The Gust of Wind: Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

preached by The Revd Lucie Spiers, on Sunday 8 June 2025

Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Romans 8: 8-17; John 14: 15-16, 23b-26

When I lived in Cambridge and my children were young, we would often visit the Fitzwilliam Museum – it was free, child-friendly, and there always seemed to be something new to discover as we zigzagged up and down the various floors. However, one of the children would always make a beeline to find their favourite painting, created by Auguste Renoir and titled “The Gust of Wind.”

At first glance, it depicts a windswept valley in Central France. Renoir’s aim here is not so much to create an accurate representation of the landscape, but to capture the most unpaintable element: air or, more precisely, wind. Our eyes are drawn to the movement of the trees and the racing clouds in the sky—all achieved by the seemingly simple act of blurring the paint. And even though we cannot hear or feel the wind depicted on the canvas, we can see its effects on the landscape, the clouds and the trees– this is what intrigued my child. That this still, silent and comparatively small canvas miraculously held the burgeoning life and tremendous power of the wind.

The wind, essential for life as it carries pollen and seeds that contribute to plant growth, is a force of nature that cannot be stopped or controlled by humans. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is not subject to human control but moves according to its own will and purpose - the source of spiritual life and renewal, the gift promised to the disciples by Jesus. At Pentecost, it manifested in the Upper Room with a great gust of wind and a loud noise.

At Pentecost we celebrate the Holy Spirit, not merely as a feast of the doctrine of the third person of the Trinity, but celebrating the empowerment, and the sanctification that 50 days after the resurrection, was poured upon the disciples. We too receive this every day in our lives as disciples of the Lord. What we celebrate is of the present, not just a commemoration of a past event. This is why, , we continue to pray fervently for the gift of the Holy Spirit in our worship and in the liturgies for the Holy Sacraments, speaking of the Spirit frequently and with wide variation: the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Holy Ghost, Helper, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of the Risen Christ, Spirit of Truth, Wisdom, Counsel and Might, Paraclete, Advocate, Comforter.

In our desire to experience God through the Holy Spirit, we pray to the Father, ‘send thy Holy Spirit’, or we pray directly, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’. However, in today’s gospel, contrasting with the account we heard in the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus appears to the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection. Thus, the Holy Spirit comes.

The giving of the Holy Spirit occurs once Christ’s triumphant Resurrection and Ascension are complete, and the effect is the same: the once frightened, fearful, and undoubtedly perplexed disciples are granted power from on high. They are strengthened, comforted, and consecrated: filled with the Holy Spirit, they become the Body of Christ, the new creation, His Church.

The Holy Spirit is our initial entry point, our ever-present moment. Regardless of where we are in our own story, or what challenges we face in our lives, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us - the unspoken prayer when our words fumble or fail. Working with us to transform and inspire us, so that God’s work of salvation may be manifested within us. The perpetual Helper that the Lord promised is with us now.

In the Gospel, spiritual gifts are linked by Jesus to the observance of the commandments. This is a universally understood message. If we live as He has taught us, we shall become bearers of the Spirit and witnesses to Christ—being forgiving, merciful, and gentle; standing firm in the truth; and prepared to shoulder each other's burdens while carrying our own load. For Pentecost proclaims that we are one, and may this be a lived reality, not just a hoped-for phrase. For the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus in the Church, at all times and in all situations: both as we struggle and when we rejoice. Present whenever the life of Jesus is remembered and where His ‘works’ are performed anew, translated into our present life.

In our epistle reading, we have heard how the Apostles preached boldly without fear and were able to reach each present in words they could understand. And this touches our witness today in a transferred sense. For the idea of faith in God is now so far removed from many of our contemporaries that, should we even give an account of our faith, we might as well be speaking in a foreign tongue. May the spirit stir up in us words and gestures that will speak to all of God's gifts in Christ. The Holy Spirit is with us and leads us into all truth. Sadly, the truth is that our world is not as it should be; it is unjust and cruel, groaning and breaking. It is for this reason that we are empowered by God through the Holy Spirit to comfort and heal, to restore and revive, and to bring forth light and hope.

We cannot receive the Holy Spirit without then using what we have been empowered with. And in the day-to-day, our words and actions do not always need to be lengthy proclamations or momentous events. For like Renoir’s painting, which clearly represents the strength and noise of the wild wind, the power of the Holy Spirit can be found in the silent. The silent gesture of welcome. The silent signature on a petition. The silent donation for those in greater need. In the silence of prayer. For the Spirit is ‘perfect stillness, ever moving’. [1]

God has commissioned us - may he grant us the grace to be faithful to it.

In the words of the prayer we will hear after communion today, “Send down upon our hearts the healthful spirit of thy grace, and that we may bring forth fruit unto thee; pour upon us the inward dew of his blessing.”

_____________________________________

[1] Steven Shakespeare: ‘Come, Holy Gift’ from Come Holy Gift: Prayer Poems for the Christian Year