Vicar’s sermon. Pentecost 2026

Pentecost 2026
Next Wednesday Kim and I will get in the car and head off to the south of France. We’re going a little earlier than usual this year: keen to get down to Provence but not desperately keen on the temperatures of July and August. Once again, our journey down through England will take in another of the English Cathedrals. A change from previous years means we’ve abandoned the ferry from Portsmouth on our outward journey and will take the tunnel. Why? Because we will visit Rochester Cathedral on the way. Last year we visited Chichester Cathedral but were also wowed by Guildford Cathedral. And Guildford gives us our connection to today, Pentecost, the Feast that celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. Guildford Cathedral was dedicated in 1961 – a 20th century Cathedral built in brick. The colour for the brick consciously echoes that of the 15th century Albi Cathedral in the south of France. Sat on a hill outside the city Guildford is shaped like Durham: its huge tower visible from a distance. It’s not, at first sight, beautiful. But when you step through the doors it is magnificent. Inside, brick is left behind and its columns and walls are made of light stone. Its tall windows are predominantly clear – indeed the cathedral statutes forbid any stained glass being installed over a particular height. The colour scheme is a celestial blue and the whole building is full of light.
The Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. I’d never realised that churches could or were dedicated to the Holy Spirit. I’m still somewhat taken aback by how unusual this is and I wonder why. Why am I surprised that a church or Cathedral has been given this dedication? Perhaps my understanding of faith includes an unexplored sense of there being a heirarchy in the Trinity. Father at the top, Son – very important, but last of all the Holy Spirit. I know that this way of thinking isn’t correct but the Holy Spirit always seems the most difficult of the Trinity to grasp…to get a handle on. Worldwide however, the explosion of faith expressed in Pentecostal communities might suggest that I need to reconsider.
So how to re-think my understanding of the Spirit. The gift of last year’s celebration of the Nicene Creed just keeps on giving. If you have your red book to hand just glance at page 7. There we proclaim our belief (more accurately our ‘trust’ ) in the Father, Son…and there, at the bottom of the page the Holy Spirit. But look again at what is aid of the Spirit and notice that our trust in the Spirit leads on to some other statements of faith.
The Spirit is ‘the Lord, the giver of life’. ‘The Lord’ – a word already used of Jesus in the paragraph above – so the Spirit is not ‘less’ than Jesus, indeed the Spirit in the New Testament is the Spirit of Jesus.
‘The giver of life’ – a phrase that echoes the language of creation shared with the Father (‘the maker of heaven and earth) and the Son (‘through whom all things were made’).
The Spirit proceeds from the Father (and the Western church adds) and the Son. What this phrase points to is the fact that our knowledge of God does not come from our own efforts but that it comes from God Himself. He makes Himself known: the Spirit is involved in God’s revelation of Himself, for of ourselves we cannot know God. The Spirit makes Him known. As with Jesus who ‘came down from heaven, was incarnate and was made man’ – God comes to us. God makes the first move in establishing a relationship with His creation. And just in case, like me, you might have been tempted to relegate the Holy Spirit from the Premiership to the Championship in the league table of the Trinity our creed does not let us: the Spirit is ‘worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son.’
But don’t stop there. The Spirit has ‘spoken through the prophets’. He is the Spirit of Truth. He bears witness to the work of God in each and every age. He it is who, on this day brought to birth the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church – each of those words needing to be explained but we don’t have time. Enough however for now to say that the church does not exist without the work of God’s Spirit. It is God’s Spirit, that sustains us. The gift of the Spirit was not just a ‘one off’. He, as does Jesus, gives and gives His life. We share in that gift: it is living water bubbling up within the believer. His presence is wind and fire carrying us along, illuminating our path, quickening our life. No Spirit, no life. No Spirit, just the letter of the law. Morality, dry, empty.
At our baptism we pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. At our baptism we are assured of the forgiveness of sins. The grace of God is made real for us: we enter a world of overwhelming goodness and love. The Spirit makes this real for us. The Spirit opens our eyes to see the new creation. The Spirit helps us to see afresh so it is no wonder our creed ends with us looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the new age – the life of the world to come.’ The Spirit brings to us a sense of hope, a thirst for more, a desire for the transformation of all things. If you sense any of these things as you join in worship here this morning then the Spirit of God is the one to thank, the one to acknowledge.
And the gift of the Spirit is the driving force for mission. That could not be written any more clearly than in our reading from the book of Acts this morning. All those names and languages that cause the person on the reading rota for today such palpitations – the Spirit’s presence moves the disciples from the upper room where they were praying out into the public square to announce the arrival of a new world. As promised, the risen, ascended and glorified Lord Jesus has poured out God’s spirit ‘upon all flesh’. God’s redeeming presence has united things heavenly and earthly: the apostle’s appeal is for their hearers to recognise this fact. Three thousand do on that first Christian Pentecost. They see, they realise, they recognise (whatever language you want to use) that Jesus has made something new possible and the rest of the apostle’s day is spent marking this through multiple baptisms, empowering believers to live in this new world.
So this Feast of Pentecost is no small thing. It is a celebration of the gift of God to us no less than we mark at Christmas. It is a reminder of our redemption and calling, of God making Himself known to us (each one in our own way) It is a day to draw deeply from the Sprit’s goodness and grace: to remember again that we are nothing without God’s Life within us. To hep us recall these things I’m going to read an ancient prayer by Hildebert of Lavardin (formerly Bishop of Le Mans and Tours) who wrote these words for Pentecost at the end of the 11th century.
O Holy Ghost, O faithful Paraclete,
Love of the Father and the Son.
In whom begetter and begotten meet. . .
Bond that holdeth God to man.
Power that welds in one
Humanity and Deity
God making all that is
Before our day.
God guiding all that’s made
Throughout our day.
Gift that abides through an eternity
Of giving, and is made no less.
Thy going forth preceded time,
Thy pouring forth took place in time.
The one, the well-spring of power and the river of grace,
The other, the flowing, the giving, the light on our face.
Thou camest forth from thy transcendent day,
To make for us this shining feasting day.
Thou who alone
Art worthily adored
With Father and with Son,
To thee in heart and word
Be honour, worship, grace,
Here and in every place,
World without end.
Hildebert (1056-1133)