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| Image Courtesy of HermanoLeon Clipart |
Today in the life of
the church we celebrate the wonderful day of Pentecost. Pentecost is that most
of us are familiar with, it is the day in which the Holy Spirit descended upon
a group of followers gathered together, and though they spoke in different languages,
they were able to understand each other as if they were hearing their native
tongue. We know Pentecost for the
amazing events depicted here in Acts 2, with the tongues of fire resting on
those gathered. It is why we celebrate this day with our altar adorned in red
to symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit, it is why many of us today are
wearing red as well. In fact, this
wonderful day is part of the inspiration for our United Methodist logo that we have all come to love. The cross of
course depicting Jesus’s ministry on Earth, but also the flame, representing
the fire of this day of Pentecost, the flame of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is the day in which we celebrate
the start of the early church as thousands were baptized on that day. For
pastors and laity alike who are tasked for reading the Pentecost scripture, it
is also a time to brush up on your reading skills as they have to pronounce a
long list of different regions, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, and anyone who has read it knows it can be quite a tongue
twister. We as Christians already know
and celebrate so much about this wonderful day of Pentecost, and yet there are
some simple questions that I think we often fail to ask. Why were there so many people from all around
the known world there in Jerusalem on that day?
Or maybe the most obvious question that we fail to ask it what does the
word Pentecost even mean? When we start
to answer these questions we may begin to learn more about this special day,
and it may even give a more significant meaning of this day for our own lives.
So what does the word Pentecost mean? Any guesses? Don’t
be shy, there are no stupid guesses, I had to look it up myself. I thought it would have to do something with
the Holy Spirit, or with the start of the church, but in fact the term
Pentecost simply means the “fiftieth day.” [1]
The fiftieth day after what though? Well even though this term Pentecost has
come to be an important term in the life of Christianity, the term itself
actually originated long before even the arrival of Jesus Christ. Pentecost was
fifty days after the celebration of Passover, the extremely important Jewish
Holiday that celebrates the final plague of Egypt passing over the Israelites
houses that were marked with Lamb’s blood. It also signifies the beginning of
the Israelites freedom from captivity in Egypt. Pentecost at the time of our story was fifty
days after this great Jewish holiday, in fact Pentecost was its own Jewish
holiday. Sometimes also called the Feast
of Weeks, Pentecost was one of three holy days in which Jews from all around
the world would come together and gather in Jerusalem. That explains why the
Parthians, and the Medes, and the Elamites were all there, they were there to
celebrate Pentecost. Except Pentecost at that time was not a celebration of the
Holy Spirit like we know today, Pentecost is said to have been a remembrance
and celebration of Moses’ receiving of the law from God.
And so here they are, believers from all over the known
world gathered in Jerusalem, as well as Peter and some of the other followers
of Christ, all gathered for this
Pentecost celebration, when something extraordinary happened. There was the
sound a violent gushing wind. Tongues as if on fire descended and rested upon
the followers of Jesus gathered and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and
suddenly what they said, this great diverse crowd could understand. This crowd started to take notice they
said, “"Are not all these who are
speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native
language? Galileans you see were notoriously known for their lack linguistic
skills and knowledge of other languages, so imagine the surprise when these
Galileans now seemed to be speaking each person’s own language. Something so
strange and so powerful was obviously happening, that outsiders commented that
these people must be drunk. And yet when
the people heard the message of the Holy Spirit, thousands were baptized and
they too received the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost was forever
transformed.
The people in Jerusalem gathered for one particular
reason. They gathered in remembrance and celebration of Moses receiving the
Law, something that we should not take lightly. For the Jews this was a sign of
God’s presence with the Israelites. God
had chosen Abraham, and made a covenant between Abraham and his descendants and
God. Yet how were the people supposed to hold up that covenant, how were they
supposed to be in relationship with God. Sure God spoke through some
extraordinary people, like Jacob and even Moses, but how was the average Joe
supposed to connect with God? How was
this nation of Israelites supposed to function as a people of the Lord? These are questions answered by Moses on the
mount, that now the people had a covenant with God through the Law. The Law
would lay out how the Israelites were to live and to worship, how they were to
be faithful to the will of God. This original Pentecost celebration was not
insignificant, it signaled God’s covenant with the people and their obedience
to God.
And yet something important has happened. God came to
Earth as human. The people of Earth could actually see, feel, touch God! A
relationship with God was no longer something relegated to a tablet or scroll,
God was experienced firsthand! Jesus
Christ had come and died in order to restore all humanity. And in restoring all
humanity he opened up salvation to all who believed, both gentile and Jew. And then Jesus ascended, and God was no
longer on Earth on bodily form, but things simply couldn’t return to the way it
was before. How were the Jewish followers of Christ simply supposed to go back
to a relationship with God through the Law, when they had experienced Christ
firsthand? How was the Law to be applied
to those followers of Jesus who were not Jewish? And so on this day of
Pentecost when the Jewish people were celebrating their covenant, their
relationship with God, God once again was revealed to the people in a new way.
Just as John the Baptist had proclaimed, just as Jesus had promised, the Spirit
of God was poured out upon the people.
Our relationship with God had taken a new step. God is with us, always.
As Christians I think we often overlook the importance of
the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. We think of God the Father and all the
wonders of creation from the work of his hands. We think of Jesus, and
rightfully so, with the importance of his life, death, resurrection and
ascension. And yet the Holy Spirit sometimes becomes an afterthought. And yet on this day of Pentecost we are
reminded of the wonders of the Holy Spirit. We are reminded that God is with
us. We are reminded of the new covenant
established through the Holy Spirit. That covenant brings us all here together
as a church.
Because what is Church other than that family of God that
have been united together through water and the Spirit; those who have been
washed of their iniquities and who have received the power of the Spirit. The
Church cannot be separate from the Spirit.
It is what we see in our scripture where through the power of the Holy
Spirit, through the baptism of thousands of believers the church was created.
We see it still in churches today, where often Pentecost is the day in which
people who have been preparing for baptism are baptized. We see it in our creed
where the church and the Holy Spirit are linked in the same line, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Catholic Church.” And I see it today as
I look out at you all wearing red. It is a reminder that we are bound together,
we are called together by the power of the Holy Spirit that is still with us
today.
And yet the Spirit calls us forward. This day of Pentecost, God’s creation of the
church is not how the books of Acts ends, but instead it is just the beginning.
The whole rest of the book of Acts are stories of how the followers of Christ
now receiving that Holy Spirit respond to that power. From Stephen the matyr, to Philip and the teaching and converting the
Ethiopian Eunich, to Paul’s reaching the Gentiles in Athens, we see how the followers of Christ faithfully
responded to the power of the Holy Spirit. We as Christians are called to
respond, we are called to go out into the world, we are called just as Jesus
calls us in Matthew 28 to “Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to
obey everything that I have commanded you.” And yet the beauty of it all, is that we do
not do it alone. For Christ continues, “and
remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Now on this day of Pentecost we see the truth of this
statement, that though Christ may have ascended, he is forever with us through the power of
the Holy Spirit. That God has made a new covenant, God has chosen us as sons
and daughters, gentiles as we are, broken as we are. And more amazingly has put
trust in our hands to be part of this
amazing restoration, this amazing transformation that is in store for all creation.
It reminds me of a trust that was placed upon me and my youth group many years
ago. Every fifth Sunday in my home church was considered youth Sunday, in which
the youth of the church would lead worship, from responsive reading, to
singing, and yes even preaching. I
remember one service in particular in which our group decided to do something
different. Instead of one sermon by one person we did multiple mini sermons by
multiple people. I remember as one of my friends presented his section, on war,
a controversial topic for sure especially at the time right near the beginning
of the war in Iraq, we heard the door slam in the back. Unknown to us, one
member had taken exception to the message, and for the whole time in between
the early service and the late service, this member berated my pastor about it.
Now maybe this man had some points, maybe the issue was not handled in the best
way, but how did my pastor respond? I mean no pastor wants to be yelled at, no
pastor wants an angry member of the church, it would be totally understandable
if after this Sunday he scrapped youth Sunday for good; but he trusted us, even
in our missteps, even in our mistakes, he trusted us and we continued our youth
Sundays. It is so nice to have that type
of trust. The trust that even with our faults, God believes in us to be part of
Kingdom building. That even after we as humans rejected, abused, and crucified
Jesus Christ, that he would still pour the Holy Spirit upon us, making a new
covenant with us to be his people.
That sort of trust is so powerful,
and yet not only does God trust us in Kingdom building, he empowers us in it.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians of the many different gifts given to us by the
Holy Spirit. From prophesy to wisdom to healing to faith, those of us who have
received the power of the Spirit have been given special gifts for ministry,
and we are special for not everyone has the same gift we do. Receiving the Holy
Spirit is not just about our covenant with God, but that in all things God is
with us. That we can proclaim I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We can proclaim If God is for us who can be against us. Or maybe we can even shout like the great
early 90’s song, “I’ve Got the Power.”
It almost like that can of spinach that popeye opens up and goes from
being a puny dweeb to a massive hero. It
is a power that gives us the ability to do great things, and yet it is not our
own power. We cannot simply use it however we like, it just doesn’t work like
that. It is the power of the Holy Spirit working through, leading, guiding, and strengthening us not for our own
desires, but for the desires of God. And so the question is how do we
respond? If you have not yet received
this power of the Holy Spirit through baptism, then the first step in to
respond to that gentle push God is giving you to enter into eternal covenant
with him just as thousands did on that day of Pentecost. If you have already
received the power of the Spirit through baptism then we must ask ourselves
what are we doing with that precious trust, that amazing power given to us. If
the book of Acts were written today, about this group of Apostles, how would it
read? Though this church is over a hundred years old I believe our story is
just beginning. I believe there are so many here who feel that power, who
respect the sacred trust placed upon their lives, who want to stand up and
shout to the Lord, I’ve got the Power, I’ve got the power. Now lead me Lord.
Now lead us Lord.
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