Pentecost & The Killing of George Floyd

[This article was originally published for BreakPoint and you can find it here.]

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life – come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One. – Eastern Orthodox Prayer

This past Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost for many Christians around the world. It’s the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit’s descent. At my church there were assigned prayers and readings that reflect upon the meaning of Pentecost. Usually, (outside of a global pandemic) everyone wears clothes of red, the liturgical color that symbolizes the Holy Spirit, as in red tongues of fire. It’s also one of the five feast days when, ordinarily, the sacrament of Baptism is celebrated. This fact invites us to reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation.

Looking over the prayers and readings for Sunday, one Pentecost theme stands out above all others: The Holy Spirit reunifies a divided humanity. This theme is clear in the fundamental story of Pentecost found in Acts 2. When the Holy Spirit comes, the division of humanity that occurred at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is reversed. From chaotic division to gospel unity. That’s what the Holy Spirit does.

On Pentecost Sunday, our worship reflects this theme explicitly, over and over again. We begin our service with these words:

Celebrant: There is one Body and one Spirit;

People: There is one hope in God’s call to us;

Celebrant: One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;

People: One God and Father of all. 

– The Book of Common Prayer (BCP), 299.

Then the Priest prays the prayer of the day:

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen. – BCP, 227.

Then we have the Acts 2 reading, followed later by the renewal of baptismal vows when we are asked:

Celebrant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? 

People: I will, with God’s help.  – BCP, 417.

Friends, this is not only the providence of God on display, it is the counter-cultural nature of Christian worship at its best. This Sunday we were invited to reenact God’s story in such a way that we remember His vision for a redeemed humanity, one where “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).”

We are called to grieve how far from this vision our sinful divisions have taken us. And we will sing, pray, and long for the fulfillment of that vision once again.

In other words, in this Feast of Pentecost, Christians around the world can grieve a world in which George Floyd has died, yearn for a world where racism and all other human divisions are no more, and expect the comfort and assistance toward this end that only God, the Holy Spirit, can bring.

This is the world that awaits, where “the songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood” because “Jesus out of ev’ry nation has redeemed us by His blood.” (William Dix, Alleluia Sing to Jesus).

Longing, Joy, & Hope: The Seasons of Advent and Christmas

Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.  We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.  We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.  We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.  We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.  We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.  To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus." Amen. -Henri Nouwen

“The Nativity Of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” Rublev.

Liturgical Season

Christian worship is fundamentally about union with God.  That is, God gives himself to us in worship.  And as we receive him- not merely by hearing his word, or making mental assent to a set of doctrines about him, but as we eat and drink him in Holy Eucharist- we are transformed into the image of Christ, unified with God, and brought into the very life of the Trinity!  And all of this happens by his grace, mysteriously, every time we gather to sing and praise, pray and preach, confess sin, receive absolution, share in the peace of Christ, and celebrate the sacraments.  This is Christian worship!

One of the unique ways the Church has learned to open herself up to the transformation that God offers, is through the observance of different liturgical seasons.  Basically, the Church says "Christians, let your worship of God be so pervasive and defining of your identity that even your calendars remind you of the gospel."

I love this!  And I find the observance of the liturgical calendar to be one of the most beneficial practices in my relationship with God.

Currently we are in the season of Advent, coming upon the season of Christmastide.  Let's use these as examples of how God shapes us in worship.  We'll ask: what parts of our human identity will be brought into union with God by Advent and Christmas?  I see three ideas here: Advent teaches us to be aware of our existential longings, and to point them in the right direction (toward Christ).  And Christmas- Christmas reminds us that union with God is a reality of joy and hope.  It is the fulfillment of our human longing!  The two liturgical seasons work together in this way.

Advent: Longing

In Advent we set out on a journey.  It's a journey of LONGING.  In the hymns and collects (prayers), the assigned scripture readings, the greenery around the church, and the progressive lighting of the Advent candles, we rehearse the plight of Israel in the First Testament as they waited for their Messiah to come and rescue them from slavery and oppression.  So we sing hymns with lyrics like this:

O Come, O come, Emmanuel, to ransom captive Israel.

Of course, the Messiah did come!  And so our longing during Advent is actually directed in large part toward the second coming of Christ!  It is a season layered with meaning and truth.  This is why sing:

Lo! He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain; Thousand thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God appears on earth to reign.

Even the colors of Christian worship help us tell the story of the gospel.  During Advent you'll see purple and blue vestments and linens around the church.  Purple is the color of royalty, but also of lament and repentance (purple is also used during Lent).  Blue is used in some churches, and it represents the anticipation of the season, like the deep blue color of the sky, just before dawn.  It is also the color of the Blessed Virgin in Christian iconography.

So the colors blue and purple remind us that, in Advent, we are longing and lamenting, waiting with anticipation, making repentant preparations for a Savior-King!  We don't have to leave our longings at the door of the church.  We can bring them with us to worship, knowing that God desires to meet and fulfill them in his coming.

Henri Nouwen, in his monastic diary, gives us these words about longing: "An important part of the spiritual life is to keep longing, waiting, hoping, expecting. In the long run, some voluntary penance becomes necessary to help us remember that we are not yet fulfilled. A good criticism, a frustrating day, an empty stomach, or tired eyes might help to awaken our expectation and deepen our prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, come. (Henri Nouwen, The Genesee Diary).

Cathedral Church of Saint Luke, Orlando, FL

Christmastide: Joy and Hope

Then?  Christmas comes!  The blue and purple vestments and linens turn to gold and white, colors of celebration, joy, and light.  The dawn from on high has broken upon us!  The Church celebrates Christmas not with a single day, but with an entire season called Christmastide- twelve days of reveling in God's coming.  This means that, even when the stores take down their decorations on the 26th of December, Christians continue to linger in the joyful mystery of the incarnation.  Christmastide is an exuberant and vibrant time of worship as God shapes us into a people characterized by joy and hope.

The emotional uplift that comes with Christmas shouldn't be missed in the sentimentality of the moment.  We need to lean into the joy of Christmas just as we did the longing of Advent!  In a world as broken as ours, joy and hope are precious realities that can sometimes be covered up in the Advent waiting.  Christmas gives voice to the truth, at least once every year, that our ultimate destiny in union with God is joy, hope, and fulfillment.

So my prayer for all of us during this season of Advent and Christmas is that, through the self-giving of God in Christian worship, we may become a people who know our longings, and know the hope and joy that comes with the God who fills them with himself.

- Josh Bales