Now What?: A Sermon for the Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday

Now what? I think this is an appropriate question for us to ask today. For James and Avery, the parents of the world’s soon to be newest Christian, the questions become, “Now we have taken the initial step of having Evelyn baptized, how do we continue this process of responding to the grace that Evelyn has received? What does “life after baptism” look like for her and for us? What, if anything has changed?” Confirmation won’t be for another 12-13 years. So now what?

Thankfully, our Holy Scriptures are filled with “Now what” moments for us to ponder. In my opinion, the ultimate “now what” moment comes on the day that we now call “Holy Saturday” - the day after Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. All the disciples and loyal followers of Jesus were surely wondering what to do now that Jesus, who they believed was the Messiah, was now dead and buried in a tomb.

Well God’s answer to the Holy Saturday “now what” was a resounding “Here’s what!” when he resurrected Jesus from the dead.

Then ten days ago we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension, where the resurrected Jesus is swept up into heaven and the disciples are left standing alone and once again once again asking, you guessed it – “now what?” And just as Easter is God’s answer to the awkward “in between” space of Holy Saturday, I think Pentecost in God’s answer to the awkward “in between” space of Ascensiontide. God’s answer to the disciples who felt alone and aimless after Jesus took his seat at the right hand of his Father in heaven was to breathe his Holy Spirit upon them like tongues of fire. On the Day of Pentecost, God sent the disciples a resounding, “Here’s what!” to their gloomy “now what” refrain. But the “here’s what” answer that God gave to the disciples wasn’t just the roaring wind and tongues of fire. It was the promise that the Holy Spirit would be their Advocate and their Holy Comforter until the end of the ages. To me, that is the true miracle of Pentecost – the promise from God that we will never be alone - the promise that God the Father and God the Son, through the Holy Spirit, is always with us.

When I baptize Evelyn in a few moments, I will place the sign of the cross on her forehead with holy oil, and I will say that Evelyn is “sealed by Holy Spirit in baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.”  This is an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Evelyn will never be alone; she will always be claimed by God.

But as we celebrate the grafting of Evelyn into the Body of Christ and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost, we find ourselves in the midst of national and international crisis. Recent mass shootings have plunged us into despair, anger, fear, and political division. Inflation, gas prices, the recent rise of covid cases, and continued political division and hostility, climate crisis, and the war between Russia and Ukraine all continue to make us feel more anxious and less stable.

Some might have a hard time feeling excited for the future of young people like Evelyn, being brought up in such a climate as this. When I find myself feeling cynical, depressed, and lacking in hope, I try to remind myself of at least two things  First, this isn’t the first time in the history of the world that there has been terrible suffering, disease, war, and division. The “good ole days” feel more and more like that the further removed we become from the past. The bottom line is that ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we human beings have continued to make a mess of things. There has never been an era in the history of the world where humankind has fully realized our potential as God’s creation. When we remind ourselves of the reality of the human predicament of Sin, we can recognize that the problems we face in the world today are first and foremost a spiritual issue. We live East of Eden, and we are under the power of Sin. In just a few moments, on behalf of their daughter Evelyn, James and Avery will publicly renounce this very Evil that I am speaking of.

In light of this reality, the second thing I try to remind myself when I am despairing is that God has given us an answer to all of these problems and issues. God has answered our cry of “now what are we to do about this mess we have made” with the life, death, and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. God becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ wasn’t an easy-fix solution to the problem of sin, death, and evil. We still suffer from and participate in the effects of the Fall. But in Christ, God showed us the way, the truth, and the life. God gave us God’s very own self as the answer to Sin, death, and evil.

And when Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers were once again asking, “Now what?” as in, “now what are we to do without Jesus here to guide us?” And once again, God had a response, and continues to respond to our endless questions, anxieties, and problems not so much with a “here’s what” but rather, with a “Here’s Whom!” As I already mentioned, the first “Here’s whom” was Jesus Christ. And the second “here’s whom” is God’s Holy Spirit - the Advocate, the Holy Comforter, who accompanies us wherever we go and whatever crisis we find ourselves in. In just a few moments, Evelyn will receive the mark of the Holy Spirit on her forehead, proclaiming that she is sealed by the Holy Spirt in baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever. This mark will not make her perfect, nor will it mean that she will not struggle or suffer. But it will serve as a reminder for her as to Who she is and Whose she is. If all Christians could faithfully and courageously live in to that radical Good News that we are Christ’s own forever, and I think we’d have a lot less problems in the world today.

On this magnificent day – this day where we celebrate God’s sending of the Holy Spirit to accompany God’s people until the end of the ages; this day where we welcome the newest member of our church through the sacrament of Holy Baptism; let us remember God’s remarkable answer to the refrain of “now whats” that he constantly hears. Let us remember that though Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, we are not left alone to fend for ourselves. God’s Holy Spirit - the Advocate, the Holy Comforter – is ever present and here to celebrate with us when we are joyful, hold us when we are grieving, to guide us when we are waking, and to guard us when we are sleeping. And if you ask me, that is the best answer we could ever receive.