24/05/2026
Sermon for Pentecost Sunday by Rev Chris
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, when we remember the giving of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the mission of the early church from the upper room out into the world. From the accounts we have it was an explosion of joy induced activity in which the disciples, filled with God’s Spirit, that Jesus had promised to send them set out to make Christ known in all the world. It is in many ways the foundation stone on which the church was built, rooted in God, revealed in Jesus, fuelled by the Holy Spirit.
We must be careful on the wonderful day not to miss a step out as Edith reminded us in her sermon last Sunday. After the ascension of Jesus into heaven the disciples return to Jerusalem and where they formed an expectant community of prayer. They are praying constantly for the Spirit that Jesus had promised even if they didn’t know what that would mean. But they believed that Jesus would fulfil his promise even if they didn’t understand how or what it might look like. Their hearts may have been nervous but they were expectant and I think that is such an important part of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, expectancy.
In both Matthew and Mark we are told that there were occasions where, due to the lack of belief in those around him, Jesus wasn’t able to perform many miracles except to heal a few people. God’s power isn’t like a magic spell cast on a powerless or gullible people, it is an invitation from the heart of God addressed personally to each of us by name to step into the slip stream of the Holy Spirit and to be carried willingly along in her divine energy and creativity in which amazing things can and really do happen, each and every day.
For us to be a truly pentecostal people our hearts need to be properly prepared in prayer to be expectant of what God will do, we are part of the story and our willingness to be part of the outpouring of God into the world is a vital ingredient. We all bring something unique to the feast and add to the richness of what is on offer.
I was reminded of that last week when I was at a meeting of clergy. We were talking together about the challenges of ministry, finance, falling numbers, aging buildings and the other things which come along with being church today. Then one of those at the meeting began talking about the good things that were happening in their churches, the little things that they recognised as God at work because they were attentive to all that God was doing. They were expectant that God would be faithful to his promises and indeed that was what was happening. It was uplifting and joyful to hear it. They weren’t all big things, but they were having a large impact.
Expectancy and positivity can be a real struggle in the challenges we face in the church and in the world. It is too easy to lose hope, to let go of expectancy and become weighed down by the negative. I think when that happens to the church we lose our way and our engine stalls.
Pentecost is a timely reminder that God longs to be invited into our lives, to ignite expectant hearts with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to equip and empower us anew, sending us out into the world as the transforming presence we are called to be.
When the Holy Spirit encounters expectant hearts she makes a home in it, she awakens the heart fully to the purposes for which the heart was created. There the gifts of the Spirit are awakened – Love, Joy, Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. These attitudes help us to live differently, to look outward and see the glory of God in the wonders all around us, to build outward and Godward in new, positive and productive ways.
It begins in a willing obedience to prayer, it is triggered in the expectancy that God will fulfil his promises in and through us, it is discerned through our attentiveness – in recognising joyfully the work of God in the small things while being expectant of more. It is a journey we are invited on, that God may do great things for us and through us. It is exciting, energising and life giving.
To be the people of Pentecost requires intention and excitement. So I invite you into this season of Pentecost by rediscovering expectant hearts as the first step of all that God is doing and will do among us.
I have written a prayer and I invite you to join me in praying it as we move forward through the year. It is a prayer of reawakening expectancy and becoming attentive to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit. I’m asking all of us to committing to praying this prayer at least once a day and then watching for where that prayer is being answered.
God our inspiration,
Who ignited the hearts of the first disciples
In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
Come afresh to our expectant hearts,
Reveal to us the opportunities
to make Christ known afresh
That in St Michael’s and All Saints
You will grow the kingdom of your Son
Through the gifts you lavish upon us.
May we be joyful in our waiting
And attentive to your stirrings.
Amen
