Before training for the ministry I was a Primary School teacher. One my reasons for opting to teach young children was the sheer exhilaration I experienced when one of the pupils would suddenly comprehend something they had not understood before. I loved to see the expressions of their faces when suddenly; ‘the penny dropped’. This was made all the more special when a child who struggled to comprehend even the most basic of things overcame what seemed impossible to them. Their joy and mine was great.

Peter, was one of these children. Nothing came easy to him including bodily co-ordination and appropriate behaviour. His own shortcomings frustrated him, greatly, and the thing that frustrated him the most was the fact that he could not climb to the top of the ropes in the hall.

Peter always tried so hard to get to the top but his general lack of co-ordination and body shape hindered his every attempt. Until one morning, when after repeated attempts Peter got to the top of the rope. Out of sheer joy he shouted at his classmates and me to look at him. The children clapped and we all shared in his happiness and achievement. Nothing could dampen his joy or his spirits, even after sliding down the rope and burning his hands. Peter had overcome his barrier, at last he could climb the ropes, at last he knew how to do it.

The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Earth at that first Pentecost, is not unlike that day when Peter overcame his barrier in rope climbing. Pentecost was the day that the barriers came down for the disciples, the day that their perceptions of Jesus were changed and they discovered that they could and should talk to people of all languages and of all nations.

Pentecost, was the time that the Spirit burst upon the world. The day that barriers between Jew and gentile, men and women, between one race and another were swept away; and the day that Jesus’ disciples were fired with energy and confidence to preach the Gospel, to the world.

Pentecost, follows Jesus’ ascension, and without his ascension, without his leaving of his disciples, the Holy Spirit would not have been able to freely fill the Earth and I doubt that we would be here worshipping today. Jesus had to ascend because his ministry as a human man was limited. Limited by time, place, people and language because we human beings have our limitations and constraints. With the Holy Spirit there are no such restrictions and as such Jesus’ ministry could now cross barriers it was unable to cross before.

The Holy Spirit, is however, dangerous!

We cannot control the workings of the Spirit, we cannot contain it and manipulate it. Neither is there anywhere the Spirit cannot go or cannot permeate.

Before being ordained deacon, I was told that I would be fundamentally changed by the sacrament of ordination. I was not too sure of this before the event but as the then Bishop of Oxford laid his hands on my head, I felt myself shot through with ‘fire’. A surge of energy seemed to flow into me and I believe it did change me. It wasn’t just me who felt this, my colleagues being ordained did too, the cathedral was filled with so much static electricity that not a single photograph came out clear. Sparks ready did fly!

The change, I believe I experienced was both perceptible and imperceptible. I felt that I had been empowered to begin my life as an ordained minister of Christ. I believe this to be true because repeatedly I have been enabled to go into situations and to cope with events that I would rather not have had to do so or that I felt I was incapable of understanding or dealing with.  I also believe that I have been given the right words, at the right time too. As Matthew records Jesus telling his disciples:

“… do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say: for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”           Matthew 10:19-20

Again and again, I have known this to be true. At time people have said to me; ‘thank you for what you said, it really helped me’. Often I have no remembrance or idea let alone memory of what I said but the Spirit obviously spoke to the right thing to the people concerned at the time. I suspect that the same thing will have been said to you too.

I acknowledge the role that the Holy Spirit has in my life. I know that without it I could not be an effective priest nor could I minister to you either and I give thanks regularly in my prayers for this agent of change.

The Holy Spirit uses all of us as ministers of Christ’s Good News. It uses us to take the message of the Gospel to the ends of the Earth; to the Earth’s far corners and darkest places. It also helps us to take that message to the dark places in each other’s lives too and into our own hard hearts as well. 

Recently I came across an article on the back page of the Church Times by the poet Malcolm Guite. He wrote this about Eastertide and Pentecost and I think it helps to sum up what I have been saying:

“ … Easter Day is really just about lighting the blue touch paper on the joyful rocket of resurrection, the 40 day Easter season that will culminate in Ascension Day, and then come down in a shower of glorious sparks - tongues of flame at pentecost - to ignite our inner fireworks and send us out into the world to kindle hearts for Christ.”                                                                           Church Times 25th April 2025

It is our duty, as people ‘born in the Spirit’ through Baptism to tell others about the love of God, to be evangelistic in the ways in which we live our lives. Not only in the way we live but in the ways we respond to each other, our attitudes to life and our fellow beings and the myriad of ways in which we love. We are called to lead others to the ways and person of Jesus by gentle encouragement, supporting them along the way, all the time, never assuming that they or we will know the way on our own.

A daunting task? Yes, it is. But, it is not a task one should worry about because the Holy Spirit will guide us in every step we take, if we allow it. If we keep our hearts and minds open, allowing the Spirit to change us at will, then God’s will, will be done. 

The greatest sin, we are told, any of us can commit is a sin against the Holy Spirit. I interpret this to mean that we sin if we shut ourselves off from the workings of the Spirit. In order to be loved and to love we have to be open, to be prepared to lay ourselves bare before the Lord, to trust in him, to allow him to use us as he wants.  

This scary but being a Christian is a risky business. Life is risky but as a Christian living in the Spirit you cannot afford to be complacent, to sit back and to take it easy. You have to get out into the world and work for God’s Kingdom.

On this Pentecost Sunday we are reminded to keep ourselves open, to allow the fireworks of the Spirit into our lives and to be encouraged by it to take risks for the sake of the Gospel. Wee Peter took a risk and achieved that which he believed to be impossible - what might God be calling you to risk?