Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:18)

I’m not a Royalist and I hadn’t intended to watch any of the royal wedding yesterday. Then I started hearing about Michael Curry and the sermon he preached at the wedding. It was a full-on, full-length sermon on the power of love and its origins in God, delivered with passion and energy. I was interested in the comments. Some thought he should have “toned it down”. Others were thrilled by his passion and enthusiasm. You may wish to speculate which side I came down on. 

For some it seemed a bit too American. We tend, sometimes, to distrust enthusiasm in this country. It’s like the story of the American who’s visiting Scotland and he comes to the Church of Scotland. While the minster is preaching, every so often this guy proclaims, “Praise the Lord” as he is moved by the sermon. This happens a few times and eventually the Session Clerk leans forward, from the pew behind him and says, “We dinnae Praise the Lord here.”

You can be quietly passionate. You can be quietly enthusiastic. You don’t have to go for the full-on, hand-waving, full-volume thing to be enthusiastic. But there are those want religion to be unenthusiastic. There are those who want religion lifeless and anaemic. There are those who would restrict religion to one’s private life; to make it no more than a set of quaint beliefs and traditions that members of the club engage in when they rock up to church on a Sunday morning. There are those who think that religion should restrict itself to a few well-chosen bon-mots, a harmless homily or two and an unchallenging recital of a short essay on the Bible that is easily digestible before Sunday lunch.

There are those who would say that’s in keeping with the Scottish psyche: we don’t get carried away. But this is Pentecost. If you can’t get enthusiastic at Pentecost, when can you? This is the Sunday when we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Sunday when we reflect on what the Holy Spirit - it’s the indwelling of God in human beings, the presence of God in our hearts and our minds and our souls. It’s when we read of that Holy Spirit coming as tongues of fire that touched each of the disciples of Jesus, filling them with the word, the song, the love of God. That’s what enthusiasm means - literally - having God within.

Out onto the streets go the followers of Jesus and they start to speak. They speak in the languages of all the people gathered in Jerusalem because it doesn’t matter where people come from - this message, the message of the love of God for humanity, is for all. People start to listen - this is something challenging, something new and exciting. Sure, there are some who scoff. There are some who accuse the disciples of being drunk. There are some, one imagines, who would roll their eyes at such unrestrained enthusiasm.

Then Peter starts to speak. This isn’t a bishop or a scribe. It’s not someone who’s been trained in homiletics or liturgical theory. Peter is a fisherman, like countless other fishermen from the towns and villages in the Galilee. Here, though, with boldness, he speaks of the Holy Spirit of God being poured out on everyone, whatever their station in life, whoever they are, however important, or unimportant they may have thought themselves to be. He speaks of seeing visions and dreaming dreams. He speaks of prophecy. Above all, though, he speaks of the love of God for humanity - all humanity.

Before the crucifixion, according to John, Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit. he associated himself with the Holy Spirit. There is an association. In Jesus God came into the world as a living human being, to live the kind of life we live as human beings, to share the experiences, the pains and sorrows, the joy and laughter of men and women - people like you and me. In the Holy Spirit he lives within us - guiding us, prodding us, cajoling us, toward a way of life that reflects the love he has for us and that he wants us to have for each other; toward a world in which we are truly human in the fullest and best sense of the word.

For there are those who would tell you that we are consumers; that our purpose in life is to get lots and lots of good things for ourselves. It’s an idea that has been spread throughout our society, to the point where, at school, I have been told to think of those I teach - or their parents -as ‘customers’ or stakeholders. That’s not who we are. That’s not what life should be about.

There are those who would tell you that we are nothing more than biological machines - lumbering robots acting at the command of our genes. They will tell you that we “programmed” for this or “hard-wired” for that. And that winds up justifying the selfishness and the greed that too often informs our dealings with each other; the selfishness and the greed that leads to hunger and starvation and want; that leads to the exploitation of the weak by the strong and of the poor by the wealthy. That’s not what life should be about.

There’s something - something deep within each and every one of us - that knows that. There’s something that reaches for something richer and more beautiful than the shiny things the world offers. There’s something that reaches for a world where no one goes hungry and no one is forgotten; a world where no one is abused for their race or the colour of their skin; a world where swords are beaten into ploughshares and we study war no more. There’s something that reaches to be more than the things that restrict us and limit us as human beings, that reaches for the light. That is God’s Holy Spirit.

That same Holy Spirit is alive here and now. It lives in you and it lives in me. It touches the lives of men and women through ordinary people like you and me. It lives in the words we say and the way we treat others, if they reflect the love of God for those we meet and talk to. It lives in a thousand acts of kindness and decency and generosity each and every day. It lives in each hand offered to someone in need, each embrace of fellowship, each smile of compassion, each gesture of love.

We have so few years here, before we take our place in eternity with God. We have so few years in this world which needs vision and hope. We have so few years when we can touch the lives of others. What a waste if we live them without enthusiasm! The Holy Spirit lives in each and every one of us offering us a vision of a world changed, renewed, reborn through the love of God for all his children. A world where no one goes hungry when there is food enough for all. A world where no one goes homeless when there is space enough for all. A world where no one is enslaved, no one is forgotten, no one is despised and no one goes unrecognised as a child of God. 

That’s a vision that needs to be shared. So go! Be enthusiastic! Be quietly enthusiastic or volubly enthusiastic. Be enthusiastic in forgiveness and be enthusiastic in generosity. Be enthusiastically just and fair. Be enthusiastic for the rights and freedoms of others. The Holy Spirit of God lives within you - go and prophesy. Go and show the folk you meet who they are meant to be.

Lord fill us with your Holy Spirit as you filled your son’s disciples at Pentecost. Help us to offer those we meet the blessings of your love. Help us to play our part in reshaping the world

Preached at Gretna Old parish church