In 1956 my father set out to translate the New Testament into the language of the Tsachi people of Ecuador. Their language had never been written down before, it didn’t even have an alphabet. Dad used an old battery-operated, reel-to-reel tape recorder to record their language, analyze it and learn to speak it. That bulky, boxy machine was of great interest to the Indians. One old man tried to peer into it to see the tiny Tsachi man that he was convinced was inside. Another old woman, after hearing her own voice played back to her, pronounced with satisfaction: “That is how Tsafiqui is supposed to be spoken!"

Today is Pentecost Sunday. The Holy Spirit in the Church is very much like that old reel-to-reel tape recorder. The power of the Spirit is the electricity emitted by the batteries, the gifts of the Spirit are the ability of the machine to record sounds and replay them, and the effect of the Spirit is the Scriptures in the Tsafiqui language.

The power of the Spirit is the electricity in the Church. Electricity has power to do a lot of things: Squirrels chewed through wiring in two of our family’s houses this winter. The released energy caused house-fires both times. On the other hand, my mother wears a brand new pacemaker. Tiny amounts of electricity spur her heart to beat in union with itself, increasing quality and quantity of life. The Holy Spirit can be thought of as divine energy. On that first Pentecost day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles the air was electric with divine power was at work—but I can just see Matthew, the tax collector, the one who knew rules and procedures, saying, “We’ve never done it this way before!” When we even think those 7 deadliest words in any church, (“We’ve never done it that way before,” or their corollary, “We’ve always done it that way before!”) I believe the Holy Spirit takes it as a personal challenge. He will convict our pride until we let Him have His way in His church. But when we seek Him with a humble heart we see the power of God in our midst: Words of wisdom spoken at the right time, words of knowledge that reveal the hidden, healings and powerful prayer, moving worship, folks coming into relationship with God in Jesus Christ, folks helped out in their time of need. Oh, that we would see more of that power of God, even if it costs us our pride!

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the abilities of God’s people to do God’s work. That tape recorder was made up of many pieces. The microphone took vibrations of sound and changed them into modulations of electric current. Those modulations were fed through an electromagnet that traced the same pattern in electric charges on magnetic tape. Then the motor pulled the tape back through the magnets again, sending the modulations through speakers that emitted the sound of one’s voice. None of it could work without each part doing its thing. The Holy Spirit creates modulations of the human spirit producing words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, evangelism, preaching and teaching, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment and tongues. They are all components in God’s heavenly tape recorder meant to reproduce a faithful recording of God’s Word, Jesus Christ, in our world. Our Outreach Program picks up the vibrations of the human condition like a microphone. The power of the Spirit draws us together like magnets into empathetic sharing, transforming us through our Education program, writing on our hearts the pattern of humanity in the light of the story of Jesus through Fellowship and Worship, then pulling us back through the magnets of God’s love into the world again to speak His Word of healing and mercy. But we cannot do it alone, each person’s contribution makes their particular component function, and all components together present back to the world the message of God’s love.

My father is the world’s leading linguist on the Tsafiqui language. Based on his knowledge gained with that little machine the New Testament exists in that language. In the same way, the effect of the Spirit’s presence among us is the end goal, and that goal is a holy priesthood of believers. Jesus says in the Gospel lesson today: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you…Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any they are retained.” In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus instructs us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Why does Jesus say we might retain sins? As Jesus has been sent from Heaven, now He is sending His disciples, and by extension, us. He gives them the Holy Spirit—the divine tape recorder, the equipping they will need. The mission is to go into the world as He came into the world—preaching forgiveness of sins through Him. Forgiveness of sins IS our mission. When we forgive others we live out what God is doing in the world and become living examples, recordings of His Word. If we retain them we work against what God is doing in the world, corrupting the recording of His Word and undermining His mission. As the transforming power of the Spirit works in us we become recordings of the Word spoken anew, and drawing men and women to Christ. Energy, Equipment and End-goal: These are the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

But if there is one thing above all that we here at St. Christopher’s need to hear it is this: the Spirit empowers us to take dominion. Your dominion is that area of our common life, civic or religious, in which you exercise influence. It can be at home, it can be at work. And it ought to include your parish. Now, we often give up that dominion to lesser powers: We find ourselves burdened with resentments and old, unfinished pain, so we blame and hand off power to someone else. To avoid responsibility we abdicate our dominion. In the church we defer decision-making power or initiative to someone else, the Vestry, the Sr. Warden or the priest, when it has already been delegated to us, and we abdicate our dominion! Brothers and sisters, this is to quench the spirit, retain the sins of others, and work against our mission. Do not be timid! If what you do falls within the mission, vision and core values of God’s Kingdom then what you do you do by the power of the Holy Spirit! So be bold in forgiveness—forgiving even those who should not be forgiven! Be bold in goodness, even to those who do not deserve it! Be bold in exercising your gifts, especially in the family of St. Christopher’s. If what you do at St. Christopher’s falls within our mission, vision and core values then your ministry is empowered by the Holy Spirit! Do not be timid! By the power of the spirit take the kingdom!

Fr. Paul Moore+