May 19, 2013
Pentecost
- Acts 2:1-21
- Dr. Teri Thomas
Not easy to describe the Holy Spirit.
Some things are really only known by their effects.
To have the spirit is
to be alert and sensitive to the mind of Christ
to have faith that takes God at God’s word
to have hope that sees beyond the darkness to the dawn
to be alive to the existence of a world unseen
To be without the spirit would be
musician without music
nature enthusiast locked indoors
patriot deprived of home and country
Have you ever been sitting in a sailboat on a still day
waiting for the wind
sit passively
there is nothing you can do
it is out of your control
then you can see the wind coming across the water
you watch as it fills the sails
you can feel its movement and its power.
We cannot moderate it potency
or dictate its direction.
We can choose to raise our sails.
Pentecost didn’t just happened once, a long, long time ago.
There are multiple Pentecosts recorded in scripture;
multiple times, that is, when the Spirit is poured out,
The power of the Holy Spirit may start at Pentecost
but continues throughout the history of the early church.
It is about wind, breath, life.
We don’t breathe just once and then say that is enough.
We keep breathing
in and out
over and over
life
breath
wind
and if we stop…we die.
It is about fire
warmth, heat, embers, flames
it doesn’t burn just once and then go out
if it did we would freeze
Pentecost didn’t happen just once.
There are a variety of episodes in the Church’s history
that we might also appropriately name another Pentecost.
The flourishing of the monastic communities in the middle ages, the Reformation, the revivals of the first and second Great Awakenings in North America are all examples.
And it’s not just big events.
Pentecost - it is the movement of God
within our lives and communities
enabling us to experience Jesus’ ministry as real,
personal, and contemporary.
The Spirit is alive today.
Pentecost isn’t over! Why should we be surprised by that?
We might wonder what, when, and where the next Pentecost will be?
A little girl who visited a revival service with her grandmother asked as they were going home,
"Did those people really catch the Spirit forever,
or were they just having an emotional release?"
Her grandmother answered,
"Honey, it doesn't matter how high they jump up;
it's what they do when they come down that will tell you if it's the real thing."
The good news is that the Holy Spirit comes to us—
in quiet ways or in loud and boisterous ways.
Whenever we receive new energy and power and a clear sense of direction,
that is the movement of the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit unleashed.
The stories of the mighty winds of God, as told scripture,
are open-ended because they happened then and continue to happen now.
They happen in your personal life and in mine.
They happen in this congregation, in this community,
they happen to all God's children throughout the world.
When the Spirit comes upon us,
we feel a sense of power that we haven't experienced in quite the same way before.
And that power gives us strength to do something special,
something courageous,
something awesome.
Don’t let Pentecost just be another day on the calendar,
a festival day where red clothing and streamers are the big deal.
The Spirit is present and accounted for,
so let that mighty wind wash over you.
Let the Spirit whisper in your ear
in the language you most need to hear,
and trust that same Spirit to give you the words
you need to speak.
Let yourself be carried on the wind
of that wonderful Spirit of God.
Let’s pray to be disturbed and to be a disturber of others.
Let’s pray to be challenged and stretched.
Let’s pray that our hearts not be troubled but be bold enough to speak God’s truth to ourselves and to the world.