St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
May 28, 2023
Year A: The Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 20:19-23
The Final Frontier
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Today we arrive at the fiftieth day after Easter – the great feast of Pentecost - the day when we remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit – God at work in the world and in the Church - the gift that transformed fearful disciples into bold apostles – the gift that propelled Jesus’ friends out of hiding and into the streets – out into the world – proclaiming the best news of all time in a language that everybody could understand:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
You may have noticed that today’s lessons actually give us two Pentecost stories.
In addition to the loud and fiery account in the Acts of the Apostles, there’s also the quieter but no less powerful passage I just read from the Gospel of John.
In John’s telling, Easter and Pentecost are essentially one event: the Risen Christ appears to the frightened disciples and breathes the Holy Spirit on them – giving them power and authority and, most of all, courage to leave fear behind and head out into the world proclaiming the Good News:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Rather than being troubled by the apparent contradictions, I think it’s great that we have these two Pentecost stories – they tell us something important about the Holy Spirit:
The Spirit sometimes acts in big and loud ways – and sometimes the Spirit acts with just a whisper.
But in both cases, the Spirit propels us out into the world, out to the frontier.
Many of the first disciples fanned out, sharing the Good News – an ancient tradition claims that our own patron, the Apostle Thomas, brought the Gospel all the way to India – and we know that Peter and Paul made it to Rome where they sacrificed their lives for Jesus.
And Christians have been bringing the Gospel to the frontier ever since.
Here at St. Thomas’, this year it felt like Pentecost arrived a few days early.
First, on Wednesday, we celebrated the Feast of Jackson Kemper, the Episcopal Church’s first Missionary Bishop, a man who was propelled by the Holy Spirit to bring the gospel to what was then the American frontier and what is today the Midwest.
For reasons you’ll understand in a moment, Kemper makes me feel like a total slacker.
Jackson Kemper was born in Upstate New York in 1789, was baptized at Trinity Church Wall Street, graduated from what was then Columbia College (He was the valedictorian) and then was ordained a priest at age 23.
From just about the start, he was a missionary – first to western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and eastern Ohio.
After he was elected Missionary Bishop in 1835, the Holy Spirit propelled Kemper even farther afield – to Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota.
For years he traveled throughout the West. He had to bring everything he needed, and endured all sorts of discomforts and challenges.
Bishop Kemper managed to organize six dioceses, consecrated nearly 100 churches, confirmed about 10,000 people, and ordained more than 200 priests and deacons to serve all those newborn churches.
He was way ahead of his time in encouraging lay ministry.
Kemper was especially interested in sharing the Gospel with Native Americans, encouraging the translation of the Bible into local languages, and even lifting up indigenous people for ministry.
Oh, and he founded a seminary in Wisconsin called Nashotah House, which is still in operation.
After Kemper “retired” from missionary work, he was elected Bishop of Wisconsin and he served in that role until his death in 1870, at the age of 80.
I can’t talk about Kemper and his work without mentioning the complicated and often painful and tragic history of the Church and Native Americans: other Christian missionaries – including Episcopalians - often disrespected local culture and the boarding schools they founded were frequently sites of unspeakable abuse.
But, I wanted to share with you the story of Bishop Kemper because, just like the Holy Spirit propelled the first disciples to the frontier, the Holy Spirit propelled Jackson Kemper to the frontier.
And, today, I believe the Holy Spirit is propelling us to the frontier – sometimes loudly and sometimes quietly.
But today the frontier is not Wisconsin – the frontier is not necessarily someplace far away.
No, today the frontier – the final frontier, you might say – is right next door, or across the street, or the office down the hall.
Although I failed in my attempts to line up a Baptism for today, we did have a most joyful Baptism last week, when, young Charles Joseph Worthington was plunged into the depths and rose again to begin his new life with Christ.
As we do at every Baptism, we renewed our Baptismal Covenant – including our promise, with God’s help, to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
And we do that not in some far off place but right here and now – in our daily lives – at frontier posts like school, work, the club, the supermarket, or even Blakehurst.
On the Feast of Jackson Kemper it felt like Pentecost had arrived early – and it also felt like an early Pentecost last Sunday evening when Wanda, along with just about the whole choir and I, went to Blakehurst – a local retirement community – to offer a Vespers service.
Now, when this was first proposed months ago, I thought, great idea!
After all, I love an active church!
But, last Sunday we had a very full day – the Baptism, honoring graduates and our lay leaders, Rogation Sunday walking tours of the campus, our usual three services.
I managed to squeeze in only a very abbreviated Sunday afternoon nap.
And so, by the time I was driving over to Blakehurst for our 7:30 pm service, I was tired and wondering how this was going to go. I was having second thoughts about the whole thing.
I’m no Jackson Kemper!
But then, our choir members began to arrive – and not just a few of them, as I had sort of expected – but almost everybody – they had had a long day, too – but they found the time and energy to head to the frontier and bring the Holy Spirit to about 30 of the residents who attended.
For the most part, these were people who can’t get to church any longer – and I loved watching them make their way into the meeting room and seeing their surprise that the choir was here – their wonder and delight that we had brought the beauty and love of God to them.
And their eyes lit up and their faces beamed as the choir began to sing – proclaiming the Good News in a language everybody could understand.
Oh yes, last week, Pentecost arrived early.
Despite our tiredness and uncertainty and maybe even nervousness, the Holy Spirit propelled us to the final frontier – just a short trip over to Blakehurst, where with people who might sometimes feel ignored or even forgotten, we proclaimed by word and example - and, most of all song - we proclaimed the Good News of God in Christ:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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