The Day of Pentecost (Whitsunday) (Year A), May 11, 2008
BCP: Acts 2:1-11 or Ezek. 11:17-20; Psalm 104:25-37 or 104:25-32 or 33:12-15,
18-22; 1 Cor. 12:4-13 or Acts 2:1-11; John 20:19-23 or John 14:8-17
RCL: Acts 2:1-21 or Num. 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37b; 1 Cor. 12:3b-13 or
Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
 
The Torah underscores the value of multiple corroborating witnesses in establishing the truth in a legal case (Deut. 19:15). In this tradition, the fact of God’s presence in the Church on the day of Pentecost is proved “beyond a reasonable doubt” by three separate biblically based witnesses, each well known to the Jews present.
 
There’s the sound of the rushing wind, reminiscent of God’s presence when “the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). There are non-consuming tongues of flame, through which the divine presence was made known to Moses on Mount Horeb (Exod. 3:2). And there’s the variety of languages being spoken, the witness to the presence of the Lord at Babel (Gen. 11:9). God’s Spirit has most certainly arrived!
 
Yet it isn’t the undeniable fact that God’s Spirit has “shown up” that gives Pentecost its ultimate meaning. The Spirit has come not just for a day or a season. The Spirit shall abide in the Church until the close of this age. It is the abiding presence of the Spirit which constitutes the Christian community as the very body of the risen Christ in the world. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” Paul writes, “and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).
 
For the proper functioning of the Church as Christ’s body, the Spirit provides individual gifts to its various members. These gifts “are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses,” we’re assured. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (12:11-12).
 
There’s no such thing as a “lone ranger” Christian. Today’s readings make it clear that that Spirit has come to the Church as a whole, enabling and empowering us collectively to be Christ’s risen body.
 
Look It Up
What are some of the gifts of the Spirit envisioned by the prophet Joel (2:28-32)? How do they relate to those identified by the apostle Paul?
 
Think About It
In what ways are various gifts of the Spirit expressed liturgically in Christian worship today?
 
Next Sunday
The First Sunday After Pentecost: Trinity Sunday (Year A), May 18, 2008
BCP: Gen. 1:1–2:3; Psalm 150 or Canticle 2 or 13; 2 Cor. (5-10)11-14; Matt. 28:16-20.
RCL: Gen. 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8 or Canticle 2 or 13; 2 Cor. 13:11-13; Matt. 28:16-20