[Propertalk] Pentecost a 2017 - part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

Here is the first part of my draft for revision for this Sunday.
Peace!
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBANY, ALBANY   THE DAY OF PENTECOST a

	ACTS 2:1-21        4th JUNE, 2017

	1 CORINTHIANS 12:3b-13      PSALM 104:25-35, 37

	JOHN 20:19-23

	 “Apostolic Succession!”

	 Already, I think I can sense some of you sitting up a little
straighter, possibly, if I saw correctly, leaning forward just a
little as if you’re eager to hear what comes next, as if already,
after just two words, you’re starting to get excited.

	 “Apostolic Tradition!” 

	Two more words. This is going to be good! I can hardly wait myself.

	“Historic Episcopate!” How’s that?

	Maybe I should back up a bit.

	Back in January, a document was issued by a group appointed from The
Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church. 1 This group, in one
form or another, has been engaged in serious conversations for the
last fifteen years. They’re studying what it is that lies at the
heart of each denomination, what is distinctive. Finally, the group
produced a paper which it commends to the appropriate committees and,
ultimately, after 2020, to the denominational conventions. The group
asks for frank and open exchanges both within each denomination and
also between members of each denomination. And, yes, Apostolic
Succession, Apostolic Tradition and the Historic Episcopate may figure
in what we say to one another. But the hopeful note sounded by
representatives echoes what Paul write to the Corinthian Christians.
As the paper says, “Our unity is … grounded in our common
baptism” which derived from the prayer, the command of Jesus that we
all be one.

	Not Jesus, not Paul, not the formers of January’s document even
hint at the idea of uniformity. Each speaks, in fact, about the
diversity of the gifts with which the Holy Spirit has invested in us.
Nor is there a suggestion that one person, one group, has necessarily
“got it wrong”. Each of us is affirmed as being “sealed by the
Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever”, 2 no
matter how different we may appear, how individually we may act, how
distinctively we may talk.

	I continue to be surprised by the passage from the Book of the Acts
of the Apostles as I read or hear about the incredible mixture of
ethnic groups who were described as being present to hear Peter and
the other disciples talking about the Loving Power of God, and how
God, from the very beginning, has been working to ensure that we
recognize the common relationships that we all share.

	Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, God enabled the Gospel
message to be proclaimed and heard in terms of who the people were. It
wasn’t a matter of these disciples – apostles now, actually,
because they were sent out, dismissed in the Power of the Spirit; it
wasn’t a matter if any of the apostles saying, well, if you all take
classes and get your English up to speed, God will speak to you in
three or four weeks. 

	Of course, this hasn’t stopped any people trying to SAY that.
Conform to the way we act, or speak, and so one, and we’ll consider
letting you be part of who and what we are. But that’s the opposite
of what the scripture passages say. God’s Love was and is so
incredibly strong that the people who were present then, just as
people who are present today, are affirmed Beloved just as they were
and are, no matter WHAT the differences.

	The document that the United Methodist Church and The Episcopal
Church will be studying and discussing emphasizes this quite strongly.
“We seek the greater unity between our two churches because we
believe this is a mandate grounded in Scripture. Jesus calls us into
unity for the sake of mission and ministry, so that the world may
believe:

	  “‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of

	  those who will believe in me through their word, that

	  they may all be one’ (John 17:20-21a).

	 “Our unity is also grounded in our common baptism:

	  “‘There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were

	  called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one

	  baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through

	  all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).” 3

	 It’s a wonderful thing to discover, or re-discover, how much we
share with one another. What we hear and see in the world around us
tends to concentrate on what divides us. And, of course, this is what
sells just about everything from food, to toothpaste, to clothes,
we’re shown pictures of people who seem to look alike, act alike,
think alike, but it’s done in such a way as to draw a contrast with
other individuals, other groups. Books, magazines, newspapers, TV and
radio – they all thrive on pointing out things that not only
differentiate one from another but also engender fear. If someone
reaches a conclusion that’s different from ours; if someone
organises his or her life, or worship, or hopes and dreams on
different principles, we’re ;led to believe that, somehow, there’s
something suspect, something dangerous about such a person or group.

	 I mean, who ARE those Methodists? Why should we bother with them? 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20170531/552c2116/attachment.htm>