Sermon preached at St Mary's, Primrose Hill on Pentecost Sunday 11th May 2008 by the Reverend Robert Atwell

'Jesus Christ proclaimed the coming of the kingdom, and the church arrived.' So remarked the French theologian Alfred Loisy. You can take his laconic observation one of two ways. You can either say, what a disappointment the church is with all its bickering and petty rivalries, and how it fails to live up to the teaching of its Lord and Master. Or you can say, yes the church arrived and isn't it amazing that men and women of different nations, cultures and backgrounds can live and pray together. There's hope for our world. God's kingdom is among us.

Well, the church certainly arrived with a bang at Pentecost. It's why today is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church. It was on this day following the resurrection of Jesus that the Holy Spirit moved in the hearts and minds of the apostles, empowering them to speak to all and sundry God's language of love and compassion. It was a transformative moment in history, which is repeated every time a person opens themselves to the touch of God.

And as we reflect on that event, and as I say my farewell after nine and a half years as your vicar, I offer you two pictures of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

First, words of Jesus from St John's Gospel. "When the Advocate comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement. … For the Spirit of truth will lead you into all truth." (John 16: 8,13)

Throughout his gospel and uniquely among the evangelists, St John uses the term paracletos to describe the Holy Spirit. It's an unusual word which we sometimes transliterate as 'Paraclete' where it pops up in various Whitsun hymns. Nowadays we tend to translate it as 'Advocate' because the term had its origin in the law courts of ancient Greece. It referred to someone who registered a plea before a court on behalf of a client who lacked confidence to speak for him or herself. A 'paraclete' was a legal assistant, an advocate.

In the same way, says Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to assist us when we feel weak or inadequate, and above all, to lead us into truth. They say that the day you are made a bishop is the last time anyone tells you the truth. I sincerely hope the cynics are wrong because lies imprison people and communities, and sometimes entire nations, just as the German people in the 1930s, trapped in a cycle of unemployment and hyper-inflation, swallowed Hitler's propaganda about the Jews.

In opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit, we are opening ourselves to be disturbed as well as reassured, because we are inviting our fantasies about ourselves, about others and the world itself to be challenged and dismantled by God. Not because God wants to humiliate us, but because lies undermine trust and destroy relationships. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Truth and, as Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel, 'the truth will set you free.'

And that leads me to my second text, this time from Paul's Letter to the Romans. He writes, 'the Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For we do not even know how best to pray, but the Spirit comes and prays within us in sighs too deep for words.' (Romans 8.26)

People think that because I was a monk for ten years, and even more now that I am about to become a bishop, that I've got it all sussed, that I find prayer easy and that being a Christian presents me with no challenges. Allow me to debunk that particular fantasy. I too struggle. At times I too find it difficult to pray. And for what it's worth, I too bleed. Which is why the older I get the more conscious I am of my failings and my need for God's grace to make up my deficiencies.

I find myself praying, 'Lord, give me thoughts that turn into prayer; prayers that turn into love; and love that turns into life with you for ever.'

I've just returned from my pre-consecration retreat in France at the Abbey of Le Bec in Normandy. I've been very grateful for the space it has offered me to centre on God and get my internal house in order, because I have found the business of moving combined with the demands of making the transition to being a bishop pretty stressful.

If ever you have visited Normandy you may have gone to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry, commissioned by William the Conqueror to mark his victory over the English. One panel depicts Bishop Odo at the Battle of Hastings. I would like to tell you that the bishop is depicted in cope and mitre, pastoral staff in hand and head bowed in penitence for the terrible loss of life on the battlefield. Not a bit of it. He is dressed in full armour, mounted on horseback, and sticking a spear up some poor soldier's back-side. The Latin text embroidered underneath the scene is translated for the benefit of English visitors thus: 'Bishop Odo comforts his soldiers.'

Today the word 'comfort' speaks of deep-pile carpets, sofas you sink into, and an endless supply of gin and tonic. I don't find that unappealing, but as the Latin root of our English word reminds me, the word originally meant to strengthen the inner person. Hence the translation of paracletos in the King James Bible as 'Comforter'. In opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit we are inviting God to comfort us, but not in the sense of wrapping us up in a warm blanket. Instead we are asking God for the spiritual equivalent of Bishop Odo's spear up our back-side. And sometimes, let's face it, that's just what we need.

Pentecost is a glorious day in the Christian calendar on which to be taking my leave of you. The focus is on God, on the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the energy that the Spirit releases in a Christian community when we are open to his leading. And that is just as it should be, because St Mary's is bigger than me and whomever the Lord calls to succeed me. I have every confidence that God will continue to work good things among you.

I have a text for you as I leave, but it is not from the Bible, instead words of Dag Hammarskjöld, sometime Secretary General of the United Nations. In his diary, found shortly after his death, were written these words:

For all that has been - thanks!
To all that shall be - Yes!

For all that by the grace of God we have achieved together, and for your friendship and all that you have taught me, for all that has been - thanks. And to all that lies ahead both for me and for you - Yes. And now to our Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom, as St Paul said (2 Cor. 1.20), is to be found the Yes of God, to him alone be glory and dominion, now and for ever. Amen.