Sermons from St
Faith's
The Church's Birthday
Pentecost Parade Talk
from Fr. John with the assistance of the St.
Faith’s Rainbows.
Sunday, 2nd June, 2019
Many years ago I went on a family holiday in
Normandy. We planned to go fishing at a trout
lake which had picnic tables. The owner welcomed
us in French. My French is rudimentary; “Je voudrais
de pecheur un poisson pour deux persons.” Or, two of
the family would like to catch a fish. When then
had a disjointed conversation about bait. I had the
angler's standby in my fishing bag: sSweet corn (le
mais) and SPAM (le SPAM), then the language and the
conversation got too technical for my level of
French. I think with hindsight he owner was
suggesting he had other baits that the trout
liked. The day was sunny, the picnic was as nice
as usual, and the bait was tried. The site owner
was obviously getting concerned about the lake's
reputation, so he arrived every few hours with a
dustbin of trout which he threw into the lake just
ahead of our pitch. But alas no fish were
caught. If I had understood French better I
could have had some bait that French trout enjoy, and
maybe would have caught some fish.
The story of Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit coming
to 11 frightened men from Galilee who could speak
their own language well, hiding in fear in a room and
the spirit gave them the courage and the ability for
them to be understood by nearly a thousand people from
all over the Roman World: people who spoke many other
languages. The Spirit literally tears down the
things that divide people including nationality and
language and brings them together.
The Rev. Denise has lent me an amazing device, flames
without fire! (The device is brought forward and
Fr. John looks for a switch to make it work)
Rev. Denise says “you need to plug it in.” The
M.C. arrives with an extension lead, and we have
flames. (everyone goes aaah!) I then explain
there are two lights and some pieces of cloth, and
something that makes wind that moves the bits of
cloth. The wind is like the wind of the Spirit
that drives the disciple out into the street to tell
of Jesus's love. The fire is the courage the disciples
found to go, not just into Jerusalem but out into many
countries, telling people of Jesus's love, who in turn
told others of Jesus's love, eventually reaching the
shores of our country too.
And so we often call Pentecost the birthday of the
church,as the church grew from 11 to thousands in one
day, and the Rainbows have brought something you have
on birthdays. (shouts of “it’s a cake" from the
Rainbows. The Rainbows bring the cake out and the
congregation sing “Happy Birthday dear Church.”
And then the Rainbows lead us in the words and actions of;
Who’s
the king of the jungle
who’s the king of the sea
Who’s the king of the universe and whose the king of
me.
I tell you J E S U S is
He’s the king of me
He’s the king of the universe
the jungle and the sea.
