And so it is with the Christian Church. The disciples of Jesus had followed their Lord's instructions after His Ascension to return and wait in Jerusalem for "power from on high."  They gathered together in an upper room as people from throughout the world came to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pentecost. It was a holy time and the disciples were together in a room praying when something happened ...ignition, combustion! "Fiery tongues appeared on them, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit."  The fire of God's Spirit ignited them, and as a result there was a combustion that created a new people and a movement that has produced you and me, the church.

Today is Pentecost and we celebrate the Church's birthday; but today is also Mothers' Day. And we are all products born out of an ignition of another highly excitable spirit that resulted in a combustion that would evolve nine months later into a living, breathing human being. The day a child is born is of course that child's birthday. But, especially for the woman's first-born, it is also the birthday of another new person:  a mother. The moment a child is born, which in medical terms is called "parturition," a mother is also born. Mothers' Day is thus a birthday celebration. A mother is born at parturition. 

The baby Jesus "gave birth" to Mother Mary, just as she gave birth to baby Jesus. Two new, miraculous creations emerged out of one event. With every birth two new lives are born--a baby, who is wholly without worries, and a mother, who will never again be without worry.

With Easter arriving so early this year, Pentecost Sunday and Mother's Day Sunday fall on the same day and I can't think of two organisms more alike than the Church and Mothers. For many of us who grew up in a church- going family we associate the church of our childhood with our Moms. My mother's church. The spirit of our Mother's church we carry with us throughout our lives. It pursues us, woes us, reminds us of God's love for us.

The great church father Augustine knew something of this. His mother, Monica, hounded him, in a compassionate way, but she hounded him. Whenever Augustine ran, she followed him; whenever he came home, she challenged his rebellious ways. And when he wasn't with her he knew that she was praying for him, because he caught her often on her knees pleading to God for the salvation of his soul. One day she got so desperate she went to a bishop and wore the man out. She wanted the Bishop to speak with Augustine. At last, annoyed by her persistence and moved by her tears, he answered her with a roughness mingled with kindness and compassion, "Go, go! Leave me alone. Live on as you are living. It is not possible that the son of such tears should be lost." So what else could happen? Augustine wanted to go to Rome-"sin city"-you know, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." His mother prayed that God would forbid her son to make the trip, but it was in Rome where Augustine gave his life to God, and later Augustine became a Bishop of the church. All mother's prayers should end so well.

So celebrate with me two inspiring traditions. Mothers and their spirit, the Church and her Spirit. Mothers and the Church are both impregnated with that which comes from the outside to dwell within, only to issue forth in purposeful living.

I'm always intrigued with TV commercials and discover that companies often touch those emotional strands of purposeful living better than we do in the church. Pastor David last week pointed to some slogans of products  that reflect what God is like, but often commercials also address what we're to be about as the people of God. For example, remember the telephone ad, "Reach out and touch someone!" Isn't that exactly what we, the church, are to be about? It's one of our five purposes for being the Church. But in reference to the internal combustion engine, take a look at some of the auto commercials:  Nissan's, "Life is a journey-enjoy the ride!" Or Volvo's, "Life is better lived together"-and I would add with God, with family, within community! Or how about altering Cadillac's commercial on this Pentecost/Mothers' Day as we speak about ignition and combustion:  "When you turn your car on, does it return the favor? to "When God's Spirit turns you on, will you return the favor?"

Today is Mothers' Day and it is also Pentecost Sunday.

On Pentecost the Spirit comes as "wind"  and "fire". The experience of the Apostles in Acts 2:1-21 likens the Holy Spirit to "a rush of a violent wind" and "tongues of fire."  Notice:  sound comes before sight. At the first birthday celebration of the Church, they "heard"  the sounds of rushing wind first, and only then did they "see"  the fire. In a biblical sense, you don't so much "see"  a vision as "hear"  a vision. Discipleship is voice-activated. Recall the number of times when our Lord completed a teaching, He would say, "Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!"  Or the teaching of St. Paul who asks, "How can anyone believe in Christ if they have not heard His message? How can they hear if no one tells them the Good News? " (Romans 10:14).

Notice in today's Gospel Jesus describes the Spirit is as "living water."  The Spirit Jesus promises will "flow"  out of the disciples' hearts, or as in some translations, out of the "believer's belly."   Don't we speak of "fire in the belly," or that "holy discontent" from without that Bill Hybels speaks of which agitates and compels us to act; that fire that ignites us and creates a combustion we could not more imagine than did those first disciples. The outward flow of this force suggests that the Spirit cannot be kept bottled up, but will of its own accord move out into the world from those who experience it. The force of the water is explosive----an explosion that leads to exploration in ways and means we could have never imagined.

Jesus' words announcing the Pentecost experience in John's Gospel directly connect the life-source of water with the life-force of the Spirit.

This connection of the life-source of water with the life-force of the Spirit is celebrated in southern Spain by the festival of "Romeria." On Pentecost Sunday the faithful begin a pilgrimage trek to water--to rivers, streams, springs, ponds, anywhere there is a source of water. By the water the faithful celebrate Spring, new life, and the gift of living water made available by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This springtime hike through the countryside concludes at a home-made sanctuary devoted to Mother Mary, known as the "Virgin of the Dew."

Once at the water the celebration of "Romeria" becomes like a tailgate party at "Mary's Place." Whether it's a couple of days or a week long, families camp-out, the air is fresh, the earth is green, the new birth of spring surrounds the celebrants while the sound of the moving water plays on continually as a backdrop to all that goes on. Some traditional families bring along only the most basic provisions--rice, oil, utensils, believing that God will provide them with everything else they will need to eat from the richness of the creation around them. Others bring along the best of foodstuffs and create the ideal picnic.

But whether you eat what you bring in or what you take out, the Spirit celebrated by Romeria is the Spirit of Wonder, the Spirit of Beauty, the Spirit of Surprise.

No one was more surprised than the Apostles on that first Pentecost. They were surprised by divine power. They were surprised by holy presence. They were surprised by their own speech. They were surprised to be understood. They were surprised by eloquence and coherence and comprehension.

When the Spirit "rested on each of them,"  it so filled them that there was an immediate overflow of what Jesus had aptly called a "river of living water."

There is nothing else like feeling the wonder of new life coming from within. Ask any new mother, who has been transformed into a wholly new being by the arrival of one tiny new being. Ask any new believer, who has been transformed into a wholly new being by the grace gift of God's Holy Spirit.

On a dismal, stormy, wind-gusty winter's night, the owner of a neighborhood bakery decided to close early. "There won't be any customers on a night like this," he reasoned.

As he was about to lock the bakery door, a man rushed in, shivering and wet from head-to-toe. "I'm here to pick up two sweet rolls," he said.

The baker was amazed that anyone would brave such bad weather for just two sweet rolls.

"Are you married?" he asked the customer.

"Of course I'm married," the man replied. "Do you suppose my mother would send me out on a night like this?"

This morning we celebrate two birthdays: the birthdays of two new creations that issue from the flowing waters of new life:  The birthday of the Church at Pentecost, and the birthday of mothers at parturition.  Happy Birthday mothers.  Happy Birthday Church!   Amen!