Pentecost - Fr. Adam Royal
May 23, 2021 - 11:00 AM
Audio Recording
The Spirit of God has come into this world to make all things new. And thanks be to God that he has. The disciples were trouble makers, which is what society calls those who challenge the old ways. It is a label meant to demean and marginalize. Every account we have of the earliest followers of Jesus mentions the havoc they caused. They overturned the ancient traditions, they would not sacrifice to the old god’s, they smashed what all believed to be the very bedrock of society. They were nuisances, agitators, rabble-rousers, even hell raisers. And they wore those labels proudly because the crowds had said the same things of Jesus. What is new is never wanted. When the Spirit of God begins working in the world he inflames hatred and anger, because he must. The Spirit must overturn the old because it has become stale and desiccated. The old order is the antithesis of Christ, it is complacent.
This world does not need more sycophants and brown-noses. It does not need more indifference and willingness to turn a blind eye. It has had too much already. The world has glutted itself on “Yes’s”. Yes to greed. Yes to injustice. Yes to war. It is time to be like the disciples, it is time to listen to the Spirit of God and say “No”. No we will not obey the illegitimate dictates of the powerful. No we will not squander the resources of the environment. No we will not hate and kill one another over obsolete ideologies.
We are Christians. We have known the powerful and infinite love of Christ. Our debts, our sins, have been erased; our differences have been cast aside and we have known peace, a peace that only God, only a new world filled with the Spirit, can offer.
Today is Pentecost, the Spirit of God has come into this world to make all things new. And thanks be to God that he has. Our world is shrouded in darkness. Let us all open our hearts and allow the Spirit to kindle his fire within us. May that fire burn brightly and illumine this place and show us the Kingdom of God.