Sermon 5/15/16
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost
Today,
we're celebrating the day of Pentecost. It is the day we call the
birthday of the Christian Church. Today, we read about the disciples
receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today we read about that
strange experience where the sound of a mighty rushing wind broke
into the house where the followers of Jesus were celebrating
Pentecost. Today, we read about the beginnings of Church as we know
it – where Peter steps up and finally does what Jesus had been
preparing him and the others to do all along: he shares the gospel –
tells the Good News about God’s grace to anyone and everyone he can
get to listen. Today is when we finally see Peter and the twelve move
beyond their fear, move beyond their role as students, move beyond
the ways they have closed themselves up and closed themselves off
since Jesus' crucifixion, and finally, receiving the Spirit, the
promise of God, they begin to take action. Last week we talked about
how Jesus was entrusting to them all the work that he had been doing
– they would be his hands and feet in the world, the body of Christ
in the world now. And this week, we see the beginnings of that body,
those hands and feet in action, as Peter delivers a powerful message.
Our
text from Acts opens with the disciples already gathered together.
They are gathered together for the celebration of Pentecost, a Jewish
festival set out in the Torah, the law books for the Jews, which make
the first five books of our Bible today. Pentecost was a celebration
taking place fifty days after Passover, and was called also “the
feast of weeks” or Shavuot. The festival celebrated the “first
fruits” of the early harvest in spring. So the disciples were
gathered together for this traditional celebration – this is what
was planned. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem after he
returned to be with God in order to receive this strange gift he was
to send them – the Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter. So the
disciples were gathered with everyone else there for the Pentecost
festival. And suddenly, a sound like the rush of a violent wind came,
and filled the gathering place, and the apostles were filled with the
Holy Spirit, which seemed to them like divided tongues of fire. And
they began to speak the gospel message to all who were gathered in
such a way that everyone in the city could understand them. Many
people from many places were gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of
Weeks, and it seemed that everyone could understand the disciples.
Some were amazed at this, but others were a bit cynical, and accused
the disciples of being drunk. Peter stands and raises his voice to
the crowds: We’re not drunk – we are speaking as the prophets
spoke – and he goes on to speak to them of visions and power that
will come to all – young and old, men and women, slaves and free.
He quotes the prophet Joel, saying, “I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your
young shall see visions, and your old shall dream dreams. Even upon
my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my
Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” This Spirit thing is for
everyone.
Today,
when we celebrate Pentecost, our focus is on not on the feast
originally celebrated, the planned part, but on the wind that swept
through and stirred up the celebration – the giving of the Holy
Spirit. This is the gift that Jesus has promised the disciples they
would receive, the thing that would be their Advocate, their
Comforter, helping them to make the transition from followers of
Jesus to those who would be leading and guiding and sharing with
others. The Holy Spirit is the gift that helps them with all their
other gifts, in a way. It’s the foundation for their work, the
source of their confidence in their abilities. After all, being
filled with the Holy Spirit is being filled up with God’s own self,
right inside of you. God dwelling in you certainly should inspire you
with confidence! On Pentecost, we celebrate that the Holy Spirit is
the gift that is available to each one of us.
Still,
I think it is hard to understand the Holy Spirit sometimes. In my
little childhood church where I grew up, in Westernville, we’d
usually talk about the “Holy Ghost” rather than the Holy Spirit.
This made it even more confusing. (It was hard not to picture this:
image on screen.) So how can we think about the Holy Spirit? When I
was in junior high, I accidentally
pinned my leg under our minivan. It’s a long story, and doesn’t
make me look very brilliant, but suffice it to say, I was laying on
the ground outside a small market in Rome in the parking lot, pinned
underneath our Dodge Caravan. My mother was in the store, and when my
friend, who was with me, conveyed to her what happened, and my mother
came out and saw me under the van, she didn’t look for help. What
she did was push the van off me. Now, maybe she could have done this
on a normal day, but I suspect that the level of adrenaline coursing
through her body in an emergency situation made it suddenly easy for
her to get me, her child, out of such a dangerous situation.
I
think the Holy Spirit is a little like that – like adrenaline that
suddenly shows up when you need it. Did you ever sing the Sunday
School song, Give Me Oil for My Lamp? Give Me Oil for My Lamp, keep
it burning, burning, burning, Give me oil for my lamp, I pray! Give
me oil for my lamp, keep it burning, burning, burning, keep it
burning til the break of day! The song continues in more verse, but
some of my favorites were: Give me wax for my board, keep me surfing
for the Lord, and Give me gas for my Ford, keep me truckin’ for the
Lord. I mention this song because the verses all suggest that there
is something we need, something God can give us, that can inspire us,
move us, help us to act with faith and boldness. Give me oil for my
lamp is not so different from saying: Come, Holy Spirit.
The
Holy Spirit’s coming in Acts is described as a violent rushing
wind. Wind is powerful. It can set a boat to sailing across the
water, or it can destroy and damage, or it can be harnessed for
electricity. Sometimes we know when to expect a windy day, but often,
the wind catches us by surprise. We can’t see the wind, but we can
see what it does. Wind is a great image for how Spirit moves through
us. But if the Spirit is so unpredictable, can we do more than say,
Come, Holy Spirit, and wait for the Spirit to show up, if it will?
When the apostles received the Spirit, they were in Jerusalem,
waiting for the Spirit, and they were there because that is where
Jesus told them to be. They made sure they followed the instructions
they had, so that they could be ready for the unknown.
Last
week at our Bible Study, we got talking about how we hear God's voice
today, how God speaks to us today, and how we might hear God today in
ways that are different than folks did in the scriptures. Maybe God
will speak to you in a burning bush, as to Moses, or in the sounds of
rushing wind and tongues of fire, or in dreams, waking or sleeping,
like we've talked about a lot here at Apple Valley, or maybe God will
speak to you through the latest news story you read, or through the
mouth of your grandchild's curious questioning, or through the
characters of your favorite TV show. We certainly can't predict the
way God will speak to us, the way God's Spirit will move in us.
But
we can do what the disciples did: we can follow the directions from
God for our live that are clear to us, so that we're prepared
for whatever God blows our way, breathes into our lives. We can study
God's word. We can pray faithfully. We can share God's love, and
extend compassion. We can tell God again and again: “Here I am,
ready to follow you!”
That's
what we celebrate today in confirmation. These 8 young people – who
knows what God has in store for them, and how they will hear God's
voice, and how they will put the gifts they've been given to use? But
what they're doing today is saying: We've tried hard over these last
months to be prepared, to explore our faith, to learn about the
church, to grow as disciples. Today, they offer themselves to God and
to this community of faith, saying, “Here I am!” And as they
offer themselves and their hearts to God, let us join them in
renewing our commitment. Let us say with them, “Here we are God.
We're ready. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.” Amen.
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