Sermon-Pentecost-May 24, 2015 The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." In 2008 I began my sabbatical in Ireland walking with my son Kyle. He returned home after a week. I spent a few days on the island of Iona, and then I began walking the 62 mile trip across southern Scotland called, St. Cuthbert s Way. It was the first day walking from the little town of Melrose in the Borders region. I got lost even before I got out of town. It rained. And within minutes of leaving the village I had to immediately begin climbing a steep hill. I was wet, cold, alone, and lost again. Then I ran into two women, who I had met that morning at breakfast, and they walked with me that whole first day. I felt rescued. As the first day ended, they were going on-but I was stopping at my B&B for the night. These two angels had saved me, and now I was alone again. And I felt sadder and lonelier than before I had even met them. I had 50 miles and 4 days of hard walking still ahead of me. I had no one to walk with, and I had this propensity for taking the wrong path. I was worried, a little scared. I was 2 weeks into a 13 week sabbatical (right at the beginning), in a foreign country, I was alone and for the most part, lost. And here s what happened next-after they left. I went to my B&B that evening, the first day, and the owner sent me to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I hadn t eaten since breakfast, had walked 18 miles, and I had bad leg cramps. The only other people in the restaurant were a couple about my age. They were from Australia. It turned out that they, too, were staying in the same B&B as I was, and they, too, were walking St. Cuthbert s Way, also for the next 50 miles. They asked if I wanted to walk with them. And I had company, and I had guides, and I had new friends, and for 4 days, again, angels rescued me. This may not sound like a dramatic story to you. Tell your story, your most challenging moments to other people and watch them yawn. Our most difficult times NEVER sound as hard to other people. All we know is how it felt to us. A little coincidence
here, a happy accident there. Most of the time, we never realize the power that something has in our lives. We look back and say, boy, was that lucky, or what a fluke that that bus was late and I met the woman who would be my wife or whatever. We look at something in our lives and think that the small things that happen to us, the tiny incidents that occur, mean little, or were fortunate chances. We don t realize that there is a power constantly working in life to change us, help us, and guide us. Here s what I learned. Again. First I have to be aware that God is working, then I open to change. Here s the story of Pentecost, a bunch of scared bewildered overwhelmed people felt a power come into their lives, and they were open to become new. Pentecost or the Festival of Weeks was a Jewish harvest festival originally celebrating the barley crop. It s 50 days after Passover. Centuries later in Judaism Pentecost became associated with the giving of the Law, the 10 commandments, to Moses. The Passover that Jesus and his friends were in Jerusalem celebrating at his crucifixion was the great remembrance of God saving the Hebrew people through the Exodus, and Pentecost was the celebration of God communicating his will to the people through the 10 commandments. After the Resurrection, the disciples, gathered in the upper room 50 days to celebrate the Jewish Pentecost-the feast of weeks. They gathered with people from all over the Ancient Near East. They were in mourning. They were uncertain. Jesus died and then rose-but what did that mean for them? They were unclear what to do, where to go, who to be. Jesus had left them for a final time 10 days earlier as he ascended into heaven. 2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. They weren t expecting it, they didn t ask for it, they didn t even know what it was. All they knew was that they could understand each other, where before they couldn t. All they knew was that something had happened and they were different. All they knew was that God was acting, and they were witnesses. These tired, scared, alone,
overwhelmed disciples left that upper room in Jerusalem and went on to change the world. The great scholar Bishop N.T. Wright says that the greatest proof of the resurrection is the change that happened to these close followers of Jesus. 11 of them went on to die for their faith. Read the gospels. Nowhere do you see leadership or courage or great hearts in the disciples while they were following Jesus. But suddenly they are transformed, and they take the story of Jesus to the ends of the earth. They were different. They felt rescued. They understood that God was alive and active in their lives, and they were inspired. That s what happened at Pentecost-scared lonely lost people were changed. Let me see how you are with some interesting dates. 125,000BC. Anyone remember what happened that year? (and no, I wasn t there when it happened). Scientists believe it was the first time fire was actually used widely by human beings-harnessed by humanity for heat and cooking. First time. How about 5,000 B.C.? The first time that Egyptians used wind to sail boats along the Nile. Fire. Wind. Both had been around a lot longer than 125,000 and 7000 years. But until they were channeled by humanity they were just forces of nature. Suddenly they become power that could be used to bear fruit, to improve the world, to change lives. Fire and wind. Just scary mother nature-until we realize how they connect with our lives, how they affect us, how our lives are different with their existence. Think of coal, think of oil, how about atoms? They ve all been around a long time, but they meant nothing until we realize that they can have an effect on us. Power means nothing until it connects with who we are and changes our lives. Until that happens, it s just stuff we observe. But then, something happens, and we start becoming different. Sometimes we don t even realize it, most of the time we don t expect it, we very seldom ask for it, and we may not even know what it is. But suddenly we realize that we can be different than we were before. There is something new in our lives, and we are changed. Power doesn t change our lives-learning what power can do, changes lives.
In Scotland I really began to believe that no matter what happened in my life, everything would be ok. Maybe not the way I planned, maybe not the way I expected, maybe not even the way I wanted-but everything would be alright. I could handle whatever happened and life would be all right. It didn t matter how powerless, how alone, how scared, how lost, I was going to be alright. I was not alone. There was power all around me. Disciples who were in a room, grieving, alone, discouraged, felt a new wind and tongues of fire-and believed that all they had witnessed and seen could bring light to a darkened world. They understood each other-and they understood that God was working, and that they could face and conquer the overwhelming challenges in their lives. That was what they heard in their own language that day. That was what they learned that first Pentecost. That they would be alright. That they could change the world. That the power was at work in their lives, when they knew it-and when they didn t. They were not alone. There was power all around them. Fire and wind mean nothing until we realize how they can help us, how these forces can make life different- until we understand them and know that they can work through us and change our lives. What is my definition of the Holy Spirit? What is your definition? For me it s the power of God that I see and understand working in my life, the power that helps me to realize that God is working-and that inspires me to face and conquer my greatest fears and my most daunting challenges. Just hearing about it, just watching others, just reading about it, is like seeing fire before 125,000BC or feeling the breeze before 5000BC. Nice, but irrelevant. Who cares about fire? Who cares about wind? The Holy Spirit is power that actually touches me. That is when I write down dates. That is when I begin measuring my life. I was baptized 52 years ago, married 33 years ago, came to St. Matthew s almost 3 years ago. Why do I remember those dates? Because that is when I realized that the power was working in my life, and I felt strengthened and inspired, when my direction, my life, became different.
Today is Pentecost. It is the 50 th day after Easter. Jesus was raised 7 weeks ago, but it was on this day that disciples understood, realized, felt inspired, and believed that they finally understood who they were and what they could do. On this date that disciples, meaning followers- became apostles-meaning those who are sent out. Today Pentecost we realize not just that there are angels in our lives, but that there is fire and wind, that there is power moving to help us understand, to show us that God is active, to inspire us to act and to change. There is a Spirit active in our lives. Maybe we will remember this date, May 24, 2015. Maybe we will say someday, at least to ourselves, that today was the day that I understood that God was active in my life, that I felt God s presence, and that on this date, in this year, I felt the power, understood it and knew that it was real. On Pentecost 2015 I was inspired and moved to face my greatest fears and my most daunting challenges-and I knew everything would be ok. Maybe this is the date we will remember that our lives changed, and that the power of God finally became real for us. Amen. Acts 2:1-21 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." 2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'