As you all know, it’s the usual practice at both St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s to mark the birthdays of our members by singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them on the Sunday nearest their birthdays. And, if we were in church today, we’d have a ‘Happy Birthday’ to sing. Not necessarily for any of our members, but one for all our members regardless of their date of birth, and indeed, one  for all members of the Church, regardless of where they are, because today, Pentecost Sunday, is seen as the birthday of the Church herself. But the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday is cause to celebrate far more than the birth of the Church, for all of us, because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples, was a sign of their, and our, adoption as children of God.

I’m sure we all know the story of Jesus’ baptism. When he was baptised, after he rose from the water, the Holy Spirit came to rest on Jesus and a voice from heaven was heard to proclaim him as God’s “beloved Son”. And in one sense, that gives us a claim to be God’s children too because we believe that we’re all brothers and sisters of Jesus by virtue of his Incarnation: we’re his brothers and sisters ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. But the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signifies that we’re God’s children in a very powerful way because now, not only do we share ‘the flesh’, our humanity, with Jesus, we share his Spirit too; we share that same Spirit that descended on him at his baptism and caused him to be proclaimed as God’s Son.

But being God’s children and sharing in Jesus’ Spirit is something of a two-edged sword. The coming of the Holy Spirit not only gave us the great privilege of being able to call ourselves God’s children, it also empowered the Church and gave us the privilege of being able to proclaim the Gospel and to continue Jesus’ work on earth, to share in the on-going work of salvation. But, of course, having been given these great privileges and such empowerment, we’re expected to do something about it! We’re expected to see these things as privileges and to use the power of the Holy Spirit that we’ve been given for the purpose it was given.

There’s no doubt that we, in the Church today, have been given the Holy Spirit. In our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning St Paul says that,

“… no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.”

and all of us, in the Church, do acclaim Jesus as our Lord. So, unless we’re just paying lip service to that acclamation, and don’t really believe it or mean it, there’s no doubt that we have been given the Holy Spirit. And that being the case, nor can there be any doubt either, that we’ve been empowered to proclaim the Gospel and continue Jesus’ work, nor that we have been given the Spiritual gifts to enable us to do that.

But, having said that, I do know that many people in the Church, whilst they don’t doubt that gifts have been given to some people in the Church to enable them to carry out this great privilege and commission, do doubt that they have much, if anything, to offer to the Church in the way of gifts. But this is simply not true. We have all been given a share in the Holy Spirit and so we must all have been empowered, in some way, to play a part in Jesus’ on-going work in the world.  That’s summed up in the words of St Paul that we read this morning:

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Whilst it’s true that not all have been given the gifts that St Paul mentions here:

“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”

he mentions many other Spiritual gifts elsewhere in his letters; the gifts of being an Apostle, of teaching, of being a shepherd, of exhorting or encouraging, of leading, of serving and helping, of administrating, of giving and the gift of showing mercy. There are many activities that fall under these categories of Spiritual gifts and we’ll all have been given at least one of these gifts, and probably more than one. We might not see some of the more prosaic gifts as Spiritual because many people outside the Church have them, but all we have comes from God, so they are Spiritual gifts. Whether we acknowledge and use them as such, is up to us. But one sure sign that we are using our Spiritual gifts in the right way, whatever they may be, is that we’re using them in the service of God and the Church. That is a sign of faith and faith itself is a Spiritual gift. Faith is the Spiritual gift that enables us to use all our other gifts in the right way, to be about Jesus’ work and to build up the Church, rather than using them selfishly and purely for our own benefit.

So, on this Pentecost Sunday, as we wish the Church a ‘Happy Birthday’, let’s also give thanks to God for allowing us the great privileges of sharing in his Holy Spirit, of being able to see and call ourselves his children, and of sharing in the great, on-going work of Jesus in the world. And let’s take some time too, to think and pray about the Spiritual gifts we’ve each been given, and the best way to use them. Whatever our gifts are, whether they are what St Paul calls the “higher gifts” or they’re more prosaic, everyday abilities, God has given them to us to use in his service and for the building up of the Church.  As St Paul explains very clearly, the ‘lower’ gifts are just as important in the Church as the ‘higher’ gifts, and the Church needs them all. And, as we look forward to the time, hopefully not too far away now, when we can return to church, that need for all our members, using all their Spiritual gifts, whatever they may be, will be a great one, as we look to rebuild after so many months away from our churches.

Amen.

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You will find the Propers for Pentecost here.

This week, we’ve all been reminded, through the media, that it’s now 3 years since the terrorist atrocity at the Manchester Arena which cost the lives of 22 people and injured hundreds more. Those whose loved-ones were killed or injured, or who were themselves injured or caught up in some way in this evil act, would need no reminding of it of course, and perhaps even for us, it’s something that never goes too far from our minds because it happened just a few miles away from our homes, in a city I’m sure we all know so well.  Perhaps what’s not so well remembered in this country, however, is that just a few days after the Manchester Arena atrocity, over 50 Coptic Christians, including some pre-school aged children, were gunned down, 28 of them fatally, in an attack by terrorist gunmen on a Church outing in Egypt.

Happening when they did, in late May 2017, these two terrorist mass-murders took place shortly after my induction as vicar of St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s and so, for me, these events invariably come to mind whenever I’m asked or think about how long I’ve been here as vicar. Indeed, I spoke about them in my sermon on my second Sunday as vicar of the benefice. At that time, I remember that a number of people commented that it can’t have been easy to have such a terrible, local event as the Manchester Arena bombing happen so soon after my induction and, of course, it wasn’t. But it’s not easy whenever things like this, or tragedies of any kind happen. And, unfortunately, tragedies and life-changing events do happen, and they happen perhaps more regularly than we often realise.

When I was inducted at St Mark’s on 18^th May 2017, who could have suspected that, within a week, a terrorist atrocity would have occurred so close to home, in Manchester, closely followed by another, perpetrated against fellow Christians in Egypt? And if these events were unexpected tragedies to us, how much more unexpected, tragic, and life-changing were they for those innocent people caught-up in them?

On a more personal note, in October 2018, my late wife, Diane, and I were busy planning a second honeymoon in Cyprus to coincide with our wedding anniversary in May 2019, little realising that, just over a week later, she would die from an illness completely unrelated to the cancer we knew she had.

And on Ash Wednesday this year, as we began the season of Lent, planning for Holy Week and looking forward to Easter, who of us could have suspected that, within a few weeks, our churches would have been shut down and we would have to keep Holy Week and celebrate Easter, without being able to come together in church for worship because of a global pandemic? And, whilst we all hope and pray that our churches will be open again soon, at this time, we simply don’t know when that will happen.

These are three events that have happened during my three years as vicar of the benefice. And if we think about these things, and others that may have happened in the world and in our own lives during that time, we soon realise that we can all be very easily and unexpectedly caught up in tragic and life-changing situations. These situations may affect some people, in certain places, they may just affect us, personally, or they may affect all people, everywhere. And if we think about these things, it teaches us that nothing in life is certain; we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or even later today.

But, even if we can’t ever be sure of what’s going to happen in the world or in our lives, one thing we, as Christians, are sure of, is that we’re called to remain faithful to Christ, whatever happens in the world or in our lives.

That can be a very difficult thing for us to do when we see the evil in the world, and when we’re going through particularly tough or tragic times ourselves, but we can take heart form the fact that we’re not going through things that Jesus hasn’t already gone through too. We can take heart from the fact that Jesus completely understands the evil in the world and the tragedy that human life can bring, because he experienced those things for himself. And we can take heart from the fact that, having experienced the evil in the world and the tragedy of human life, and understanding those things so well himself, he prays for us to the Father, so that we might be strengthened to remain faithful when we see and experience evil ourselves and when difficult times come and tragedy strikes.

Last Thursday was Ascension Day, the day when we celebrate Jesus’ return to the Father to begin his reign as our heavenly Lord and King, and the start of his role as our heavenly intercessor, the one who prays, constantly, on our behalf to the Father. But notwithstanding that it took place before Jesus’ Ascension, we can see something of Jesus in his role as our heavenly intercessor in this morning’s Gospel.

Although, at this time, Jesus was still with his disciples on earth, he prays to the Father as though he were in heaven, and he prays for his disciples who are in the world.

“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”

And if we read on, we find that what Jesus is praying to the Father for specifically, is that his disciples in the world may be true to the Father and saved from the evil one. In other words, that his disciples may be faithful and not led astray and into evil by the world in which they, and we, must live.

And it’s by remaining faithful, whatever happens in the world or in our lives, that we glorify Jesus. In remaining faithful to Jesus, we remain faithful to the Father, just as Jesus remained faithful to the Father, regardless of what happened to him, during his earthly life. And so, by remaining faithful, we show to the world what Jesus showed to the world during his earthly life and ministry. And we don’t do this for our own glory because we don’t do it in our own name: we do it in Jesus’ name, because we are Christians and we are his disciples. And so, we give him the glory.

As we recall the tragic and life-changing events that have happened in the world and in our lives, it’s right that we should remember and pray for the victims of these events. But we should also remember to pray for ourselves too. We should remember to pray for the strength to remain faithful to the Gospel in the face of such things and of the evil that may have caused them. And we should never forget that we don’t pray for this alone. Our prayers are joined to those of Jesus, our heavenly intercessor. His own words recorded in the Gospels tell us that the Father always hears him when he prays, and we know he prays to the Father that we might remain faithful in the world.

Amen.

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You will find the Propers for the Seventh Sunday of Easter here.