Holy Flash Mob

Homily for June 4, 2017 (Pentecost Sunday)
Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23

Have you ever been part of a flash mob or seen one over the past few years? Merriam-Webster describes a flash mob as “a group of people summoned (as by e-mail or text message) to a designated location at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing.”  The action usually involves singing, dancing or a combination of the two; and some flash mobs have been recorded and posted to YouTube or similar sites.  The size and quality of these gatherings varies, but some are quite inspiring.

One of my favorites was sponsored by a bank in the Spanish city of Sabadell.  It begins with a solitary bass player in the town plaza placidly playing the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.  At first he is just the object of mild curiosity.  He is soon joined by a cello, some violins and an oboe, then more violins.  Over the next few minutes they are joined by more musicians and singers.  As the orchestra and choir grow, the crowd begins to focus their attention and soon they are rapturously gathered.  Children dance and play at conducting the music; older people smile and sing; teens and young adults take pictures and videos with their phones.  The sense of peace, love and joy is contagious.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg

It is an apt metaphor for today’s celebration of Pentecost and the beauty and power of the gifts that God has blessed us with in the Holy Spirit.  As St. Paul points out in his First Letter to the Corinthians, the gift of the Spirit may take different forms and it may work in different ways, but it has been given to each of us for some benefit.  Like a symphony and choir, there are many different parts but we are all part of a single body, the Church, into which we were baptized.  Just as each musician or each member of a choir may have particular gifts and may even sound impressive individually, their gifts are magnified and multiplied when they join together.

So it is in the Church.  A pastor and a Pope are important, even critical, members of the living body of Christ, but so is everyone else.  So are you.  In the account in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples gathered together, it came upon them all even as it was manifested differently.  It not only unified them, it also unified all of those who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish celebration of Pentecost, a spring harvest feast that recalled the great gift of the law that God had given his people.  Even though they were from many places and spoke many languages, they were able to hear the same message of “the mighty deeds of God.”

When Jesus breathed the Spirit into his disciples gathered behind locked doors on the night of his resurrection he breathed on them all; and he gave them a common mission of forgiveness, even as he forgave them for abandoning him on the cross.  Having received a great gift of mercy, they were sent forth to share that same gift.  As we gather for this holy flash mob, this celebration of thanksgiving that we call the Eucharist, we remember how good and merciful God has been to each of us; we claim and reclaim the gifts of the Spirit that we have received; and we renew our desire and commitment to play our part in the symphony of salvation that God has called his Church to play in every age. +