Pentecost Sermon 24 May 2026

By Rev David Paton Williams

Thirty six years ago Jenny and I brought our young baby son George to the font, to be brought into the family of the church and blessed by God.
 
And today George and Lauren bring their young baby daughter, Chloe to be baptised as well.
 
And so the circle of life keeps moving on.
 
And that reminded me of the film of the Lion King. 
which begins with Mufasa and Sariba 
presenting their young cub Simba to the rest of the Pride and all the other creatures.
 
And after many adventures and the sad death of Mufasa,
it ends with Simba and Nala presenting their cub in the same way.
 
And in the sequel film (released online) we learn that their cub is female - called Kiara.
 
The circle of life carries on 
and something is passed on from one generation to the next. 
Each with its own opportunities and challenges.
 
Simba's story involves the healing of the natural world, while Kiara will need to try to reconcile 
two parts of the pride that hate and fear each other.
 
 
There are many echoes here from the Bible. 
The Spirit of God was deeply involved in Jesus' life from the moment of his conception, and at his baptism the Spirit was poured out on him.
 
And one of the last gospel stories about Jesus - which I read - 
pictures Jesus breathing into his followers to give them new life.
 
The word in Hebrew for breath and Spirit are the same (Ruach) and Jesus is passing on that same Spirit 
which gave him the ability to live in the most remarkable way
and, when it came to it, 
to die in the most remarkable way as well.
 
He is passing that Spirit on to his followers, the next generation who will face their own challenges and opportunities, 
as they try to work out 
what it means to live for God in this world. 
 
And so it has continued for 2000 years, 
as the circle of life goes on and as God's Spirit of life and love 
is received by each new generation.
 
And that message is there for us in the music in the film as well.
The song we heard is called "He lives in you" and it is about how the spirit of Mufasa lives on in those who come after him.
 
"He lives in you. He lives in me. 
He watches over everything we see. 
Into the water, into the truth, in your reflection, he lives in you."
 
And for Christians that isn't merely a song, its real life, 
because we believe that the "he" is Christ. 
And he lives in you and he lives in me.
 
It is a very beautiful and positive message.
But we also know that the world isn't always an easy place.
And by contrast with the Lion King, I've just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road".
 
It's an incredibly bleak story set after some cataclysmic disaster, where almost all the plants and animals and fish and birds have died, and so have almost all the humans,
and when everything - land and sea - is covered in ash that keeps on falling out of the sky.
 
And in the story, a man and his young son, 
walk and walk, just trying to stay alive 
and trying - though maybe not always succeeding 
- to stay on the side of what they call "the good guys". 
 
They believe they can do this because they are carrying what they call "the fire".
 
At the end of the book the father dies 
and just before he does he tells his son: 
You have to carry the fire.
And the son replies: I don't know how to.
Yes you do.
Is it real? The fire?
Yes it is.
Where is it? I don't know where it is.
Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it.
The man believes that it is a divine fire - the fire of love. 
And no sooner has the boy's father died 
than another family find him and take care of him.
 
And fire was one of the ways the coming of the Holy Spirit was pictured in our first reading from the day of Pentecost.
 
And no sooner have Jesus' followers received the fire, than they are building a radical new community of love and care.                  
 
We have been given the gift of life 
and the fire is inside each of us. 
By faith, consciously connecting our lives with God, 
the divine source of that fire, 
we can kindle it and carry it. 
We can find the energy, the hope, the joy, the love,
that carries us and others 
through the wonderful and deeply challenging times of our lives. 
 
Helping not only our families, but like Simba and Kiara, 
and the past generations of Christ's followers, 
helping to carry on God's circle of life 
and passing on the fire of His love.​