The Breath of God: A sermon for Pentecost during a time of uncertainty.

This is the sermon that I offered up during Morning Prayer on May 31, 2020. This service was held via the zoom platform for St John's Episcopal Church in Dubuque, Iowa. The reason that services weren't held in person was due to the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented the congregation from gathering together. The scripture readings were Numbers 11:24-30, Psalm 104:25-35&37, Acts 2:1-21, and John 20:19-23.
O Lord, you have given us peace and have forgiven us. May your breath move through us so we may do your will here on earth. In the name of the Holy Trinity, one God. Amen.
Today is Pentecost! It’s not just a day to wear red and white to church.  It is remembered as the day that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and filled the Disciples of Jesus.  It was noisy, just like a day of protest.  There was a violent wind, just as a night filled with unrest.  There was prophecy, and tongues like fire rested on the Disciples. And they were filled, filled with the Spirit of God.  The Breath of God.  And that day the Disciples spoke, using the breath they had received to speak in the languages of all who were there. Many were amazed but perplexed at how this could happen. 
When the Holy Spirit comes. Hold onto your hat, the breath of God can do amazing things, not just a couple thousand years ago in Jerusalem.  But here and now.  In this place. In your home. With you and me and everyone that we come into contact with.  It can move across the pain and suffering and sorrows of systems of injustice.
Jesus introduced the Disciples to the Holy Spirit by breathing on them. Jesus’ breath. God’s breath. The Holy Spirit.
Breath is important to our life, if we don’t breathe, we die.
All of us now take a deep breath and hold it for a few moments then exhale.
Let’s do that again.
For myself at least, that calms me. It gives me strength.  It makes me feel better. The Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, is with us all of the time.  It is just sometimes we don’t pay enough attention to notice.
With the first cry of a newborn baby.  The Breath of God is there.
With the last exhalation before death.  The Breath of God is there.
With jubilant singing. The Breath of God is there.
With a person intubated on a respirator.  The Breath of God is there.
With a protester standing up for what is right.  The Breath of God is there.
With George Floyd whispering, “I can’t breathe.”  The Breath of God is there.
The Breath of God is around us.  The Holy Spirit moves in and out of each one of us all of the time.  The questions are:  Are we going to notice the Holy Spirit?  And, what are we going to do about it?
Like the hymn says.
Spirit of the Living God.
Fall afresh on me.
Melt me.
Mold me. 
Fill me.
Use me.
Spirit of the Living God.
Fall afresh on me.
Across the country, and here in Dubuque, we have a chance to listen to the Breath of God, and we have the opportunity to use the privileges that we have to use our breath and raise our voices for justice.  Pentecost is here.  Pentecost is now.  The Holy Spirit is in all of us.  Let's do something about it.
Amen.

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