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The Day of Pentecost – May 15, 2005 John 7:37-39
Today is the Day of Pentecost. It is an unusual festival in the Church year. It is a day about the Holy Spirit. It is a day about promises kept and promises to keep.
Let’s begin with promises kept.
God kept the promises made. First there was the promise of salvation, so in the cross of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, God gives us life, now and forever. And it is Jesus himself who promised the Holy Spirit would be given and you know from the lessons read today, indeed that happened.
Promises kept.
When you are the recipient of kept promises the experience transforms your life.
This couple had stood before the altar of God and made marital promises…the “have and hold” variety. Along the way in these promises came the words, “in sickness and in health…” Then he became deathly ill with infectious hepatitis. His loving spouse had to care for him. To avoid becoming ill also, she carefully washed her hands over and over as she cared for him. She washed them until they cracked open and bled.
A promise kept.
It wasn’t convenient, it was hard and difficult. The challenge at times was overbearing. She had, though, said, “in sickness and in health…” And she meant it.
You are never the same after someone cares for you so completely that they disregard themselves.
It is a moment in time that clarifies what the cross means. There, Jesus nailed to the cross bled for all of us. So completely did he disregard himself that he died on that cross. God was not finished, though, and from the dead Jesus did rise, the first fruits of the saints of God’s making.
Now, today, we learn again that God was not finished even in the resurrection. No, today God comes to care for us again, to go from hands that bled to a Spirit that grants us faith and kindles our life in God and our love for God and one another.
Promises kept. Lives transformed.
Our lives are transformed because we can see today that God continually seeks us, to love us unconditionally and to mercifully forgive us all our sin. From creation to the cross to the gift of the Holy Spirit, God is acting for you and for me. God is seeking us, granting faith and strengthening us to serve in love. In light of this seeking love, we can never be the same. We are transformed into the saints of God, faithfully inflamed by the Holy Spirit to be the hands and feet that serve.
Promises kept. Lives transformed. God at work.
And your mother is right. You need to wash. Indeed, in the waters of Holy Baptism we are washed and made children of God, fully forgiven and called to be witnesses to the transforming love that comes in the Holy Spirit. It was in the waters of Holy Baptism that our journey with God began. It was there that God first made promises to us: to forgive our sin, to deliver us from death, and to grant us salvation. Washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, we are transformed to disciples, eager learners who in turn invite others to join with us, saying, “Come and see.”
Transformed lives in the water of Holy Baptism are lives able to make new promises, promises to keep. Today four of our young people will make promises as they affirm their baptisms. I would encourage you to silently and quietly join them and renew the promises you have made.
You remember: the promises made in the covenant of Holy Baptism…
“to live among God’s faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?”
Because God kept promises made eternally, the Holy Spirit inspires and enables us to keep these promises in our future. And all of us; not just the newly confirmed are able to keep these promises.
Perhaps we live out these promises as we honor our spouse. Perhaps we live them out with the stranger who immigrated from another continent. Perhaps we live out our promises by listening to the neighbor next door. Perhaps we live our promises by remembering another in prayer. Perhaps we live our promises by inviting another to worship with us. Perhaps we live our promises in so many different ways.
These are promises kept and promises to keep. Today is the day of the Holy Spirit; God nurturing and strengthening us for serving. Never fear God is with you in the Holy Spirit that you may be faithful.
Promises kept; Promises to keep. God is faithful. By God’s grace, so are we. Amen.
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