There is a period of human history called the “Dark Ages.”
It started in about the fifth century and continued for around the next 600 years.
You might say it was like 600-years of depression – food was scarce, people lived hand-to-mouth – and Western civilization barely hung by a thread.
The one bright spot in all of this was the local church.
Building churches even in small towns gave work to hundreds and hundreds of people.
These buildings became the cultural, social and spiritual centers of life…and were such – for hundreds of years…
Murals, stained glass windows, sculptures and pageantry “helped teach” the great stories of the Bible in a time when very few people could read…
It was a “visual age.”
The Church – actually became the mainstay in people’s lives. It was the most important thing…and the whole of the town or the city was built around it.
With this in mind some of the large churches and cathedrals were built especially to impress on the people “the meaning of Pentecost.”
In the great domed and richly painted ceilings were a number of small carefully disguised doors.
During worship on the Day of Pentecost when the whole town was gathered in the cathedral, some unlucky parishioners were drafted to climb up on to the roof.
At the appropriate moment during the liturgy, they would release “a live dove” through the one of the small openings.
This dove would swoop over the congregation as “a living symbol” of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
At that very same moment the choir boys would make whooshing noise and the doors in the ceiling would be swung open again and this time buckets of rose petals were showered on the congregation, symbolizing the tongues of flame or fire – falling on the worshiping community below.
You cannot imagine “the impact” that this made on “the drab and hard lives” of those medieval Christians. It was like a gift from heaven-itself!!! They may not have been able to read about Pentecost from the Bible but nevertheless this visual demonstration must have left them totally speechless. It was wonderful. Pentecost was recreated!
There are no trap doors in our roof and rest assured you won’t need to “duck” from a low flying dove. Besides that, if anything (here in this place) we would expect a low flying bat, named VLAD.
But like those early medieval Christians we need to be impressed on “how important” the Holy Spirit is for us.
We need to be reminded that God has provided us the help we need to be “channels of his love and grace” to a violent, self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking, materialistic world.
Over the millennia the Holy Spirit has obviously been described in many ways:
He is like a breath that blows away the dust and makes everything clean.
He is like refreshing cool water to a parched throat.
He is like a cleansing bush fire that burns away all the thick undergrowth so that something new can rise out of the ashes.
He is like a potter who starts with an odd-shaped lump of clay and moulds and shapes it into something beautiful.
He is like a loving spouse whispering into an ear reassurances of love and support and care.
He is like a parent guiding and helping a confused child.
He is like a tour guide who points us in the right direction to see things that we would otherwise have missed.
He is that abrupt awakening; that reminds us that there is more to life than earning money, relentlessly pushing ourselves until we are dog-dead tired, stressed and depressed. There is something more…
That is what the Holy Spirit does – he revitalizes, renews, refreshes, leads, strengthens, empowers, creates, he reminds, he guides, he comforts the church, those in the church and those whom he touches “outside the church.”
The Spirit was sent for us. The Spirit is our helper.
This weekend, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church and the gifts of God, given to the people of God.
We are blessed in oh-so-many-ways!
Amen.