readings and sermon for pentecost sunday (23/06/2013)

7/28/2019 Readings and Sermon for Pentecost Sunday (23/06/2013)

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EEPPIISSTTLLEE RREEAADDIINNGG

(Acts2:111)hen the day of Pentecost hadcome, all the Apostles weretogether in one place. And suddenly asound came from heaven like the rushof a mighty wind, and it filled the wholehouse where they were sitting. Andthere appeared to them tongues as offire, divided and resting on each one ofthem. And they were all filled with theHoly Spirit and began to speak in othertongues, as the Spirit gave them powerof utterance. Now there were dwellingin Jerusalem devout Jews from everynation under heaven. And at this soundthe multitude came together, and theywere bewildered, because each oneheard them speaking in his ownlanguage. And they were amazed andastonished, saying, Are not all thesewho are speaking Galileans? And how isit that we hear, each of us in his ownnative language? Parthians and Medesand Elamites and residents ofMesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,Pontus and Asia, Phrygia andPamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libyabelonging to Cyrene, and visitors fromRome, both Jews and proselytes,Cretans and Arabians, we hear themtelling in our own tongues the mightyworks of God.It is our duty to be faithful to God, pure in

heart, merciful and kind, just and holy; for thesethings imprint in us the outlines of the Divinelikeness, and perfect us as heirs of eternal life.

(St Cyril of Alexandria)

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ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATEARCHDIOCESE OFTHYATEIRA & GREAT BRITAIN

BBUULLLLEETTIINN OOFF SSPPIIRRIITTUUAALL EEDDIIFFIICCAATTIIOONN

SUNDAY OF PENTECOST23 June 2013No. 1289

23 2013. 1289

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GGOOSSPPEELL RREEAADDIINNGG(John7:3752,8:12)n the last and greatest day of thefeast, Jesus stood up andexclaimed, Let anyone who thirstscome to me and drink. Whoever believesin me, as scripture says: Rivers of living

water will flow from within them. Hesaid this in reference to the Spirit thatthose who came to believe in him wereto receive. For the Holy Spirit was notyet [given], because Jesus had not yetbeen glorified. Many in the crowd whoheard these words said, This is truly theProphet. Others said, This is theChrist. But others said, The Christ willnot come from Galilee, will he? Does notscripture say that the Christ will be ofDavids family and come fromBethlehem, the village where Davidlived? So a division occurred in thecrowd because of him. Some of themeven wanted to arrest him, but no onelaid hands on him. So the guards went tothe chief priests and Pharisees, whoasked them, Why did you not bringhim? The guards answered, Neverbefore has anyone spoken like this manspeaks. So the Pharisees answeredthem, Have you also been deceived?Have any of the authorities or thePharisees believed in him? But thiscrowd, which does not know the law, isaccursed.Nicodemus, who had come tohim by night, was one of them, and hesaid to them, Does our law condemn aperson before it first hears them andfinds out what they are doing? Theyanswered and said to him, You are notfrom Galilee also, are you? Search andsee that no prophet has arisen fromGalilee. Jesus then spoke to them again,saying, I am the light of the world.Whoever follows me will not walk indarkness, but will have the light of life.

"The Lord calls the Holy Spirit the voice of a gentle breeze. For God is breath, and the breath of the wind is

shared by all; nothing shuts it in, nothing holds it prisoner" (St Maximus the Confessor)

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SSEERRMMOONN OONN TTHHEE GGOOSSPPEELL RREEAADDIINNGGoday we celebrate Pentecost, the day when the Lord fulfilled the promises He made to Hisdisciples prior to His death and resurrection; that promise regarding the outpouring of theHoly Spirit fifty days after His resurrection, and so richly bestowed upon mankind. Indeed theHoly Spirit Descended at Pentecost, it was also given to us at the Sacrament of initiation, that issay, at our Baptism and Chrismation; and it is given to us repeatedly at our reception of HolyCommunion; and at our forgiveness in the sacrament of Confession. But despite all the abovementioned acts of the Church, by which we become partakers in the Life of Christ in the HolySpirit, let us also think of the place of Holy Spirit with regards to the resurrected Lord and ourpersonal encounter with Him.In todays gospel reading the words of our Lord in the Temple indicate that it is the HolySpirit which makes His Life our life. That is to say the event of the Resurrection, which can beenunderstood in many ways as an historical event - and it is certainly one of the few cases in historywhere the historicity of the Risen Lord is witnessed so clearly, and to such a large degree can alsobecome a personal event in my life. This is possible only with the Holy Spirit. The Resurrectionwould remain an unapproachable mystery to us if it were not for the presence of the third personof the Holy Trinity.St John the Divine having experienced the Risen Christ in the Holy Spirit recalls thismoment when the Lord, on that great day of the feast which we all heard in todays gospel, spokeout to the people saying he who believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shallflow rivers of living water (John 8.38). St John explains this living water as referring directly tothe Holy Spirit which those who believe on him should receive, but which for the time being,when the Lord spoke these words, was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, that is tosay He had not yet been crucified and resurrected. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is given on accountof the Lords victory over death and after the Lords Ascension and His sitting at the right hand ofthe Father. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is sent in order to bring those whowish to believe into a living and personal communion with the risen Lord.Man, however, with his god-like freedom, the , is at full liberty to respondwith regard to Gods revelation to us through His Only Begotten Son. This is where the Holy Spiritplays a crucial and most important role for our salvation, for wherever the spirit blows there isfreedom. That is to say, the Holy Spirit never deprives us of the possibility to freely choose andwork out our salvation. The same idea is also developed in a statement which our Lord made priorto His death on the cross and: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me(John 12.31). Christ is the head of all principality and power says St Paul, but He is the Head notin a worldly sense of having the power to act, or to impose from without, but rather in the sense offreely and lovingly drawing all men unto Himself. This loving attraction is fulfilled only in the HolySpirit which leaves all the possibility for freedom to work. Nobody can be received involuntarily orby force but only on their own accord. For this reason, therefore, the Lord offers Himself as a pureand blameless sacrifice for the life of the world, and to the point where mankind willinglycondemns Him to death on the cross. However, this sacrificial act of love works to our advantagefor it prepares the way for the Holy Spirit to act lovingly and freely, giving us the chance to freelyand lovingly respond to His ineffable loving kindness.Today, therefore, in the light of todays Gospel message, let us reaffirm our faith in Christboth through a deeper understanding of the place of the Holy Spirit in our lives and through ourneed to respond willingly to Gods love made manifest in the flesh through His only Begotten Son,our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

ArchdioceseofThyateira&GreatBritain,5CravenHill,LondonW23EN

Tel.:02077234787.Fax:02072249301.Email:[email protected]:www.thyateira.org.ukP r i n t e d b y S t P a u l s P r e s s

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readings and sermon for pentecost sunday (23/06/2013)

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