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PENTECOST SUNDAY

Pentecost Sunday ushers in growth-green summer, recalls the fiery flames of Acts 2, and celebrates the Spirit’s work among us. Pentecost has a long history that winds back through Christian and Jewish lore but anticipates the future as it acclaims the activity of God on the earth. And what’s more, it seems that the Spirit makes special visits to those beyond hope (Ez. 37) and those who yearn for a new identity (Acts 2). On this day some of the most memorable visions and images will make their cameo appearance in the lectern-the Valley of Dry Bones, the Day of Pentecost with it’s untamed eruption of fire, wind, and tongues, and the intimate conversation about the Spirit as Comforter. Enjoy this high day of the church and proclaim boldly and raucously the Spirit’s work in our lives!

Ezekiel 37:1-14-Resurrection in the Valley

Today we enter the world of Ezekiel, son of Buzi, a Judean priest who, along with his upper-crust compatriots, was exiled to Babylonia in 597 bce. Ezekiel writes in a time of national death, his message, however, becomes a message of hope; it is a confession of assurance that God will yet restore his people. In this famous chapter, Ezekiel depicts Israel as a gargantuan bone bag of desiccated skeletal remains that fill the valley after some disastrous battle. What metaphor could be more hopeless? Yet the prophet is commanded to speak ruach or spirit to the graveyard. In the vision, the bones regather and reconnect and the meaning is clear: this people will yet be raised to become new and enlivened people of God. Veni spiritu. Welcome, Holy Spirit, our Lord and Giver of Life.

Acts 2:1-21-New Israel

In Israel the feast of Pentecost-at least in later times-was the celebration of the giving of the Torah on Sinai. At the core of the celebration was the covenant that gave them identity that constituted them a people. Pentecost then became the feast for the celebration of New Israel. Our lesson includes quite biblical signs and symbols of God’s active presence: wind and fire. With the detail of the "tongues" of fire, Luke may point to The New Israel who would witness to God’s living presence through proclamation. The preaching of the new People of God on Pentecost launched the Church’s mission to the world-to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15-Welcoming the Paracletos

"But I will send you the Comforter-the Advocate, Teacher, Helper, Intercessor-or Spirit of truth . . ." (v. 26). Such is the way the writer of the Fourth Gospel describes the Spirit’s work. The word paraclete/paracletos is intriguing and aloof. Through this word and its context, we glimpse a theology of the Spirit that is completely absent in the synoptic tradition. The Spirit’s activity is even more developed and detailed in the 16th chapter where the Spirit will work toward a tri-fold objective: to "prove the world wrong about sin, justice, and judgment" (REB, 16:8). But to the faith community, the Spirit will guide them into truth and glorify Christ.