Mr. Bean & Pentecostal Power

Mr. Bean goes to church

Come Holy Spirit Come
Come as the Fire and Burn
Come as the Wind and Cleanse
Come as the Light and Reveal 
Convict, Convert, Consecrate

Until We are Wholly Yours

Somehow yesterday we ended up watching an episode of Mr. Bean, the comedy sketch series starring the brilliant Rowan Atkinson. Mr. Bean went to church and it was...hilarious.The entire sketch was funny as Bean sits "up close and personal" to another congregant, but the singing of the hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" made us laugh out loud. (easy to find the clip online.)

Nobody will be in church in Ontario today, thanks to the coranavirus, unless the gathering is either illegal or in a carefully spaced parking lot. It's particularly strange on this Sunday, because it's Pentecost, the celebration of the birth of the Christian church. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles we read that the Spirit of the living God infused a band of bewildered followers of Jesus with the courage to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in the public square . 

This is a powerful story but I never found that United Church folk were enthusiastic to observe Pentecost the way they did Christmas and Easter, despite its importance. And we now live in a largely secular culture where it wouldn't occur to most people to attend worship of any kind, even if they had the freedom to do so. 



This Pentecost we may all be considering whether the Holy Spirit has left the building, so to speak, and what the future holds for us. When will we be allowed back into our familiar places of worship, and will we comfortable doing so, even when we are given permission? Will we give the side eye to friends who are now potential killers? (I may be exaggerating!) Will it feel like church if we're required to sit a couple of metres apart, or we can't pass the peace?  The word is that communal singing is a very effective way of transmitting, so the choir is now a gang of trained assassins. 

We are already re-inventing the way we come together for worship, discern the Spirit in meetings, support one another pastorally as the Body of Christ. We're having discussions about celebrating our sacraments of communion and baptism online. Is this just a stop-gap or will we become more effective in our public witness in these new ways. Surely we realize that we can't fall asleep at the wheel, or in the pew,  of our new reality. 

Perhaps on this Pentecost Sunday we emphasize that when the Holy Spirit came two millennia ago those frightened believers were inside, only to be swept outside into a new and powerful form of witness. Is that where we're headed?  God only knows. 

1 Creative Spirit, come to us,
give vision to the minds you own,
and fill the hearts which you have made
with gifts whose grace is yours alone.

2 For you are called the Comforter,
the glorious gift of God Most High,
the living water, fire and love,
outpouring of eternity.

3 Kaleidoscope of sevenfold light,
power of the strong right hand of God,
enriching with the promised truth
the prophet's and the preacher's word.

4 Make our imaginations blaze,
and fill our hearts with flowing love,
that we, who have no strength, may know

the strong flight of the soaring dove.

9th Century Hymn -- Voices United 199