Dear St. Luke’s,

This coming Sunday is the birthday of the Church! As always, there is more than one wonderful thing happening. We will recognize and celebrate the graduating seniors in our lives, especially those graduating from High School. Three graduates are offering homilies on Sunday about their time at St. Luke’s and what is in store for them for the future. The timing is poetic as Sunday is Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday is one of those wonderfully rare times where we can pull out our red vestments and hangings and celebrate something new happening. In this case it is celebrating the birth of the Church when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and empowered them to communicate in the native language of those in Jerusalem, opening up the good news of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

I always thought it odd that the Church never existed while Jesus walked amongst us. It was only after the ascension, when Jesus was raised into heaven while he was blessing the disciples, that the Holy Spirit showed up and started to do her thing. It seems like things would have run so much smoother if there was some overlap in leadership, but that is not the way that God designed the Church. When Jesus was with the disciples, they didn’t need the Church. Their job was to be close to Jesus and to listen to him. They didn’t even have to listen well, and they often missed the point entirely. To us they remain paragons of faith out of their desire and persistence to be near to Christ.

The Church is similar but fundamentally different. It is for people like the disciples who desire to be closer to Christ, but we must rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us through difficult situations. This Holy Spirit dwells within each of us, and like the disciples, we often miss the mark. This coming Sunday, we will hear the story of Pentecost from the Acts of the Apostles, and if you keep on reading after that passage, you will find out that the Church wasted no time in arguing how to be the Church. Then the big thing was whether converts needed to be circumcised. What does this look like in our lives today? When my parents were young, it was female clergy. When I was young, it was a gay Bishop in New Hampshire. Last night, we added a family component at the playground, to the monthly Grill Night. That was very mildly controversial. The Bishop Election is this Saturday. That could be completely void of controversy, but considering we are the Church, it is likely to be controversial.

People often become dismayed or even cynical when Churches do not behave the way they think they should, but that is kind of the point of Church. Church is where you can go and try to do ministry, and if we all admit that the Holy Spirit imbues us, then we must try, and sometimes we will bring the Church closer to the Kingdom of God. Other times we tell ourselves we are listening to the Holy Spirit, but we either don’t listen well, or convince ourself it is her, but in the end we hear our own voice. Then we must rely and listen to others.

The beautiful thing about the Church is that is exists and thrives by trying, failing, and trying again. It dies only when we stop trying or stop listening to others in the Church. As we hear from our graduating parish members this Sunday, imagine they have been part of this little outpost of the Jesus movement since probably before they can remember. They have likely been formed by this place more than they realize, and we have been formed by them probably more than we realize. Like us, and the disciples, they have the Holy Spirit within them, and though they may have received her at St. Luke’s, they will continue to carry that gift with them wherever they may go. We will be less without them while they are away, but we will forever be part of the gift of God that they carry with them.

Blessings,

Nick