"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit."

When the day of Pentecost had come, the Holy Spirit came like wind and fire, and inspired--inspirited--the disciples to become the Church. And because of that event you and I are here today, celebrating Pentecost, being filled with the Spirit ourselves, so that we now can be the Church.

Wind and fire are the Bible's two favorite symbols for the Holy Spirit. And of the two I think fire is the one we recognize most readily. We're all wearing red today for Pentecost, because red is the color of fire. A lot of red vestments for churches have flame patterns worked into them, for the fire of the Holy Spirit. In prayer we ask the Holy Spirit to kindle in us the fire of God's love. We make a strong connection between the Holy Spirit and fire.

But I also think the symbol of wind has a lot to tell us about the Spirit. The Genesis creation story says that the Spirit moved like a wind over the face of the deep in the beginning of Creation. Our psalm today speaks of how God sends forth the Spirit and it blows living breath into beings, and so the Spirit renews the face of the earth. And of course the connection between wind and breath and Spirit--the connection between the atmosphere which is within us and the atmosphere which is so much larger than us--is a favorite symbol for the way our human spirits are held and nurtured and empowered in divine Spirit.

A professor of mine at Vanderbilt had another wind-image that he liked to use to point to something important about the Spirit. Professor Hodgson liked to sail, and he pointed out to us in class that the wind works on sailboats differently from the way most of us think it works. We tend to think that the wind fills the sail, and the sail catches the wind, and the wind pushes the sail and its sailboat ahead through the water. But in point of fact the physics of sailing are quite different. The wind fills the sail, and the sail creates a bowed, rounded shape--kind of like the wing of an airplane--and as the wind spills around this wing-like shape, it creates a little vacuum, a little open space, just ahead of the sail. Of course nature abhors a vacuum, so the sail tries to rush forward to fill that open space--and the wind actually ends up drawing the sailboat along with it. Not pushing the sailboat from behind, but drawing the sailboat from ahead. And that, said Professor Hodgson, is how the Spirit works with us: the Spirit fills us, and surrounds us, and creates an open space, a space for visions and dreams and possibilities, a space which draws us into God, a space which draws us into God's preferred future for us.

I think that notion of the Spirit drawing us onward into God is a marvelous way of understanding what Paul is saying in our Epistle passage today. Listen to Paul's words: "When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him."

When we pray to God as Father, as Abba, as Daddy, when we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, saying "Our Father in heaven"--when we pray, it is not just us praying, but it is the Spirit also praying in us--it is God moving us from within, God drawing us into God above. Prayer is not just us reaching out to God, but prayer is God drawing us into God's own life, God drawing us into participating in the exchange of love which is ever eternally flowing between Father and Son and Spirit. The Spirit opens up the space where we can be drawn into the very life of God.

That's what Paul means by calling us "children" of God--not that we're permanently childish compared to God; not that we're somehow biologically different or genetically special because of God; but we are children of God because the Spirit draws us into sharing God's own life, the way the child shares the life of the parent, the way the child inherits from the parent those family traits, those particular qualities, that shape our identity and help make us who we are. We are heirs of God, because the Spirit draws us into sharing God's own characteristics of love and justice and peace and wisdom and creativity and life. We are heirs of God because the Spirit opens up the space where we can be drawn into becoming more godly ourselves.

And we know that's true because that is what we see in Jesus. Jesus inherited from God all those godly qualities of life, Jesus lived out those qualities in all his ministry and mission and preaching and teaching and healing, Jesus revealed God's love and God's justice and God's peace in his suffering and in his glory. And just as Jesus inherited those characteristics from God, so now the Spirit draws us into being joint-heirs with Jesus, so that we may inherit and participate in those godly characteristics as well. We are joint-heirs with Christ and heirs of God, because the Spirit is drawing us, bearing witness with our spirits, drawing us into sharing the very life of God.

And so that leaves us with a question, on this Feast of the Pentecost: Where is the Spirit drawing us now? If the Spirit draws us into participating in the life of God, if the Spirit draws us into the opening of God's future, then where in particular is the Spirit drawing us now?

Where is the Spirit drawing you? Is there some part of your life where you feel like a new wind is blowing? Is there some part of your life where you feel like a space is opening up, where new possibilities are opening for you? This is the time of year when there are a lot of graduations, a lot of our young people are getting ready to end one time of schooling and take a step out into something new--and of course that means that new possibilities, new spaces are opening up now for their families, too. Maybe your family is experiencing that kind of opening. Last week I was gone on a continuing education conference, and I learned some things and had a chance to think about some things that seem to be opening up new possibilities in my sense of vocation and my vision for ministry here at St George's. What about you?--is there some part of your life where the energy seems to be up, where your passions seem to be engaged, where it feels to you like there is something drawing you to be active and involved and enthusiastic and excited? Is there? There is a good chance that is the Holy Spirit, filling you, and surrounding you, and opening up the space to draw you deeper into God.

And where is the Spirit drawing us as a parish, as a congregation, as a community in Christ? That is an ongoing conversation, an ongoing discernment, that we've been building up around St George's for awhile now. One of the things I think the Spirit is drawing us into--you've heard me say this before, and you're going to hear me say this a lot--one of the things I think the Spirit is drawing us into is a greater sense of shared leadership, a greater sense that each and every one of us participates in making the decisions and doing the deeds that make St George's happen. Remember that in the story from Acts today, every single one of those hundred-and-twenty persons who had come together on Pentecost was filled with the Spirit and began speaking about God's deeds of power in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. To be sure, when the crowd questioned, Peter began to speak as the leader on behalf of them all. But every single one of them had inspiration and creativity and leadership in the Spirit--it wasn't just Peter, but all of them were inspired. I think that's how we at St George's are called to be, too: we have our elected and acknowledged leaders, to be sure; but every single one of us is gifted with inspiration and creativity and leadership to work together to become the Church. I truly believe that at this moment in St George's life, the Spirit is filling us and surrounding us and creating the space that draws us forward into new possibilities for sharing leadership, so that we may more deeply share the very life of God. Discerning this drawing of the Spirit among us is, I think, one of the most important things we can be doing together to help our congregation grow.

"Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Ans all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." May the Holy Spirit fill our sails, too, and draw us together into the glory and the mission of God. Amen.