WEBVTT 00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:03.990 Joyous Feast Day. My greetings to all of you 00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:13.589 brothers and sisters on this important day. How 00:00:13.589 --> 00:00:21.350 is it important? Imagine you have a beautiful 00:00:21.350 --> 00:00:27.510 Rolls Royce. There's no oil, there's no gas, 00:00:27.530 --> 00:00:31.379 and the battery's dead. Not much good, is it? 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:35.299 Remember, when Jesus rose from the dead, the 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:40.920 apostles hid themselves in that upper room because 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:43.859 they were still afraid. But on the day of Pentecost, 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:48.280 this is a feast they named after a number, 50 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.920 days after that Paschal event, after the resurrection, 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:56.859 the disciples became fearless, brave, and full 00:00:56.859 --> 00:01:00.570 of faithfulness. They were sanctified. They spoke 00:01:00.570 --> 00:01:02.909 in other languages. They weren't just babbling 00:01:02.909 --> 00:01:07.670 on the ground, flailing away. They spoke in languages 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:10.849 people could understand. So Pentecost is the 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:16.829 day in which the resurrected life, we begin to 00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:21.189 be equipped to live it, to proclaim it, and to 00:01:21.189 --> 00:01:24.909 be transformed by it. There's gas, there's oil, 00:01:25.250 --> 00:01:30.030 and the battery works. And now you have an amazing 00:01:30.030 --> 00:01:36.969 vehicle. We heard this hymn last night. It's 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:39.310 one of my favorite hymns. It's important to me. 00:01:40.370 --> 00:01:42.530 And it's important that we don't hear it just 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:45.129 as some kind of religious sounding language. 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:49.849 But we don't know what it means. We sang this. 00:01:49.909 --> 00:01:53.469 We celebrate Pentecost. And the coming of the 00:01:53.469 --> 00:01:58.189 Spirit. And the time. appointed for the promise 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:04.150 and the fulfillment of hope. What is this appointed 00:02:04.150 --> 00:02:08.129 of the promise, this time appointed? What is 00:02:08.129 --> 00:02:11.430 this fulfillment of hope? Do you feel that? Do 00:02:11.430 --> 00:02:15.129 you sense there's something profound there? Of 00:02:15.129 --> 00:02:18.990 course, the time appointed for the promise and 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:22.009 the fulfillment of hope has to do with those 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:25.610 words of Jesus being made real in us. He who 00:02:25.610 --> 00:02:29.849 believes in me, out of his belly, his very essence, 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:32.669 the depths of his heart and soul, shall flow 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:36.590 rivers of living water that is the Holy Spirit. 00:02:37.729 --> 00:02:43.169 Let me take you back to the celebration of Pentecost 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:48.750 in Jerusalem and what it was about. It was important 00:02:48.750 --> 00:02:52.569 for the Jews. They gathered in massive numbers 00:02:52.569 --> 00:02:57.840 for this festival. If you think back to the book 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:04.159 of Exodus, Moses goes to the mountain, and there 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:08.620 on the mountain, in the cloud of the Holy Spirit, 00:03:08.759 --> 00:03:15.300 he receives, he is given by God, the law. Banish 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:20.159 from your mind this idea of Charlton Heston coming 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.280 down the mountain. I mean, for us old -timers, 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.939 we probably saw the movie. Some of you probably 00:03:25.939 --> 00:03:28.900 haven't. Coming down from the mountain with these 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:32.800 tablets, you know, like on one side, like there's 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.780 five commandments. On the other side, there's 00:03:34.780 --> 00:03:37.259 five more commandments. And you've got the Ten 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:39.620 Commandments, and you're good to go. But then, 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:41.659 of course, he has to break one because he's so 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:45.639 angry. There were two, and they were copies, 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:50.120 by the way, but that's another story. It wasn't 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:54.340 just ten. It was the whole covenant. It was God 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:58.719 saying, I took you out of the slavery of Egypt. 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:06.620 I made you free. I brought you here and fed you 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:12.560 with manna. You drank water from a rock. You 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.120 are a people now that were before not a people. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.500 You were nobody. And I established a covenant 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:23.839 with you. And the terms of the covenant are this. 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:26.220 Yes, the Ten Commandments are part of that, but 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:31.600 it's the whole teaching of the Torah, the five 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:40.920 books. But this covenant tells the people, if 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:45.000 I'm your God, says the God Most High, then you 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.959 keep these terms. Keep away from sexual immorality. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.220 Do not practice child sacrifice. Do not practice 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:58.759 cannibalism. Take care of the land and community 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.620 life and so on. There's so many of these rules. 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:09.519 But think. All these rules are somehow external 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.339 to the people. They're outside of them. They're 00:05:14.339 --> 00:05:16.579 not a way to connect to God. They're a way to 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:19.980 follow commandments. which is good and was necessary 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:25.120 for the purification of those people. The fulfillment 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.519 of the hope, the time anticipated as that hymn 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:34.420 says that we sang last night, is that it's not 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:39.879 just Moses receiving a law, but all of the people 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:46.600 in the upper room calling upon God now receive. 00:05:47.129 --> 00:05:50.230 in their hearts, in the form of tongues of fire. 00:05:51.569 --> 00:05:56.870 The Holy Spirit himself and the heart becomes 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:02.029 the temple of God. God is no longer distant. 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:05.990 God is no longer separate. The people are sanctified. 00:06:06.290 --> 00:06:11.209 They're united. They're deified. What does the 00:06:11.209 --> 00:06:15.430 Holy Spirit do? Who is he? Not some kind of, 00:06:15.509 --> 00:06:22.769 I don't know, impersonal power, but he's a person. 00:06:22.970 --> 00:06:25.370 Listen to what St. Gregory the theologian says. 00:06:26.389 --> 00:06:30.069 He is invisible. He is eternal, incomprehensible, 00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:33.550 unchangeable, without quality, without quantity, 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:37.370 without form, impalpable, self -moving, eternally 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:42.509 moving, with free will, self -powerful, all -powerful. 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:48.100 Life and life giver, light and light giver, absolute 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:51.220 good, the spring of goodness, the right, the 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.639 princely spirit, the governing spirit, the Lord, 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:56.139 the sender, the separator, builder of his own 00:06:56.139 --> 00:07:00.360 temple. That's you and me. Leading, working as 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.379 he wills, distributing his own gifts, the spirit 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:06.379 of adoption, which we become children of God. 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:09.500 The spirit of truth, of wisdom, the spirit of 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:12.199 understanding, the spirit of knowledge, of godliness, 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:17.120 of counsel, and of fear. By whom the Father is 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.540 known and by whom the Son is glorified, by whom 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:24.779 alone he is known, one class, one service, worship, 00:07:24.939 --> 00:07:29.740 power, perfection, sanctification. And then St. 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.740 Gregory says, well, why make a long sermon of 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:38.620 it? All that the Father has? The Son has, except 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:42.019 being unbegotten. All that the Son has, the Spirit 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:47.720 has, except proceeding from the Father. And so, 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:53.899 today, we begin a new path, a renewal for ourselves 00:07:53.899 --> 00:07:59.480 by God. This month is a month of sanctification. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:03.879 It's a month of holiness. It's a month of glory 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:07.620 of the Church. We begin with Pentecost. And then 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.160 next week, All Saints. And the week after that, 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:13.259 All Saints of America and whatever land. And 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:16.540 then after that, St. John of Shanghai and San 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:21.600 Francisco. St. Columba of Iona. St. John the 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:27.019 Baptist. St. Peter and Paul. It's a torrent of 00:08:27.019 --> 00:08:30.680 holiness poured out for our inspiration because 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:35.519 you and I, brothers and sisters, If we receive 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:40.200 the gift of the Spirit in the same way that the 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:42.779 people of Israel received the gift of the law 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:47.000 of God. In other words, to abide and live by 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.279 the Spirit and the freedom of the Spirit and 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:52.320 the holiness and the joy of the Spirit. Look 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.519 in your handouts today. There's a little article 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:58.340 about joy, Christian joy. Christians need to 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:01.080 be joyful because of what they have received, 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:08.289 the resurrection and the Holy Spirit. Saint Philaret 00:09:08.289 --> 00:09:11.129 of Moscow, a 19th century saint, the Metropolitan, 00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:16.710 said, what should we experience when we have 00:09:16.710 --> 00:09:21.190 the Holy Spirit? He says, the Holy Spirit is 00:09:21.190 --> 00:09:25.990 immaterial fire that acts in two ways, light 00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:31.549 and warmth. The light of faith and faithfulness, 00:09:31.669 --> 00:09:39.570 the warmth of love. Our task this month, if this 00:09:39.570 --> 00:09:44.669 is truly sanctification month, holiness month, 00:09:44.809 --> 00:09:49.470 if these words aren't just religious sounding 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:56.990 and empty, then our task this month is to acquire 00:09:56.990 --> 00:10:00.789 the gifts of the Spirit since we have the gift 00:10:00.789 --> 00:10:05.490 of the Spirit within us. And what are those things? 00:10:06.860 --> 00:10:11.659 Who can quote Galatians chapter 5 for me? Love, 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:17.679 joy, peace. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:26.840 Long -suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:36.759 gentleness, and self -control. Spend time. asking 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.419 the Holy Spirit, O Heavenly King, come and abide 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:43.419 in us, to grant you the path of those gifts. 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:49.940 Spend one week on one of those gifts. You've 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:53.159 got nine weeks ahead, and then start over. Even 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:56.419 Benjamin Franklin knew to do that, and he was 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:02.700 no Orthodox Christian. Brothers and sisters, 00:11:04.590 --> 00:11:07.870 without this feast day and our celebration of 00:11:07.870 --> 00:11:12.409 this feast day and our acquisition of the meaning 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:16.529 of this feast day, then Pascha remains just a 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:19.470 celebration in the middle of the night and we 00:11:19.470 --> 00:11:22.250 have some great food and we're exhausted. And 00:11:22.250 --> 00:11:24.970 the hymns are wonderful, but what's it all mean? 00:11:25.429 --> 00:11:29.549 Today is what it all means. Acquire love, joy, 00:11:29.769 --> 00:11:32.690 peace, long -suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:40.039 gentleness. Self -control. Be awakened. And let 00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:44.340 the Spirit take up residence in your heart so 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:47.639 that you are indeed the temple of the living 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:48.860 God. Amen.