The Day of Pentecost
Sermon for Sunday May 24, 2026
Today we celebrate the solemnity, the great feast of Pentecost. And I think it’s fair to say that Pentecost doesn’t always get the recognition that it deserves. When we think of Christian feasts, we think of Christmas. We think of Easter. But Pentecost was named by Jules, one of the Anglican divines, as the culmination of the salvific work of God. In other words, he said, without Pentecost, the job was not finished. Without the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, it would not be possible for us to be church.
So we can think of it this way: in his death and resurrection, God did something for us. But in the coming down of the spirit, Pentecost, God did something in us. Jesus says that he must go to the father because if he doesn’t go, the spirit will not come. Why was it so essential for the spirit to come if Jesus already completed everything? You see, even Jesus saw the essence of the coming of the spirit as part of the overall plan that needed to happen. I think this feast and this insight about the coming of the Holy Spirit is what is missed in most Christian churches. Because a church cannot truly be a church without the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The best we can say is that we are a religious community, an ecclesiastical society. We are a group of people who want to do good, who want to know about Jesus. But what does it mean to be church? To be church means to be a group of people in whom God resides.
And that is ultimately the gift of Pentecost. What happened on that day was not only important, it was essential. And without Pentecost, we cannot fully say we are church. That’s why theologians, fathers of the church, and Anglican divines all say that Pentecost is the event marked as the birthday of the church—the beginning of the church—because it’s the moment when the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus actually enters into the reality of the lives of the apostles and disciples of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that begins to guide them, begins to help them to know what to say, what to do, and how to live. And so we can say honestly that the only measure for whether a community is a church or not is whether it is guided by God, whether God dwells within them. Are they acting in the name of God, or are they acting through God who is in their midst? I think this is essential because I think we all fall into this danger, as Christians, of knowing enough, being enough, and having enough experience that perhaps we can stop relying on God as the one who guides my life, as the one who directs my discernment, as the one who continues to help me be who I am called to be.
There are some common misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. One of them is that the Holy Spirit is some kind of a force. We get that maybe from the word “spirit.” And this is common; it originated in pagan religions of the past and kind of resurrected, pun intended, in the New Age movement of our present day. And that’s this idea that God is a force and not a person. And so this is what’s so unique about our Christian understanding of God, which came through revelation: that God is not just an initiator, some kind of force, but that God is a community of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we speak about the Holy Spirit, it’s very clearly revealed that the Holy Spirit is a person.
Now, think about how that changes our relationship with God. Think in terms of our own interaction with each other. The minute someone is identified as a person in our society, then they deserve rights, protections, and dignity because that individual is a person. Think of how many people were rescued from all kinds of negative stereotypes when someone stood up and said, “This is a person,” whether it’s the homeless on the street or through all kinds of prejudices. To highlight that someone is a person is to highlight the dignity that that individual possesses. If God is a community of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and the Holy Spirit is a person, that means that the gift offered on Pentecost is not just a gift of all kinds of abilities that God offers us, like wisdom and understanding and knowing what to do and knowing how to act. The ultimate gift of Pentecost is a gift of a person, first and foremost: the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And if the Holy Spirit is a person, that means we are called to be in a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. A personal relationship. You know, if there is a birthday party for me—when I came in today and saw all the nice tables set up in the hall, I thought, “Oh, maybe there’s a birthday party for me that I didn’t know about”—if there’s a birthday party for me and I don’t know about it, and I never show up, and everybody sings happy birthday and everybody opens gifts and everybody talks about me, is it really a birthday party for me if I am not present? If we honor the Holy Spirit and take advantage of all the gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows upon us—wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fear of the Lord, all the gifts, even the gifts of tongues and prophecy named in scripture—if we celebrate the gifts but never mention the giver, are we really doing what the church is called to do? Which is to be in a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, to call upon the Holy Spirit.
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, enkindle in them the fire of thy love.” An ancient prayer for the Holy Spirit. Notice the prayer is not about “give me stuff.” The prayer is about “come Holy Spirit,” first and foremost, allowing me to know you, to love you, to be in a relationship with you, to acknowledge that you are my Lord, you are my God, and to you I belong and I worship you. That common misconception about the Holy Spirit being some kind of a force, or some kind of an expression of God that simply allows us to do things, is something we really have to preach against because it’s not really what the church teaches or what scripture teaches. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity—a person with feelings, emotions, and desires to be known, to be loved, and to be in a relationship with. Isn’t it beautiful to think that God has feelings, emotions, and desires, not out of a need in God, but out of love? God wants to be known by us because God loves us.
There are many other misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. Another one that comes to mind is that, in some way, we have to kind of call upon the Holy Spirit only when we need the Holy Spirit—that at different times the Holy Spirit comes and goes as needed. But again, that’s not our traditional teaching based on scripture. The Holy Spirit is given to a person who comes to conversion and receives the gift of faith through baptism and the profession of faith. The Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us, never leaving us, not coming and going, or being “on call” if you will. Like we have our handyman here at the church; we call him when we need him. If we don’t need him, we hope we never have to call him. No, the Holy Spirit is always present. That’s why in the scriptures we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit, who is always present with us, by acts of lack of faith, lack of trust, or by a life that is inappropriate for a Christian, for a believer, for a human being. To think that my lack of faith can grieve the Holy Spirit, and my simple gift of faith or renewing my trust in God can strengthen and please the Holy Spirit who dwells within me constantly.
So what is the pathway forward? We are simply, I’m sure you know, not just retelling the stories of past events for the sake of nostalgia, but we are always practically thinking about what does this mean for me today, for us today? What are the takeaways? What is God teaching us when we celebrate these great events? I will mention a few things, and you can take the rest of the day thinking about others.
Number one, I think that in order for us to truly be church, we must continually call upon the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives personally and in our life as a parish community. We must be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, to sit in contemplative prayer regularly, steeped in silence and the awareness that God is with us and that God is speaking to us in all kinds of ways. If we just allow for the space and the silence to break through all the noise, God’s voice can be heard. So, a life of contemplative prayer, a contemplative approach toward our life where we do more listening than speaking. When we allow ourselves to turn off the radio when we’re driving and be aware of the presence of God in our midst, or when we encounter a difficult situation in the store or wherever, and we are still aware of God’s presence and care in that moment—that’s when we will be church to those around us.
The other thing that I think really helps us is to know that the Holy Spirit is present and would like to be a part of my life in a personal way. So, call upon the Holy Spirit. It’s so easy for us to pray to God the Father, to pray to God the Son, Jesus, but we must also specifically speak to the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us for one reason: to complete the mission of Jesus, to make sure that we don’t go off the rails and try to do things that God does not want us to do. So, be steeped and immersed in a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to know that yes, we love you, Holy Spirit, the spirit of God. And we pray to you, not only to give me strength, to give me courage, to give me peace, but I pray that you can be my gift—that you are enough. Not just your gifts, not only what you present to us, but that your presence is enough for me.
The feast of Pentecost began an incredible journey within the church. The apostles were filled with all kinds of gifts, courage that they never had before, and abilities they never had before to go out and be church. But it had to begin with that quiet, silent trust that the words of Jesus and the promise of his spirit would be fulfilled. May we have the same trust as we gather here today, and each day for some of us, and every Sunday for most of us. Amen. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Father Wojtek Kuzma