June 4 2017 Sermon
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
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. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“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.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
In the course of a year, there are several days that rank at the top of what the church and those who love and follow Jesus believe to be important. Easter and Christmas are at the top. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday might rank highly in your list. The Transfiguration, when Jesus goes to meet the spirits of Moses and Elijah is a pretty dramatic event, even though it wasn’t visible to very many people. The four Sundays of Advent that we celebrate in November and December heading into Christmas and the celebration of God taking on human form in Jesus are pretty important. You may have other favorite seasons of the church or high holy days like All Saints in which we remember the dead that hold a special place in your faith life.
Among the festivals and seasons celebrated among Catholics, varieties of Orthodox churches, different types of Protestants, Pentecost is right up there besides Easter and Christmas. Pentecost was a harvest festival before it was the ancient church’s birthday, the day when the Spirit of God came into its midst giving it a purpose.
Before it was called Pentecost, it was called the Festival of Weeks. The Festival of Weeks was an ancient festival to celebrate the first fruit of the harvest of grain giving thanks to God that the crops came in this year. The feast day was 50 days after the celebration of Passover. The Festival was eventually named Pentecost literally meaning the ‘fiftieth day’ and on that day, we find followers of Jesus gathered together in an upper room in Jerusalem. The Ascension of Jesus the Christ, the return of Jesus into the presence of Almighty God, has just taken place. Those who follow Jesus return back to Jerusalem where Jesus told them to wait for the gift of the Spirit to come.
Since Judas had betrayed Jesus, there was a need for the eleven disciples to discern who would be the replacement for Judas. They cast lots and selected Matthias. There in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, presumably the same one where Jesus and the disciples shared their last meal together before Jesus’ arrest, the disciples are gathered again.
The Festival Day of Pentecost arrives. It’s time to celebrate that the harvest of grain is underway and somewhat unexpectedly the rush of a wind fills the room giving the followers of Jesus the ability to speak effectively and clearly to the diversity of people gathered in Jerusalem. It might seem like the arrival of God’s Spirit is a complete surprise as if no one expected this powerful force to make an appearance. But I think if the followers of Jesus were listening well enough, they would have anticipated that a day was coming when God would again fulfill God’s promises. God makes good on Jesus’ promises that the Advocate, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (all names for the same element of God) will come to the disciples in due time. And when the Holy Spirit shows up, it will give those early disciples the capacity and motivation to venture throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to places that seem like the edge of the Earth to tell what they know to be true about Jesus and his ministry.
There is amazement and bewilderment because of the manifestation of the Spirit, especially in the ability to communicate to the diversity of individuals who reside in Jerusalem. The ability of the disciples to communicate in a diversity of ways and languages points to God’s love of diversity. There is no one, whether because of language, identity, or nation of origin who is excluded from the good news that is in Christ Jesus. This move of the gospel into non-Jewish territory will become one of the principle themes for the remainder of the Acts of the Apostles. I want to share a bit of Peter’s vision from God with you because it is one of the pivotal moments after Pentecost when the church recognizes that the Spirit of God makes no distinctions in the way that it leads individuals and communities in new life through Jesus Christ.
“But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.
1 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
In other words, there is no one on God’s green earth who should be excluded from the love and grace we know in Jesus Christ. The missionary enterprise of the early church through Asia minor and the Mediterranean is based on this foundational claim that the Spirit of God calls the church forth to show, demonstrate, and recognize the movement of God in the world. We have inherited that calling and the capacity and gifts from the Holy Spirit to be faithful and fruitful in bearing witness to the depth of God’s grace.
As I read through the Acts of the Apostles, there is a fervent motivation to point to Jesus’ ministry behind every move that is made. There is clarity of vision-almost to the point of having one purpose, and one purpose only. The freshness of vision and its urgency drives the apostles to do ministry in new ways, ways that are bound to fail, ways that are dangerous and unlikely to succeed. The early church must have sensed that if neighbors and strangers alike were going to learn of God’s redemptive love, it was their task equipped by the Spirit of God to complete. If the early church ceased its ministry, the memory of Jesus’ ministry would be forgotten.
I’ve heard these questions framed a number of different ways. If Kingston Springs United Methodist Church no longer existed as a community of faith in the body of Christ, would it matter? Who would notice our absence? What would the wait staff at the Petro truck stop say about those Methodist folks down on Main Street?
In other words, why do we exist?
That last question is as heavy as a lead brick but one we don’t ask of ourselves and one another often enough. On this Pentecost day, refreshed by the palpable presence of God’s spirit, our hearts and minds need to be open to possibility, innovation, and those seeds of vision that are beginning to grow. We have some questions to sort out and answer with the Spirit’s lead. If we discern well where the Spirit leads and we’re willing to follow, the questions don’t stop-they change. Instead of getting to the heart of our purpose, we get to the heart of how we will be in ministry.
How will we take up this Pentecost mantle of bearing witness to the love we know in Jesus Christ? How will be respond to the lead of God’s spirit first seen at Pentecost and celebrated every year since? What are our essential tasks as a community of faith and how are we doing them? What are we willing to let go of in order to be faithful and fruitful in ministry? Who are we trying to reach and how will we do it?
Bless you in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit who descends out of love for all.
Amen.