Each year when Pentecost rolls around, I brace myself for images from churches all over the world: fire eaters, doves on sticks, streamers, spirit sticks, swathes of red. On the one hand, it is fitting that one of the seven principal feasts of the Church year receives such attention. On the other hand, I wonder whether our Pentecost theatrics can be a cover for avoiding what Pentecost is really about. Are we, in truth, afraid of the Holy Spirit’s power? If so, then hoisting doves into the air and throwing confetti are just ways of avoiding the scary task of looking within our souls to see where the Holy Spirit is trying to get in. I know all too well how easy it is to try to evade the Spirit’s convicting power. What about you? Do you find it easier to throw a birthday party for the Church than to open the dusty crevices of your heart to the Holy Spirit?
Many of us—and particularly Episcopalians—are wary of charismatic Christianity, and perhaps for good reason, since there have been numerous abuses of the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues. These are not visible signs of God’s special favor for certain individuals, but rather, they are genuine gifts intended to build up the Church. But is defiant suspicion of such gifts only another excuse for refusing to yield personal control? There is no question that when we are dealing with the Holy Spirit, we are not in control.
While this may be terrifying, it is also liberating, encouraging, awe-inspiring, and hopeful. I have frequently asked myself why the baptism of thousands of people in one day, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, is unheard of in the twenty-first century. If we look around, it might seem as if the Holy Spirit is dormant or has given up on us. But this is not true. The Holy Spirit is like a magnetic force field hovering around us, but the magnetic pull of our own egos and the idol worship of our culture is like an opposing magnetic field keeping the Spirit at bay.
As we celebrate the Day of Pentecost this coming Sunday, we will celebrate this great feast with a procession at the beginning of Sung Mass and with the full richness of Anglo-Catholic ritual. And yet the challenge will be not to evade the true meaning of the feast through the observance of mere ritual. Every day of our lives is a day of Pentecost. Every day is an invitation to be honest about the gifts we have all been given for the building up of God’s kingdom on earth and for the spreading of the good news to the ends of the earth.
I have said this before, but I will say it again, because it can’t be emphasized strongly enough. Each of us has been given particular gifts by God. That is a fact. In the Church, we call them spiritual gifts. Some of these gifts will be used in our daily work and occupations. But the oft-neglected arena for using these gifts is the Church. So many demands are made on our time outside the Church. The job market and the rhythm of our daily lives are hungry beasts that will never stop making demands on our time. This will easily lead to burnout.
But the Church’s call to us—we might say the demand the Church makes on us—is different. God expects that we will use the gifts he has given us for the strengthening of the Church. When we properly discern the gifts God has given us to use in his Church, our use of them will never burn us out. While our jobs and daily lives expect that each of us must fill a standard mold of “never enough,” St. Paul tells us that the Body of Christ only functions effectively when the specific gifts of everyone are used so that all are working together. This prevents burnout. Here’s the good news: each of us does not have all of the Spirit’s gifts, and each of us never will. Isn’t that freeing? The Body of Christ only flourishes and thrives when all of us work together. It’s not a competition. It’s not an individual contest. It’s a collaborative effort, fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The mission to which God is calling the Church of the Good Shepherd is clarifying because we are prayerfully attending to the gifts present in this community. Careful discernment of such gifts is how we know the ministries that should be established in this parish. But this parish will only continue to grow and thrive if more of us use our gifts for the well-being of the Church. None of us is insignificant here. God asks for more of us than attendance on Sundays at Mass. Worship is only the beginning of what God has in store for us. Outside the Church, we may be written off, bullied, or dismissed as ineffective, but God says that every single one of us is necessary for the kingdom to flourish. And perhaps the current state of the Church is proof that too many spiritual gifts are lying dormant and untapped. How can we be a different example at Good Shepherd?
If you are not yet sharing and offering your spiritual gifts for ministry at Good Shepherd, I pray that you will consider doing so. Indeed, God expects that you will, because we need what you have to offer! If you would like assistance in discerning your own spiritual gifts, I would be delighted to help you. There is no “gifted and talented” echelon in the Church. Every single one of us is gifted and talented. Now, that’s something to celebrate.
Your in Christ,
Father Kyle