31/05/2026
Copy of our Pentecost sermon by Pauline Lovelock, reproduced with her permission.
Pentecost -Whit Sunday 24th May 2026 (A)
Acts 2 v1-21
People who preach often are used to the fact that you don’t know what is happening in the lives of those listening. Even when you know the other people in church well, you have no idea if someone has just received a diagnosis that they aren’t ready to share; if someone has news that they are keeping to themselves; if someone is planning a surprise for an individual. We are mysterious to one another, and our polite faces conceal as much as they display.
Perhaps nothing within Christian practice varies as much as people’s ideas about, or experience of, the Holy Spirit. For people to have extraordinary encounters with the divine is not, in fact, extraordinary – it is actually quite common.
Various academic studies have suggested that between one-third and one-half of people have had some such experience which has profoundly affected their lives: often, a mystic sense of connectedness, but sometimes involving hearing or seeing.
But we are often bashful about discussing these experiences – even in church. Perhaps we are ESPECIALLY shy of speaking about such things in church.
Let’s face it, people who suggest they may have some kind of Divine encounter are quickly asked if they have seen a Dr about his presumed mental problem.
However, I have often heard it said and said it myself the Holy Spirit really is the Church’s best kept secret. Yet if we ask what the church needs most at this time? the answer must be ‘the Power of the Holy Spirit’
Jesus knew this, when upon leaving the world he told his disciples” I will not leave you orphaned,” I will send you the Holy Spirit to comfort, support and guide you.
God’s power in the form of the Holy Spirit.
At Pentecost as the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples, we find them in the upper room, behind a locked door, afraid, bewildered. Every sound outside the door terrifies them: have the Roman Soldiers discovered their hiding place? are they also to face ex*****on. Is this the end of Jesus’3 years Ministry to them.
Does it all end here?
3 years earlier when Jesus called the 12 disciples he asked them to be ‘fishers of men’. To spread the good news of love throughout the world: but hiding in the upper room, they could not imagine how they would have the courage to speak to the people in the street outside! never mind distant countries, when the only language they spoke was Aramaic.
And yet, we read in Acts chapter 2 verse 3 &4 the words” Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”
Empowered, The disciples filled with courage went out into the streets and spoke to people in different languages,
We are not told how long this gift of speaking foreign languages lasted, we presume it did not disappear overnight but stayed with them for a lifetime enabling them to travel across the world to speak to all nations.
TODAY
All this happened over 2,000 years ago in a different place and time but what relevance does Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit have for us in our lives today?
The Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity seems rarely talked about in church apart from Pentecost and Trinity Sunday.
It seems easier for us to acknowledge God the Father and God the Son, but God the Holy Spirit? Regarded as a person in Spirit form, may seem harder for us to comprehend somehow.
It is likely the Holy Spirit is linked in our minds with the Gifts of the Spirit mentioned in Ephesians, Corinthians and Romans. For the Charismatic church this would refer to speaking in tongues, words of knowledge, prophecy.
But for many of us, our main experience of the Holy Spirit does not involve speaking in tongues or laying on of hands but lies in what we might call ‘ORDINARY CHURCH ‘But let us not under-estimate this – it is only ordinary because we are used to it, because we have been Christians a long time. The Holy Spirit acts in our lives because the Spirit is a gift that comes when we are baptised.
But how do we recognise the Holy Spirit is working in our lives?
We all received the Holy Spirit at baptism, didn’t we?
BUT What if we were infants and had no idea what was going on? Is the Holy Spirit still with us? What if we have never been baptised?
The Holy Spirit is God’s greatest gift to us a blessing, but are we using the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives today, or is He lying dormant, like an unopened gift, among the other CHRISTENING presents and cards we received at the party following our Baptism?
❖ The question we must ask is Do I know for certain the Holy Spirit is alive and well in my life?
Surely at our initiation into the church, albeit as a baby, we received the Holy Spirit and all that was available to us including God’s blessing and protection?
Well YES WE DID but perhaps we didn’t understand the fulness of what we received because no-one had ever taught us or told us, maybe we didn’t expect much to happen.
The power of the Holy Spirit is huge He is a friend and advocate for us.
Asking the Holy Spirit for help, or be with us, can result in incredible things happening. Sometimes we are challenged to engage in challenges we never thought ourselves capable of, at other times we will be comforted.
❖ BUT WE DO NEED TO INVITE THE HOLY SPIRIT to come into our lives AND GIVE HIM PERMISSION TO HELP US MAKE CHANGES FOR THE BETTER.
I WONDER
❖ Did we even realise we had to do that? did anyone ever tell us?
SO HOW do we invite the Holy Spirit to come to us?
And here’s the good bit all we have to do is ask!
Simply say the words “Holy Spirit please come into my life”
In some churches the phrase ‘Maranatha’ is repeated in prayers, a meditative phrase meaning “OUR LORD COME”
So, what will happen next?
• Well probably no whizz bangs, trumpets and angelic choirs singing.
• Will you immediately be able to speak a foreign language without downloading an expensive App.
Probably not! more likely
❖ Just a quiet deepening of your faith as you rely more and more on the power of God to change your life, rather than trying to do everything yourself.
Only Jesus was able to live a perfect life. In a nutshell, to be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be filled with Jesus”
TO CONCLUDE
As Christians at Pentecost, we are asked to renew our commitment made at Baptism to live our lives walking in the Spirit in the freedom and power of God.
The Holy Spirit will enable us to offer our skills in building up the church community. We all have a part to play.
He will draw our attention to those people who need our support.
He will enable us to encourage others by joyfully sharing our experiences of God.
SO LET US WELCOME THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO OUR CHURCH AND LIVES TODAY AS WE SAY
COME, HOLY SPIRIT, COME
Amen
