an Eco Congregation is another form of testimony, as is the work done which leads to the receiving an Eco Congregation award. And think of the potential testimony about God’s creation that might come through a church-run community outreach event based around environmental concerns.

So, on this Pentecost Sunday let’s seek a Spirit-inspired vision for God’s world. Inspired by that same Spirit of Truth let’s seek to know the truth about the world and our shared place within it. And may that same Spirit of Truth, that Advocate, inspire, encourage and cajole us to share our testimony with the world, in our words and our action. All this for the sake of God’s creation and to give God the glory. Amen.

[Image credit: Eco Congregation Scotland, https://i2.wp.com/www.ecocongregationscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/baton-close-up.jpg]

Acts 2: 1-21, environment, John 15: 26-27, John 16: 4-15, pentecost

I Will Not Leave You Bereft

May 11, 2020 / admin / 2020, Sermons

Sermon by The Reverend Trevor Jamison

Saint Columba’s United Reformed Church, North Shields

John 14: 15-21; Acts 17: 22-31

Based upon a sermon preached at

Brentwood United Reformed Church, April 27^th 2008

A poem, written in 1971 by an eleven-year-old boy, looking back at his first day at school in the mid-1960s:

The first half hour

Seemed to be a

Crying match.

One girl launched

Herself at the window

When she saw

Her mother walk down the drive.

I felt the rattle of the

Window pane,

While I was leaning against

Another window.

I was alright,

My mother had assured me

She’d come back,

I only had a vague uneasiness.

TREVOR JAMISON (11)

They seem to manage things more smoothly these days, or is just that it is now much harder to identify one’s first day at school. Many children who appear for the first time at infant school already have a substantial education and childcare career under their belts, courtesy of attendance at nurseries, play groups and spending time with child minders. Perhaps they are spared that sudden feeling of being left behind by a loved one, that terror of being left bereft by someone you trust and love. Or perhaps the experience just comes to them a little earlier in life, or it builds up gradually rather than being experience of one traumatic moment.

Like a wise parent, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. In this Gospel passage he is preparing them for his death on the cross. But John’s Gospel looks beyond the cross – crucifixion and resurrection – anticipating Jesus’s return to God, the Father. Unsurprisingly the disciples are worried about what all this might mean and so Jesus reassures them, “I will not leave you bereft; I am coming back to you.” (14: 18)

Now Jesus anticipates Pentecost, speaking of his presence with the disciples in terms of an advocate who will be with the disciples for ever – the Spirit of Truth. (14: 17) How important for us today, disciples of Jesus, to feel the presence of the Spirit, a comfort, advocate and guide, in difficult times that leave many of us feeling bereft.

And we do, many of us, to some extent feel bereft, living in this land in this time. If you were been born here or grown up here you have experienced the acceleration in the pace of change that marks so many aspects of life in twenty-first century Western countries – technological, economic, and social. The older you are the more challenging it is to keep up. Each generation enters into world different from that experienced by their parents.

For others here today the shock of the new comes from having moved from our native land to a new country. People seem to have a different outlook, different practices, different beliefs to those of the land from which we have come. Change can be stimulating. Diversity can be exciting and enriching. Too much, too quickly, though, and we feel overwhelmed, bereft of the customs and rules that provided the framework which guided they ways we lived the old life.

The additional twist to these experiences is to be part of the Christian Church whose status and numbers have declined, whose standing in society has diminished. No wonder some Christians feel they have been left bereft. Either the church they have known has declined or disappeared, or the new church they have encountered in a new land seems a strange institution in comparison to the one they have left behind.

How important then to look beyond the discomfort of the present situation, comforted by the belief that wherever we are and in whatever situation, Jesus promises that he, that God, will be with us: “I will not leave you bereft; I am coming back to you.” (14: 18) Comforting words, fine words, but can they inspire us to deal with the situations we face? How helpful it is also to have a reading from the Acts of the Apostles where St Paul is having to find his way in an unfamiliar setting, relying on God’s guidance, relying on the presence of Jesus. Paul is relying on the Spirit of truth to enable able him to speak to the people around him concerning the hope that is within him.

The method that Paul employs is to make connections with Athenian society whilst at the same time remaining confident in Jesus. Paul takes a look around him and observes what is important to the Athenians – the gods. He makes this the starting point for what he has to say. He remarks that they are scrupulous, even to the point of leaving space for gods that they have not yet heard about. He takes care to speak their language, quoting their poets and philosophers in support of what he has to say. Even as he connects with others, however, Paul retains confidence in Jesus, staying true to the “God who created the world and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, [who] does not live in shrines made by human hands.” (Acts 17: 24)

Paul’s confidence is not in the church but in Jesus. There’s not actually much of a church around to be confident in at that point in the Christian story, and what there is seems to be in a state of flux and conflict. That’s a lesson for us: in a time of change and upheaval we will be best able to weather the storm if we place our ultimate confidence not in church, but in Jesus. It’s not that I think the church is unimportant, but it’s a matter of priorities.

One saying that has stayed with me and I’ve found useful in this regard comes, I think, from the 20^th century English Congregationalist, C J Cadoux. It concerns ministers and churches. He said, you can have as high a view of the ordained ministry as you like as long as you have a higher view of the church; and you can have as high a view of the church as you like as long as you have a higher view of Christ. In a time when society, the United Reformed Church, its ministry and congregations are in flux, that’s a helpful saying to remember.

Such is Paul’s confidence in Jesus that, whilst remaining aware of the need to connect with others, he is prepared to be contentious, even if it loses him part of his audience: “God has overlooked the age of ignorance”, he tells these Athenians, “but now he commands men and women everywhere to repent, because he has fixed the day on which he will have the world judged, and justly judged, by a man whom he has designated; of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (17: 30-31)

For the majority of a Greek audience, understanding the soul to be distinct from and superior to the body, this talk of bodily resurrection is the breaking point. Most depart, some scoffing, some prepared to talk again. Only a few become believers – Dionysius, Damaris and “others besides”, so at least four of them. Some people today read this passage and say, “this is where Paul went wrong”. If he had stuck to making connections rather than being contentious the speech would not have been a failure. I know Paul’s preaching will be held to a higher standard than mine (which is a considerable relief to me) but if I ever preached a sermon that resulted in four or more people coming to faith I’d regard that as an unprecedented, rip-roaring success and that I had got something right for once, not wrong.

For our time we really need to share Paul’s conviction about the continued presence of Jesus as the basis of our confidence, both to connect to the concerns of this society and to confront some of its values. In one sense our task is easier than that of Paul and in another it is harder. On the one hand this society is not completely strange to us because we live in it and are, in some sense, a part of it. On the other hand Paul spoke from one religious perspective to another one; talking of God to a religiously observant people who talked about ‘the gods’. We inhabit a society which may have its gods or idols, but these take a very different form to what we would call God and they are not part of any organised religion, so there is a greater gap to be bridged.

If you are thinking ‘that sounds a bit much for the likes of me’; if you are afraid to tackle the big evangelistic challenge that faces us, well think back to the first day of school. For some of us, that was frightening, for many a little worrying. Yet it was also the gateway to learning, exploration, imagination and being equipped to live in today’s world. Jesus tells his followers that they are not alone when facing the challenge of being faithful in a strange world; the Spirit of Truth is with us. As Paul put it on another occasion:

There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

There are varieties of service, but the same Lord.

There are varieties of activity but in all of them

and in every one the same God is active.

1 Corinthians 12: 4-6

Acts 17: 22-31, evangelism, John 14: 15-21, pentecost

Anything you Want to be?

June 10, 2019 / admin / 2019, Sermons

Sermon for Pentecost 2019 preached by the Reverend Trevor Jamison

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21

“You can be anything you want to be!” That’s what we sometimes say to children or young people about their future: “you can be anything you want to be.” Maybe someone has said it to you at some point in your life. “You can be anything you want to be,” and then we often add, “if you put your mind to it.”

And you can understand why someone would want to say that. You want to encourage a child, a teenager, or a young adult, not set their sights too low; to achieve all that they can achieve. And it’s especially important to offer that sort of encouragement, when by virtue of circumstances such as their gender, race or social standing, they are receiving a host of discouraging messages about their potential.

So, you can be anything you want to be. There are only two problems with that statement, the first of which is that it’s not true. If it was true I would have been a test-class cricketer, opening the batting for England. No amount of optimistic attitude, no application of my mind to it, no amount of practice, was ever going to overcome my lack of the essential God-given physical attributes of strength and hand-eye coordination that would make this possible. There are some things which are just meant not to be, and you need that dose of realism to put alongside optimism and ambition if you are to avoid unnecessary disappointment.

The second problem with, “you can be anything you want to be” is the more serious one. It’s ok to dream and to achieve, but what if you dream of being something that you should not be; what if you dream of doing things that should not be done? That takes us into a meditation upon the flawed human condition – one that we sometimes refer to with the word, “sin” – and it brings us to Genesis chapter eleven: the Tower of Babel.

The problem is not about aspiration as such. The problem is about some of the things to which human beings aspire. Some people today aspire to be jet pilots (another one that was never, never going to work out for me) or astronauts, or rock stars, or famous television personalities: no problem. Others, however, aspire to world domination, or to being criminal masterminds, or some more modest versions of being in charge so that you can lord it over others, or taking from others what you want for yourself. The people in Genesis eleven have those sorts of aspiration.

A nomadic people, coming from the east (11:2), they settled down, using the latest brick technology to build themselves a city. (11:3-4) But then human pride, mixed with anxiety takes hold: ‘let us make a name for ourselves, otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ (11:4) And the way in which they decide to achieve this is by building a tower which will reach all the way up into the heavens. (11:4)

Rather than depend upon God or the gods to come to them, to give them what they needed to flourish in life, they were going to take matters into their own hands; to be the ones who spanned the gap and could move back and forth between heaven and earth at will. They were going to be in charge. They were going to be gods. And then, of course, they could be anything they wanted to be!

Now you can, if you wish, read this account of the aborted building project as an historical account of an event that took place. Alternatively, and I tend in this direction myself, you can read it as tale told to help people reflect on the human condition. We aspire to great things. Often, though, these aspirations are concerned only with our own benefit. And when we aspire to do things for our own benefit then those with whom we could cooperate to do these great things – build a new city, for example – are the very ones with whom we fall out. And in our competing aspirations we end up not even being able to talk to each other.

And what happens with individuals also occurs with groups of people. Some aspire to reach the heavens, to be above everyone else, to be gods in comparison to other puny beings. Here we are today, a short while after commemorating the D-Day landings. These were a pivotal event in the struggle to liberate people from Nazism, a humanly constructed ideology which attempted to dominate the world, with claims of racial greatness, and accompanying horrific mistreatment of those they disdained; of anyone who stood in their way.

D-Day was a moment of great reversal. A militaristic, murderous, machine, imbued with a character of racist superiority – we are like gods in comparison to those others – had flowed westward, but now was being pushed back; a moment worthy celebration and thanksgiving. And D-Day comes to my mind not just because of the timing – seventy-five years and a few days after the event – but because today is Pentecost Sunday. And Pentecost is a great day and a great moment of reversal. It’s about the reversal of that situation, that condition where human flaws turn great aspirations into aspirations to dominate others and benefit self.

At the conclusion of the Babel episode, we’re told, ‘the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.’ (11:9) In contrast, the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem, as recounted in Acts chapter two, is a day of gathering in from across the earth, and of God’s activity in all the earth. To begin with, the Eleven have gathered ‘all together in place’ when the Holy Spirit comes ‘from heaven [where the tower builders had aspired to go]’ It Spirit came ‘with a sound like a rush of violent wind.’ (2:1) And this fills the house where they are sitting. More notably, people were gathering in the city from all over the world which the tower-builders of Genesis eleven had been scattered across: ‘there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.’ (2:5)

It’s the great reversal. Previously, we humankind have been dragged down, held captive, by the selfish desires and aspirations of others and ourselves. Now, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who personified living and dying for others rather than for self, a great reversal is taking place. Competing self-interests led to a Babel-babble of discordant voices, confusion and suffering across the world. Now, Peter, declares, in these new and last days, as promised, God is pouring out God’s own Spirit upon the whole world; people are filled with – inspired by – visions and dreams.

Now you don’t need me to tell you that, even after Pentecost, the world is not yet perfect. In fact, it seems still to be filled with people and groups of people who have aspirations that are all about their self-interest and using others as a means to achieve their goals. Maybe, sometimes, we ourselves act in that way. Yes, Pentecost is a moment of great reversal and that’s another way in which it’s like a heavenly D-Day; a pivotal moment that points towards a good ending but is not the end itself. There was, after all, still a lot of suffering and struggle still to take place in Western Europe after June1944 and before liberation was achieved.

In this between-times, then, between the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the reconciliation by God of all things at the end time, we still need all the help we can get in struggling with the continuing reality and impact of self-centred aspirations of others and ourselves. We need God’s presence, God’s guidance, God’s support; we need to have Jesus with us, by our side, encouraging us. And that is what Pentecost is about; a pouring out of God’s Spirit of Jesus on all the earth – including us – to advocate for us and to us, to help us, to counsel us into attitudes and actions of love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). For with the help of this Pentecost Spirit we can be anything God wants us to be.

Acts 2: 1-21, Babel, D-Day, Genesis 11: 1-9, pentecost

Pentecost Celebration

May 24, 2010 / admin / 2010

St Columba’s was the scene of a stunning Pentecost celebration.

The Christian festival takes place 50 days after Easter, and commemorates the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first disciples, and the beginning of the growth of the Church. In the Bible, Acts chapter 2 tells how the disciples were gathered in a room in Jerusalem, when they experienced something like a rush of wind and fiery flames, after which they began to spread the Gospel in other languages. Two thousand years later, the Christian message is heard in every country in the world.

The culmination of the weekend of 22 and 23 May was a joint evening service, at which we were joined by fellow Christians from Churches Together in North Shields. The church had been decorated with flowers arranged by several of the churches in the town. Displays included fiery reds and oranges as well as white of the dove of peace which is another popular representation of the Holy Spirit.

The church was so full for the celebration service that we even had some worshippers in the gallery, and the singing, led by Stuart and Paul on organ and keyboard, was powerful. As part of the service, people from various churches who had been born in other countries, brought forward national flags from places as far afield as Malaysia, India, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Estonia and Denmark, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The procession was led by children, waving streamers of red and orange that they had made earlier. Later, we said the Lord’s Prayer together in many languages, and learnt a Shona worship song from Zimbabwe.

Our minister, Revd Liz Blair, led the service, explaining that although we came together from different churches and cultures, we were united by our faith in Jesus Christ. She went on to talk further about the Holy Spirit, reflecting on her own experience of God through her life, and pointing to the need to be open to listen and to change.

Old friendships were renewed, and new ones begun over coffee, tea, biscuits and birthday cake in the hall afterwards. As Liz explained, Pentecost is in many ways the birthday of the church.