Pentecost Sunday, May 20, 2018 Acts 2:1-21 Rev. Patricia Schutz Grace, mercy and peace from God our Creator and our Savior Jesus Christ. When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. Here we are, gathered in one place. We know what s going to happen in worship. It s all neatly outlined in our bulletins, the usual order of service, with the added joy of coming alongside these young people as they affirm their baptism. Even this liturgy, though, comes right out of the ELW. Predictable Or is it? We pray for the Holy Spirit to be among us, stir up our hearts Do we really mean it? That day in Jerusalem the Spirit created a holy commotion and no one there was ever the same again. Would you hear and experience worship differently if I asked you all to move to another pew, especially those of you who always sit in the same place? Would you be willing to be open to the Spirit s movement in you, sitting by other people, paying attention to the way you feel and does place make a difference in the way you hear God s word, experience God s presence. Would you be willing to wait and see what happens? Luke, who wrote both the gospel of Luke and Acts, reports at the end of the gospel that Jesus, before he ascends into heaven, tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high. So there they
2 are waiting but for what? What was going to happen? What might happen to us today in the presence and power of God almighty? Our offering song today is Spirit of Gentleness, but that first Pentecost the presence of HS not exactly gentle. The disciples are gathered together, safety in numbers perhaps, and the Spirit shows up, not as a gentle breeze that caresses their face, ruffles their hair NO! The Spirit rushes in with the sound of a violent wind! She appears as tongues of fire above the disciples head. They start speaking languages they ve never learned. A crowd gathers, there s the noise of people moving, the cacophony of everyone talking at once, elevated volume of amazement. They are all caught off guard wind, fire, speech, gathering, questioning, exclaiming. Movement instigated by Spirit, a holy commotion, holy disorientation Center of it all, the disciples proclamation: The story of God s deeds of power. For the first time, the foreigners in the city, immigrants, who never expected to be insiders, now heard the gospel in their own language. The Spirit roars through the gathered like a wildfire, untamable, unstoppable, and creates a miracle of speech, a miracle of hearing, a miracle of birth, the creation of a new humanity people once divided now united by God s word of truth in Christ and the fiery tempest of the Holy Spirit. Out of this holy disorientation the church emerges, the body of Christ now visible in and through
3 disciples, Mesopotamians, Phrygians, Parthians, Medes, Elamites and the like, all with their hearts on fire with the Word and Spirit of God. In our calm gathering what is the Spirit up to here this morning? We ve heard the story of God s deeds of power. As Lutherans we believe the Spirit makes God s Word alive in our midst, in our hearts and minds and bodies Where s the fire?! (Light candles) What you just did here this is what the Spirit sends us out to do light the fire of God s love and truth wherever we are, and especially make it visible and known to those who have been made to be outsiders by those who think power comes from strength instead of the weakness of love. The Spirit opens our ears to hear the ones who seem to speak another language the language of loneliness and grief, of someone who is bullied, of young people, old people, neighbors we don t know and people we see every day but maybe we never really hear them because we re too caught up in our own story, the language of silence. The Spirit gathers us as church, as a community, as a global society there is no lack of opportunities to listen and hear and serve and love. Unless we ground ourselves in God s Word and learn one another s stories, listen for Christ in the other person, we will never really, truly know and experience the joy of life-transforming community in the Spirit. Are we open to hearing the gospel from people we might consider
4 outsiders? In what ways can we practice listening and being community in new ways? Maybe by letting ourselves be disoriented Soon, I will address you, Erin, Taylor, Gary, with this charge: Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism. What follows is known as the five gifts of discipleship: To live among God s faithful people; to hear the word of God and share in the Lord s supper; to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; to serve all people following the example of Jesus; and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth? When you affirm your desire to continue to live and grow in faith, to live, hear, proclaim, serve and strive with the help of God, you are saying you are willing to be vulnerable to the Spirit s work in you, vulnerable to the needs of others, vulnerable to love and goodness of God. Beware the Spirit of gentleness is also the Spirit of holy disorientation whose ways are not always comfortable, hardly ever predictable. What happened on that day in Jerusalem something greater than the disciples could have imagined, out of their control. Spirit working in them, through them, beyond them to raise up Christ s church. And that s exactly what the Spirit continues do with us and through us. The Spirit s power is a constant force in our lives. Without the Spirit, we can do nothing good, but when we re willing to be vulnerable and open, She will make sure we are never the same again, from one day to the next, renewed by the fire of God s love, water, word, meal, community.
5 You may find yourselves (I hope you do) caught up in the Spirit s tempest and whirlwind, your heart on fire with holy dreams and visions. I hope so we, the older church, have so much to learn about Jesus, about living fully in community, from you. The world needs your faith-centered creativity and curiosity. The Holy Spirit has given you what you need God s Word, the abundance of God s love in Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, your family, friends, this community of faith, and the gifts and talents that make you, you. Through your baptism, you are a beloved child of God, a miracle of God s love. The fire of God s love the untamable, unquenchable Spirit burns in you and will never be extinguished. You can trust that truth. Thanks be to God.