Sermon for June 8, 2014 Pentecost Sunday Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23 by Jim Neal Opening prayer: "O God, take our lips and speak through them. Take our minds and think through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire with the presence of your Holy Spirit." Amen. Passover and Pentecost: these were two events during the Jewish year when every male was to "go up" to Jerusalem to pray and offer sacrifices. Passover is still celebrated in remembrance of the Jewish nation being liberated over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaohs, and their freedom as a nation restored under the leadership of Moses. On Passover, a Seder meal is often shared as part of the remembrance celebration. The Apostles gathered with Jesus to share this meal at what is often referred to as the Last Supper when He instituted and blessed the sacrament of our Christian Eucharist. He was then arrested, tried, crucified, and buried. Most of the apostles were so bewildered they could not bring themselves to even witness the crucifixion. The apostles were confused as to what was happening. Can you even imagine the grieving the apostles must have experienced? 1. Denial: No, it can t be Jesus they killed. I can t believe it. 2. Anger: He said follow him, now what are we supposed to do? Was this all a cruel hoax? 3. Bargaining: Dear God, take me but let Jesus return. He raised Lazarus from death, bring Jesus back to us. 4. Depression: We gave up everything to follow and now we have even lost Jesus. 5. And maybe finally acceptance: Jesus foretold these events and said he would return and we would be blessed with the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, Come!
Pentecost (the fiftieth day after Passover) commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah (the Law) to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai. During these 50 days, the early followers of Jesus witnessed events that have changed human history: Christ s resurrection; then his appearances at the tomb, on the road to Emmaus, and in the upper room (twice), later on the beach cooking fish, and at his ascension. In the chapter before today s reading from Acts Jesus said: You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. In today s Gospel lesson we read that on the evening of his Resurrection, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. I don t think they fully understood the meaning of those words, at that time. I am not sure that even today we understand their full meaning. This 30 year old man, who lived over 2000 years ago, had such an impact on the believers of that time that many of them became martyrs as they shared what they had witnessed. In the two millennia that have passed since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that first Day of Pentecost, Christians have associated this day with the beginning of Christianity as its own distinct religion the experience of God doing a profoundly new thing through His Son, Jesus Christ. Through the centuries, this day has become a celebration of that new way of living the Gospel. And today we ve come here to read ancient scripture about an ancient event, and aside from a few of the liturgical trappings, our worship surely isn t much different from the first worship experiences of those first Christians. But when Pentecost becomes just another nice, neat conclusion to a story that began thousands of years ago; or just another nice, neat liturgical celebration of something that happened a long time ago, it loses its ability to speak to us in the here-and-now. It loses its power. Imagine a Sunday, not all that different from today. The weather is getting warmer, the flowers are blooming and final plans are being made for summer vacations. 2
The faithful gather here at the church for the annual observance of Pentecost. The service leaflets are proofed, folded, and distributed; the baptismal font is filled with fresh Holy Water; the red trappings have been set out on the altar for the morning s services, and many of us wear red. The music begins to play, the people begin to sing, and the acolytes begin to make their way down the aisle when, all of a sudden, a violent rush of wind bursts into the nave and flames descend upon the heads of everyone who has gathered for worship! And just as the faithful attempt to put the experience into words, they realize that everyone is speaking a different language! Of course, we can be assured of two things: If that happens here today, all of us will make the six o clock news and several of us will be having a lengthy chat with the bishop. Things like that just don t happen anymore, right? But what is still happening is that, just as they were 2,000 years ago, people are still crying out for salvation, for a renewed life. Everywhere we look, people are imprisoned physically, mentally and emotionally behind walls of depression and loneliness and addiction, crippled with burdens that keep them from living into their identity as beloved children of God. The cry for salvation is not a simple problem with a simple solution; it is a deep, painful yearning for deliverance. It is a cry that the quick and easy formula of saying I believe and the rest of your life will turn out OK is not enough. It is a cry that a date on a calendar or a memorial of what happened a long time ago can t soothe. And it is a cry that Christians who are content to let somebody else do the hard work can t pacify. No, this cry may only be answered with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit a Pentecost right here in our midst! But that s impossible, right? Rushing winds and howling storms and spontaneously learning to speak different languages the whole bit that just doesn t happen anymore. Well maybe it doesn t, but that s not the question Pentecost dares us to ask. The question Pentecost dares us to ask is, Could it happen? Could a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit happen to each of us today? Chances are that if we sit and wait for the Holy Spirit to send fire and wind and all of the events we ve come to associate with the first Pentecost, we are going to be 3
4 disappointed. But if we allow ourselves to imagine what a fresh outpouring, or a fresh presence of the Holy Spirit might look like, we may be surprised at what we find. Maybe it would encourage us to approach a long-severed relationship with a loved one with new hope and fresh patience. Or maybe it would spur us to make a phone call, send a card, a letter (or God forbid an email or text) to someone we care for but haven t kept in touch. Perhaps a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit nudges us to commit to a ministry either here at the church or in the community. Or it could be that a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit draws us into a deeper, stronger, more life-giving relationship with God. The Day of Pentecost calls us to keep watch to imagine what accepting this outpouring of the Holy Spirit might look like in our own lives. If we allow ourselves to imagine something new, something fresh, something holy, then anything is possible. God promises, not that the Holy Spirit was poured out a long time ago; not that the Holy Spirit might be poured out a little bit, here and there, on a chosen few; but that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall experience this renewed life! The Holy Spirit empowers people in many different ways, but these gifts carry with them a responsibility to share them with others. If the disciples or anyone else takes their gifts and keeps them to themselves, they are wasted. The Good News that God has given us is likewise wasted if we do not then share them with others and welcome them into finding the love of each other and love of God to which we are all called. It is not enough, however, to share God s Word with those who are like us, think the way we think, and speak the way we speak. God s Holy Spirit at Pentecost points to our responsibility to share our gifts and our love with those who are different from us. The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the power to literally speak to others in their own language, but we can also approach people where they are in life. We cannot place the burden on others to cross cultural, social, and language barriers to find us God empowers us to stand up and bring the gifts of the Spirit to all.
5 Jesus follows those words of peace with a charge: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Over and over, the evangelist tells us that Jesus has been "sent" into the world, for the sake of the world. The disciples, who have believed in Jesus and who also have heard the words of God and hold fast to them, are not lifted out of the world but are sent, like Jesus, into the world. Jesus does not send them on their own, however. He breathes on them the Spirit. We can be ignited by the Spirit of God. We can be warmed by the Spirit of God. We can be set aflame by the Spirit of God. Nothing less will do for us as individuals or as the Christian Church today. Lukewarm, burned out, tired, timid Christian faith and life are not what God wants for you or for me, and they are not what is absolutely essential and necessary for a vibrant, lively, and transformed Church today. God promises us the gift of the Holy Spirit...if we will but accept it. This is the Good News of Pentecost Day for this congregation and for our skeptical world. May it be so for you, for me, for us now and forever. Let us pray. Come Holy Spirit, ignite our hearts, inflame our souls, and kindle our spirits that we may burn anew with your love. Warm up all that is cold or frozen in us. Give us the flame of lively living and believing. O Spirit of God, take our lips and speak through them; take our minds and think through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.