Acts 2:1-6, 38-47
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 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. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
38 Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Pentecost, as you probably remember, is the celebration of the end of the 50 days between the Resurrection, Jesus’ ascension and the arrival of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples while they were in Jerusalem for the festival of weeks.
A lot of churches call it the ‘birthday of the church’. Many churches celebrate Pentecost by getting the church a cake and singing Happy Birthday. Okay…if that's a beloved tradition in the church you grew up in, go for it. I'm all for celebrations, especially church celebrations. I'm all for everybody getting together, especially at church, and I am definitely without a doubt…all for cake! But I think a ‘birthday party for the church’ misses the larger point of Pentecost, especially because it limits Pentecost to a one-day or a one-hour celebration. Besides, the church, as we know it, didn't exist yet in Acts.
Although Acts 2 is often referred to as the “early church” and, the description we just read, is thankfully, still a part of what we do today: (gathering, the breaking of bread, honoring our baptisms, sharing our possessions and adding to our numbers) well, until Covid, but I'll get back to that in a minute.
The Celebration of Pentecost in this church has been very different, and today, it’s already obvious by all the decorations. I want to give some extra snaps to our interior decorators. Bruce Middleton blew up these balloons [that look like flames]. Roxanne did the table and other Pentecost themed décor. Marissa made the banners and this Pentecost stole for me many years ago. So let's give it up for them!
Yet, instead of birthday party, I think there's a more apt and appropriate celebration of Pentecost. And that's actually introducing… (sounds of drumrolls by the choir)… the arrival of the Holy Spirit!!! This new expression, of the third the person of the Trinity, becomes a life force that arrives, inspires, drives and empowers and carries out the legacy of Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at that a bit deeper. What is the legacy of Jesus Christ? Any ideas? Just shout it out. “We are!”. Ok good. What else? “Believe and receive!” Great. What else? “Life everlasting!!” What else? “Love everybody”. Yes! What else?? “Redemption”. Yes!!! It's all these things, but Dan's right. The legacy of Jesus Christ through His life, His death and His resurrection is the redemption of humanity.
It's all the things just mentioned which are encompassed in redemption and I'm sure you all agree that right now the world is in need of redemption more than ever. The gun violence in the last few weeks alone, besides the long list of very large and unending troubles in our world, is just too much to bear.
I saw this silly cartoon yesterday and it's a husband and wife getting ready for bed. And they're both on their phones. And the wife says to the husband, “I know, I know. Blue light before bedtime is what gives us anxiety… And, also… the state of the world.”
Friends, we don't need another cake... we need much MORE than that. WE NEED A SAVIOR! We need a savior with power to heal and to change and redeem everything that's wrong. And one of the things, we need saving from first, is our lamenting and our complaining of what we’ve endured and what is no longer. That's not helping us move forward nor is taking out our fears and frustrations on each other, which continues to happen here and on the streets. You've seen the articles: people jumping out of their cars and having arguments, because of stolen parking spots. That used to only happen when people were shopping at Christmas. Now it happens every day. And that’s not OK…
But here's the good news, the officers of this church are on it. We met yesterday and studied this text, as well as Acts Chapter One, which is Jesus’ ascension. We spent time listening…and noticing…and discerning…and planning how to respond to the situation of this church; a situation that every church finds themselves in, as we seek to recover and renew from the last two years.
We haven't gotten it all figured out (YET!), but it’s a very good start. Their care, passion, concern and dedication is what’s needed to get us BACK to the ‘early church’ of Acts 2. They did and DO devote themselves to “the apostles teaching, the breaking of bread, (which we also did yesterday), and prayers. They were, as verse 1 says, all together and in one place. But sadly, that's not the case today, literally. We know, Covid has brought all manner of evil to the world through death, suffering and isolation and trauma, PTSD, scarcity and… poor church attendance. But we/You have the power to correct this, but not without everyone pulling together and quite frankly, showing up. As the Acts 2 text reads: “When the day at Pentecost had come, they were all in one place.
Covid has actually created another diaspora. (Diaspora=those spread out/moved away from their congregation/homeland) like the story in Acts 2 (before the HS comes). The big difference is that when the festival of Booths came, ALL the people returned from all the other places and came BACK to Jerusalem; to the sanctuary, to the center. We, on the other hand are still separated. There is still a large number of members and friends who have not returned to witness, receive and share the new life promised and enlivened with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. And the goal of that arrival is to leave things behind--things that get in the way of mission and ministry, through the breaking of bread and fellowship. The arrival of the Holy Spirit is not a one-day event. It is the entree up to a new way of living where we launch new beginnings, where we seek out the promises set forth in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
It is high time that we, too, come back together and in one place. This place. Because if we don't, when the Holy Spirit blows in, it'll come right through the front door and right out the back. And we won't even know it!
Yesterday, at the end of the retreat one of our officers, hurt her back and got very dizzy. So she laid down here (pointing to the front pew) and a few of us attended to her to make sure that she was going to be okay. And it took a while. One of us got a cool cloth and put it on her head and we just spent time with her. The retreat had been here, outside, in the picnic area and so the doors were still open. While we were attending to the officer (just being a ministry of presence), a woman came in--young woman, with a cell phone--and clearly after speaking for three or four words, she could not speak English and asked if any of us spoke Spanish. And, of course, I said, “Un poquito” which means “very little”. She started to speak in Spanish into her phone and then her phone translated it into English, so I could read it. And she said, “I’m looking for a place to live. I have young children. I live in Dover. I have no place to move to. Is there anyone in the church who can help me find a place to live?”
And so, this took a while to go back and forth, (because I wanted to make sure that she didn't have immediate needs for housing), But no, just that, her lease is up and she needs a place to live. And actually, the first thing she did when she came in here was turn to the chancel, she crossed herself, and then kissed her fingers. How many of us do that? (We come in. We take our seat. We sit down. We read the bulletin. We wait). Her piety was impressive to me.
And then I said, “Come sit down.” And I had to move the Bible from the end of the pew so she could sit. And then she said, “Biblia?.” I said, “Si.” And then I remembered that we used to have some Bibles downstairs in Spanish. So, of course, we were climbing all over the church trying to find those Bibles and, thankfully, they've all been given away. But the Holy Spirit was working with us and moving us, so that we could understand one another (through Technology).., because the common connection was not a house. It was the house of worship. THIS house of worship.
Now, I realize that I'm preaching to the choir. And many of you are here now attending pretty consistently. And for those who can't come, for those who are sick or who are disabled/homebound, they can still be connected to, and with us, through the gift of having Zoom. But I feel really strongly that the WHOLE church needs to gather again “together all in one place”, consistently, regularly, because while we are spread out and disconnected, we can’t get anything done.
And so I'm going to mail this sermon, to everyone in the church, who’s not here today (in addition to the regular homebound) because Covid's not going away, but it's time to make this not a one-day celebration, but a new life in a new church because that's what God is calling us to do--that and that alone.
May it be so today and every day forward. Amen.