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Bishop Ogles’
Sermon – Pentecost - Whitsunday
Today Bishop Jerry, an
Army Master Aviator, is delivering the keynote address to the veterans and
st Aviation Brigade at Fort Rucker during
their celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brigade. There will be no sermon notes for you
today. Bishop Jerry asks you to
think on the Collect and read the remaining sermons.
Pentecost,
commonly called Whitsunday.
The
Collect.
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O
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GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful
people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same
Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his
holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and
reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said
daily throughout Whitsun Week.
Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and
Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel together
and is partly contained in the forewords above.
Consider these words from the
Collect:
… sending to
them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right
judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort …
When Jesus left on Ascension Day, we lost a teacher
here on earth. We still have Him
as Redeemer and Savior; but what to do for understanding? In response to His departure, God sent
us the Holy Ghost.
Who is this Holy Ghost and why is he here?
We worship the One True God, a triune God, that is
Three in One; Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Most people have no trouble understanding the concept of God the Father,
Christians seem to get God the Son, but many seem to have a bit of difficulty
with the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost has been there since the
beginning. He breathed life into
the world, yet His actions seemed to be sporadic until Pentecost.
Well, today is Pentecost, the time one normally
thinks of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, the
Comforter. When people do think of
Him, they oft think of the actions described in the words of Saint Luke in the
Acts of the Apostles. The dancing
and speaking in tongues. All that
happened so we might understand that with the help of the Holy Ghost we might bring
the Word to all mankind. The Word
of God is a universal language.
When the disciples spoke in tongues, the people around them heard the
Word in their own language, not an odd combination of sounds that no one
understood. The disciples spoke
and were heard by those around them in their own language, not Klingon. It is not for us to speak in tongues
without study; that was a one shot deal.
It was designed to show us that we could, with hard work and persistence
bring the Gospel to the world in the language of the people. It showed that we
were in fact to preach the Gospel to all nations, not just the nation of
Israel, but to all the nations of the World. The many nations of the fallen
race of Adam all comprise those to whom the Good News is to be spread. Which is
what the purpose of God sending the Holy Ghost was for, was for us to bring the
light of Christ into the world for all to see and believe upon. He is here so
that we can understand and then act upon His Word. He is here to provide us
with the guidance and understanding necessary to preach and spread the Word
into the far regions of the Earth. The Holy Ghost allows us to spread His Word
amongst all the people in the world and to convince them and let them believe.
It opens our eyes to what is good for us and what is not good for us, so that
we know what to believe and what not to believe.
We need the Holy Ghost if we are to follow the Great
Commission Christ set forth. He knew we would need the Holy Ghost if we were to
have any success in this endeavor. However, He also knew that He needed to
leave if the Holy Ghost were to come and stay, so the Holy Ghost’s coming had
to wait until after the Ascension. He had it planned out so the disciples would
not be without a direct connection to Him for very long.
The Holy Ghost is also our direct connection to God.
When Jesus left, the disciples were distant from God. When they were not near
Jesus, they did not do as well as when they were with Him. See Peter’s actions
after the arrest of Jesus for an example, thrice denying His Lord. The Holy
Ghost came so that we would have understanding and a direct connection to God,
wireless as it were, instead of having to be tethered to Christ. It is how He
will always be with us, even though He is not physically with us at the present
time. We will never have to fear anything as long as He is with us, for if He
is with us, who should we be afraid of, if we are on His side?
If we allow the Holy Ghost into our hearts, we will
never be far from Him, and He will never be far from us. We have to consciously
let Him into our hearts, He will not come uninvited into our hearts. The Holy
Ghost will help us understand Scripture and will give us guidance on our
earthly lives, as we work towards staying on the straight and narrow path
towards heaven He will be a constant guiding presence in our lives, that will
give us peace in times of trouble, and will help us guide and focus our minds
in our worship of God. He will
give us the inspiration and help us to do what is right for our fellow
Christians and friends, while staying true to God. He will light our paths in
difficult times and trials and will give us the guidance we need to finish our
race for God.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that He would be
leaving, but the Father would send a facilitator; one who whose presence, if we
let Him into our hearts, would let us understand His Word with those self same
hearts. The Comforter would bring
the Love of God into our hearts to let us feel His Love. He will help us understand that we are striving
to be one with God, with Jesus and with the Holy Ghost. Our love can be demonstrated by our
actions. Which are only possible
if we allow the Holy Ghost into our hearts and believe and Act upon our faith!
This is a point that is made time and time again in Scriptures. We need to be
doers of the world, not just hearers, to paraphrase St. James. For if we love
Jesus, we will do as He asked.
If you think about it, you will recall that the
second half of the Book of Luke is titled The Acts of the Apostles. It is not the thoughts, the beliefs,
the feelings, the meditations, the inner feelings or any other touchy feely thing,
it is the ACTS. If you believe,
act on those beliefs. The Holy Ghost is here to help us know how to act, we
will just have to let Him into our hearts, and then ACT.
We need the help of the Holy Ghost to learn what we
are to do, how we are to do it and most of all to do it. Action, not just diction.
Pray for His continual presence
in your heart.
Heaven is at the end of an
uphill trail. The easy downhill
trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
