Year B, Pentecost (May 27, 2012)

·         Ezekiel 37:1-14

·         Psalm 104:24-34, 35b (30)

·         Acts 2:1-21

·         John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Pentecost. The day when we are baptised in the Holy Spirit.

[pause]

What does that mean, exactly, being "baptised in the Holy Spirit"?

Being baptised means to be immersed in something until we take on some of its qualities. Like a dye bath. So today we are to be immersed in the Holy Spirit until we take on some of its qualities. How do we do that, and what qualities will we take on?

Let's think about the Jewish rite that became our [SQG] "baptism". In the gospel we read that John [SQG] "baptised" people in water and Jesus will [SQG] "baptise" in the Holy Spirit. But in the rite that is called Jesus's baptism, it is not John who immerses people, but the people who immerse themselves. John only calls them to repentance, and witnesses their ritual immersion in water. John doesn't touch them.

Likewise, no one will really "baptise" us in the Holy Spirit. Jesus will not immerse us in the spirit. Jesus calls us, but it is we who immerse ourselves in the Spirit, of our own free will and by our own actions.

How do we immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit? Good question. First of all, in order to immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit, we have to find it, and in order to find it we have to know what it is.

In our first reading today, we see the Spirit of God at its work, the way it is throughout the Hebrew Testament. The Spirit of God is the breath of life, and the word that creates what it declares. The Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters in the very beginning. In our Gospel reading, we see the Spirit of God in John's version. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) In French it is not called the Word but the Verb, which signifies even more the active nature of the Word, or Spirit, of God. The Word is God, but more commonly it is Christ who is called the Word; and the Spirit also is the Word, and is God, and is Christ. And if you ever read any Gnostic theology, it becomes even more convoluted than that.

John, writing in Greek, calls the Holy Spirit "Paraclete", which means the Advocate, or Helper, Comforter, Encourager, Intercessor, or "the one who is called alongside." And as John has it, the Paraclete cannot come into the world unless Christ leaves. In a sense, it's a Tyler Durden thing. Jesus is Jack. Jesus is the Holy Spirit trapped in a material world where convention matters. The Paraclete is Tyler Durden. The Holy Spirit is badass. The Holy Spirit defies convention, definition, capture, death. The Holy Spirit shakes off Jesus's narrow life as a Jewish carpenter in trouble with the law, and sends off the space monkeys to free the world from capitalism, materialism, convention, attachment to material desire, the fear of pain and death, and all the things that hold us back from being free.

In the book, by the way, unlike in the movie, Jack is removed to a psychiatric facility, but the space monkeys are at large – or are they? Only if they continue Tyler Durden's work.  Otherwise they're no longer space monkeys. So that's a very good analogy to the Holy Spirit.

All right, so the Holy Spirit is a bunch of Greek words, and also Tyler Durden. Great. That really doesn't tell us how to find the Holy Spirit to immerse ourselves in it. But then, you don't find Tyler Durden, either. Tyler Durden calls you. And the Holy Spirit calls you. John called people to the first [SQG] "baptism".  As it says in Isaiah 40:3-5:

A voice cries out in the wilderness,
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

The Holy Spirit calls us. How? As it finds us. We all hear the call of the Spirit in different ways. And if we listen and follow the voice that calls us to prepare the way of the Lord, to change the world for the glory of the Lord, then we find the Holy Spirit. And then we immerse ourselves in it.

But again, how do we immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit?

I think we have to go on a retreat. We have to go into the wilderness. We have to listen to the word of the Lord and meditate on it. We have to serve others. We have to praise the Lord and sing a new song to him. We have to deny ourselves. We have to take up our cross. While cannot be immersed both in the world and in the Spirit. So we have to renounce the world and devote ourselves to being immersed in the Holy Spirit. Jesus never suggested that we could do things halfway in following him. You take up your cross and follow him, or you can stay home. Or as Tyler Durden said, "sticking feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken." It's not a weekend seminar. You have to commit. Seriously, watch Fight Club, if you haven't already. You think it's crazy? Maybe it is. But that's what Jesus is asking you to do. Not the part about trashing franchise coffee bars. Well... Maybe that part too. But walking away from everything, living with only what you need, forsaking your identity and your will for the cause, that's what Jesus calls you to. If you couldn't be a space monkey, can you really say you've committed to the Lord?

Next question: how long do we need to be immersed in the Holy Spirit?

When we were baptised in water, most of us were not immersed at all, but if we were, we came up out of the water almost as soon as we went in. And that's about enough to be [SQG] "baptised" in water, because we don't have to be immersed in water for very long to take on some of its qualities, particularly the quality of being wet. But I don't think we can be [SQG] "baptised" in the Holy Spirit by taking a quick dip like that.

Consider the Apostles. How long were they immersed in the Spirit? They lived with Jesus three years, did they not? Three years in the presence of the Lord himself, before they completed their baptism and came up from the Spirit and were sent forth. So for us, who are not in the physical presence of Jesus Christ himself, how long do we have to immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit?

I suspect the answer is, as long as it takes. You have to remain immersed in the Holy Spirit until you take on some of its qualities. And no, it's not a weekend seminar. It's a long, long retreat. And it is difficult to stay immersed.

I can tell you when I was called. It was some time between May 3 and May 7, 2010. I know that, because the first church bulletin I have is from May 9, 2010, sixth Sunday of Easter. I was at work, in the wilderness, when I heard the voice that was calling. I heard it very clearly, and I didn't hesitate. I googled to see what churches were near me, and I saw there was a Lutheran church, and I went. The church I went to, Holy Family Lutheran Church in Yellowknife, was full of the Spirit. So I immersed myself, and I have been immersed in the Holy Spirit ever since. Sometimes it's easy to be immersed, when the world leaves me alone, and other times it's difficult to balance the world and the Spirit. But I'm still immersed. Two years and three weeks so far.

Which then begs yet another question: how do we know when we've been immersed long enough?

Well now that is a very good question. How do we know that we have taken on qualities from the Holy Spirit?

Hmmmm... Think think think.

Well, I think we need to look at what we have to do once we come up out of our immersion. In the baptism of water, we put our clothes on, walk away from the water, and carry on with our life. But in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, will we shake off the drops of Holy Spirit, clothe ourselves back in our old ways, and carry on as before?

No. If we do that, we weren't immersed long enough to take on qualities from the Holy Spirit. If we stay immersed long enough, when we come out of the immersion and walk out into the world again, we will take with us the qualities of the Holy Spirit. And first of all the Holy Spirit does not hide itself. "Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?" (Mark 4:21) Thus when the disciples completed their baptism in the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, immediately they began to speak so everyone outside could hear them. And although they had been hiding in fear of the Jews, they went out and spoke, and then they went out preaching.

Pentecost, for the disciples, was not the beginning, but the completion of their baptism. In the same way that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the shape of a dove after his baptism in water, now he descends on the disciples in the shape of tongues of fire upon their baptism in the Holy Spirit. And in the same way that Jesus's work began after his baptism in water, the work of the disciple began after their baptism in the Holy Spirit. When we have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, we will not stay silent, or stay home, but go forth and preach the good news so that all can hear.

So what does this mean for all of us here today? What does this say about our baptism?

We were baptised, most of us, as infants, others as children or even as adults. We were baptised, not even in water, but with water splashed on our heads by a human. Did the water do anything? Did the ritual mean anything? I once saw an Anglican priest baptise a stuffed Easter bunny. This [SQG] "baptism" by water may show our desire, or our parents' desire, that we be redeemed from sin by the grace that Jesus earned for us. But does it really mean anything, spiritually, when the baptised thicken on their dregs instead of serving the Lord, and when priests baptise stuffed toys?

Our baptism with water is only a beginning. It is an undertaking. From there on, we can immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit – or not. No one can [SQG] "baptise us in the Holy Spirit." Jesus calls us, and we choose. We choose to immerse ourselves, or not. Many of us, even though we call ourselves Christians and are baptised, are not choosing to immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit. Others are dipping themselves here and there, but are not taking on qualities of the Holy Spirit. Still others are still immersed in the Holy Spirit. And some come up out of the Holy Spirit and are sent forth to bring the word of God, the Spirit of God, the life-giving action of God, to the nations.

Our hymn for today: #669, Rise Up, O Saints of God