Pentecost is Here

On Pentecost, we hear of a time in the lives of the earliest disciples when the Holy Spirit came to them suddenly, disrupting their lives and sending them into difficult situations.  Yet as uncomfortable and even dangerous as it was to follow the call of the Spirit, that same Spirit worked through them in new ways to build a witnessing community.  It seems as if we are in a Pentecost time at Christ Lutheran.  The Spirit is disrupting the usual pattern of things here and forcing us to take a hard look at ourselves.  The presence of the Spirit, however, is part of God's unconditional grace for us.  And the Spirit is doing its work of transformation among us, opening us to be a community that catches the attention of our neighborhood.

Pentecost (Year B) – Sunday, May 27, 2012

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lancaster, PA

Text: Acts 2:1-21

Do we really mean it? Do we, really, mean it?

We just sang, “Gracious Spirit, heed our pleading, fashion us all anew. It's your leading that we're needing (I know that's right), help us to follow you. Coo-ome, Coo-ome, come, Holy Spirit, come. Sing it with me, if you dare. Coo-ome, Coo-ome, come, Holy Spirit, come.”

Do we really mean it? We know to be careful what we wish for. For we know that with the Holy Spirit, comes trouble. The old spiritual song, “Wade in the Water,” celebrating the Holy Spirit coming to us in Baptism, says it plain: God's gonna trouble the water. With the Holy Spirit comes trouble. With the Holy Spirit comes disruption. With the Spirit, your life, and the life of the world, will never be the same.

In our reading from Acts today, the few remaining disciples in Jerusalem were left wondering what to do now that Jesus had ascended to the Father. They were all alone with a big job to do, with no friends and plenty of enemies. And then the Holy Spirit mixed things up even more! The Spirit comes to them violently, like the rush of a hurricane-force wind, filling the place where they were. Fire burst forth all around, with a tongue of fire, whatever that looks like, resting on each one of them. We hope, not singeing their hair.

The first apostles were sent out that day to do things they'd never done before. That very day Peter found himself proclaiming the resurrection of Christ to those who had been involved in the crucifixion. You can imagine he didn't always have a friendly crowd. Pretty soon his preaching lands him in jail, and that won't be the only time he's behind bars. His fellows had a rougher go of it. One of the first deacons, Stephen, is stoned to death. James, the brother of John, is executed by Herod. And, perhaps less important to them, but shocking to us, none of the disciples can own anything! All the disciples give up all their personal possessions and hold them in common, to give to each as any had need. Their lives were disrupted, twisted, and turned. With the Holy Spirit, came trouble, and the lives of these Pentecost disciples were never the same.

But if we go back to this Pentecost story in Jerusalem, we'll notice that what happened didn't only get the disciples in trouble. It also attracted a curiosity from the people in Jerusalem that day. Hearing, and I imagine, seeing the wind and fire going on, a crowd gathered around. They heard the disciples as they began to proclaim God's deeds of power in all the languages of all the different groups of Jews gathered for Pentecost (which, by the way, was a holiday fifty days after Passover for which Jews would return to Jerusalem from all around the Roman world). Some are amazed and perplexed at all this, with no idea what's going on. But some have a theory of their own, supposing “they are filled with new wine.” “They must be drunk!,” these folks thought.

But these curious people were drawn in by something they'd never seen before. They heard Peter proclaim that the prophecy of Joel, that “in the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,” that this vision for the far-off day of the LORD, is now. They heard him preach that what they've been waiting for has arrived. The time when all God's people can live together through the power of the Spirit of God is now! Peter preached for these people to repent and be baptized, and what is amazing is that so many of them did! The Spirit's movement in these disciples and then into the lives of those gathered there was powerful. Powerful enough that a good number of these spectators decided to literally risk life and limb to join this community of outcasts. 

 

And I'm sure Peter's preaching would have earned him five stars from his internship supervisor, if he had one of those. I'm sure it was compelling. But there was more than just his preaching that led so many to be baptized, that led the Church of Christ to grow so rapidly. It was who they were – that is, who the Spirit had transformed them to become. It was how they lived. It was because when people saw them, they saw something they'd never seen before, a community so loving, and grace-filled, and mutually-dependent, welcoming and hospitable, and accountable and equal, that they probably wondered whether some kind of drink had got into those Christ-followers. But it wasn't spirits, but the Holy Spirit which filled them. 

 

My brothers and sisters, I think Pentecost is happening right here at Christ Lutheran, all around us, like it is happening across the whole Church of Christ on earth. If you feel a violent wind or see tongues of fire coming down, do not be alarmed, but please do notify our property chair right away! I don't think it's just today, though, but that we are in a Pentecost time here in our life as a congregation. The Spirit is here and is about its work of transformation in a particular way right now. Don't you feel the wind moving? Don't you see the fire flashing through?

And it's not as if the Spirit's arrival is different for us than for the disciples – it's causing disruption here. It's troubling the waters. Christ didn't promise anything different. The disciples were pushed to do uncomfortable, difficult, and even dangerous things they'd never done before. On this day last year, we began a new liturgy for the first time in about 30 years – talk about discomfort and danger! We're speaking new languages here – did any of you sing in Swahili today? But think more figuratively – a new liturgy is a new language, to reach new people. A new fellowship time that we're starting in two weeks is a new practice of holding our time in common so that the Spirit can mold us into a committed, loving community welcome to newcomers. And just like the earliest disciples, if we do not hold our money in common, we will not be able to do the ministry to which the Spirit is calling us.

We're being forced to evaluate ourselves, to see the hard truths. We're being forced to work out some difficult questions, and in the midst of them, discern the Spirit's true call for us. We've had a serious disagreement this spring, but I believe the Spirit is forcing us to ask, “what's most important? what is our call as disciples of Christ? to agree on everything? or to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed to all of God's people who so desperately need to hear it and feel it and know it, all around us?” The Spirit is refining us with its fire so that when people come here, they will know that they have had an encounter with the living Body of Christ, which is what we are.

What's perhaps hardest about this is that we're not in control. With God, we never are. Christ wins salvation for you on the cross and makes you his forgiven, beloved child, whether you like it or not. The Father sends you the Spirit to disrupt your life and make you a witness, to make us a witnessing community, whether we like it or not. This can hurt. It can be scary. The Spirit won't make our problems go away. In fact, the Spirit is giving us a new problem.

Our problem, our calling, is this: we're called to show the people around us something they've never seen before. We're called to help them feel a love they've never felt before. We're called to do things that make people wonder whether we are filled with new wine. We're called to make people curious about what's going on at Christ Lutheran. We're called to act in a way that makes people say, “You see those people there? They're so...accepting. They're so...welcoming. Nobody's ever treated me that way before. They're real, they're human, and that's ok. I can be myself there and it's like nobody's really judging me. It's a place where everyone's the same, where everyone gets the same, and everyone has a place.” I believe that if we focus on that problem, that sacred baptismal vocation, on this love we're called to share, the other problems will be there, but they won't matter so much anymore. The Spirit is here. Pentecost is happening here. Your life, and the life of this community, will never be the same. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.