As I was preparing for this morning’s message, I read several different commentaries on the passage from Acts. I participated in a Bible text study with a group of Lutheran pastors that meets weekly to share insight on the lectionary readings for the coming week. I read the passage several times and looked at the order of worship to get a feel for today’s worship setting.
I did all of this in preparation for reflecting on Pentecost, for bringing you a message that I hoped would be God-inspired and memorable as you walked out of the sanctuary today into mission field.
The problem is, Pentecost is a hard topic to preach on because it’s one of those days that is so familiar to so many Christians around the world. It’s hard to come up with an original message. It’s like a seasoned preacher trying to create a new Christmas message or a new Easter message. What do you say when so much has already been said?
In all of the places that I looked for inspiration this week, a few words and phrases stuck out to me not because of their originality, but because of their ever-present and enduring truth. These words and phrases served as reminders to me, and I hope they will be to you as well.
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The first reminder I received and will share with you is that God meets us where we are in life … no matter where we are in life.
In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus tells his disciples:
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
The disciples are in a holding pattern … waiting … working on figuring out their next step. They aren’t sitting idly by. They are in the process of regrouping, reorganizing … but still waiting. They know what has happened over the past 40+ days … the death and resurrection of their beloved teacher and friend … Jesus appearing multiple times to assure them that he has defeated the grave. …. They know what has happened and yet they are waiting for and anticipating what will come.
This is a rhetorical question, but I will ask it anyway. Have you ever been in a holding pattern … at a time of waiting for what is to come? We all have been there.
- We have filled out the application and gone through the interviews … waiting to find out if we are going to get the job.
- We have gone to the doctor and gone through the battery of testing … waiting on the diagnosis.
- We have been racked with anxiety or depression or fear or all of the above … waiting for the time when those fears will subside.
- We have lost a loved one and are filled with grief, in that time just after the busyness of saying our earthly good-byes … waiting for tomorrow and the next day and the next day to come.
It is in those moments that God, through the Holy Spirit, reaches down and meets us where we are. We know what has happened and yet we are waiting for and anticipating what is to come.
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The second reminder that I received this week in my preparation and that I will share with you is that in those moments when God reaches out to us, the Holy Spirit can take many forms.
In the Bible, there are two images of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 3:16 and in the other gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism, we read,
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.”
In today’s reading from Acts, we get a very different view of the Holy Spirit, described as “a sound like the rush of a violent wind.”
There are times in our lives when we need to feel God’s Spirit in the most gentle of ways …
- when we are grieving,
- when we are scared,
- when we feel as if we are the only one in the world who is hurting.
Those are the times we need God’s gentle touch to descend upon us and land lightly on our shoulder.
There are other times in our lives when we need God’s spirit to come up behind us and give us a good, old-fashioned kick in the backside.
- When we allow our fears to overshadow HIS promises.
- When we know that someone else is hurting or needing help and we consider ourselves to be too busy, or we assume that someone else will step in and help.
- When we question our abilities even though we know that God has created us for His work.
Those are the times we need God to come down and empower us in such a way that His presence is undeniable, so we can move with confidence.
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A third reminder is that the Spirit meets us where we are … either in a gentle or an empowering way … but doesn’t leave us there. One reference I read said that the Holy Spirit was and is God’s way of passing the baton on to us. Each of us has a call to action from God … a call to move from where we are to where God is calling us to serve. And as God calls us to move, He will equip us for ministry.
I want us to notice a change in vocabulary in Acts from what we read in the four preceding Gospels. In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the 12 followers of Jesus are called Disciples, which translates “students.” In Acts, as early as Chapter 1, verse 2, the name for the 11 and then 12 is “apostles,” which translates “the sent ones.”
Disciples are followers and learners, while apostles are chosen leaders and messengers sent to spread the message of the gospel. All apostles are disciples … but not all disciples are apostles.
We are all called to be students of God’s Word and the teachings and examples of Jesus. We are all called to be messengers of God’s love, but how we deliver that message will take different forms and shapes based on the gifts we have been given.
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As the Mission Liaison to Graceworks, I can tell you that every day our staff and volunteers are called to meet people exactly where they are in life as we provide services to the individuals in our care.
- That may mean providing rehabilitation to someone who just had a knee replacement.
- Or it may mean providing 24/7 care or day programming to someone with intellectual disabilities.
- It may mean finding ways for persons living with dementia to express themselves through art and then hosting an art show filled with their creations.
- It means offering hospice care to people at the end of their lives, caring for those who are ready to receive their reward and for those who will grieve as they carry memories here on earth.
As Graceworks does this, we also know that the services we provide must continually evolve because we cannot serve the needs of others if we as an organization remain static. We must move forward because God calls us to do just that.
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There is one final reminder that I will offer to all of us this morning. The miracle that occurred at that first Pentecost was two-fold. First, the Apostles spoke in other languages. Second, those around them understood what was being said.
This sent a clear and decisive message that God’s love is for everyone. Jesus modeled this during his earthly ministry and the gift of the Holy Spirit reinforces that message. The people gathered could understand what the Apostles were saying about Jesus, bringing those on the “outside” into the fold. There was a powerful connection that occurred that day when everyone in attendance could experience the love of God sent through His Spirit.
The Holy Spirit came to empower us … not just the early church, but US … to connect with one another in ways that only God’s love can. That story was true then and it is true more than 2,000 years later.
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Mine is not an original sermon or an original message today. Everything that I have said you have heard before.
My one hope is that on this Pentecost Sunday, that you hear this ever present and enduring truth anew … that just as those in the crowd described in Acts were empowered with the message of God’s love for all, that you too will leave this place filled with a spirit of hope, unity and a call to move forward as you enter the mission field outside of these walls.
Amen.