Last week’s post identified the use of description as a rhetorical strategy particularly suited to homiletic preaching. Below is my Pentecost homily for 2014. My goal in preaching this homily was to encourage my listeners to rank the Feast of Pentecost on a level of importance similar to the Feasts of the Incarnation and the Resurrection. I chose to do this by connecting Pentecost to the season of summer through a series of visual, sensory associations. Let me know what you think! Your commendations and recommendations are valuable me and my effort to improve my skill as a preacher. Thanks for your time and interest. JMS
Pentecost Homily - 2014
There are lots of “Big Events” at this time of year:
First Communions
8th Grade Graduations
High School Graduations
Mother’s Day
Father’s Day
College Graduations
Memorial Day
the Kentucky Derby….
and, the Biggest Day of All: PENTECOST!!!
Right?
Well, not really.
With summer events breaking out like horses from a gate,
Pentecost gets lost amid all those seemingly more important occasions.
So, how might we to appreciate Pentecost the same way
we celebrate Christmas and Easter?
Well, here’s a start:
Instead of swimming against the current,
let’s jump in and take advantage of the swirl of events!
After all, Pentecost goes hand-in-hand with summer…
and summer goes hand-in-hand with Pentecost.
That’s right!
Pentecost is nothing less than the celebration of
the Spirit of God
rushing into the world like a summer storm…
its flames dance and crackle like a backyard campfire…
its shouts echo with excitement…
like the praise rendered to God in the squeals of children
running and squealing through streams of water sprinkling the lawn.
These are the touchstones of Pentecost:
Wind and Fire and Shouts of praise.
This is the boisterous reality the apostles experienced
and it’s the joy we too are invited to experience as well.
In other words, the desert of Lent is far behind.
It’s time to head for the beach!
What I’m trying say here is this:
Pentecost can fit into our expectations of summer
the way that Christmas fits into our experience of winter.
How?
Well, first of all, think of all the transitions going on at this time of year.
New jobs for the college students.
New friends for little kids to meet at the pool.
New in-laws to meet at the weddings.
New places to see on the summer vacation.
The Spirit of God refuses to allow you or your life to go stale.
“Receive the Holy Spirit,”
the Lord says to his apostles in today’s gospel.
“Your sins are forgiven.”
In other words:
“Go! Live in the freedom of my love for you!
It’s a new day.
Leave your past regrets behind.”
To me, those words sound a bit like a mother saying to her kids,
“It’s summer. Get out of the house. Go play!”
As we also know:
Pentecost was a turning point for the apostles,
the day they passed from a season of fear and uncertainty
and began to live their life in Christ with confidence and conviction.
So, too, for us.
Summer is a season of new possibilities
and the Feast of Pentecost reminds us that life is full of excitement
and life in Christ is nothing if not an adventure.
If Christmas is a feast for giving,
Pentecost is the feast for climbing mountains.
Let’s move on the image of the Fire for the Spirit’s fire burns…
like the summer sun warming our necks, our skin;
making us want to go for a swim!
Or simply gaze at the sunlight that tumbles into our kitchens
on a summer day
only to get caught in the glass of a sugar bowl,
to sparkle on the beads of our rosary
or gleam within the eyes of a grandchild.
If Easter means lilies and lilacs,
Pentecost speaks of swimsuits, sunscreen and a splash from a high dive!
Pentecost is a perfect feast to start off the summer!
It’s the perfect feast for this time of year!