Acts
2:1-21 When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place. 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a
tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now
there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And
at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard
them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they
asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we
hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear
them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed,
saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said,
“They are filled with new wine.”
But
Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of
Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to
what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine
o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves,
both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth
below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and
the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
John 14:8-17, 25-27 Philip said
to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to
him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words
that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me
does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but
if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
Very truly, I tell you, the
one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do
greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever
you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my
name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
”If you love me, you will
keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him,
because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
”I have said these things
to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all
that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do
not let them be afraid.
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I once worked with a man who was a pastor from the Pentecostal
tradition – Dean was his name – and we talked about speaking in tongues. It is, of course, a usual part of the
Pentecostal worship experience. Some of
you may have attended worship services in Pentecostal churches and seen this
for yourselves. Some of the folks at the
roundtable this past week shared their experiences. None of us had ever spoken in tongues
ourselves – and none of us really felt that we understand the gift of tongues –
but it is common enough that we had some familiarity with it.
Pastor Dean and I had some conversations about the whole
phenomenon. He knew something about
Presbyterians and was not surprised that the gift of tongues was foreign to
me. But he said, even though he knows
who we are, he doesn’t doubt for a second that God could cause an outbreak of
tongues even in a Presbyterian church. I
said, Of course. Having a strong view of
God’s omnipotence, as any good Presbyterian does, I don’t doubt it either. I’m sure God can do anything God chooses to
do. Although – knowing as many
Presbyterians as I do – I believe it would be one of God’s greater miracles.
This past week I came across an article that suggested to me I
have suffered from some misunderstandings about the gift of tongues. The article described tongues as a kind of
prayer that is free of language, allowing a person to let go of control and let
the Spirit work. It seems to be a kind
of personal spiritual practice that people do in public.
But on the day of Pentecost something of a different nature was
happening. While it was an inbreaking of
the same Spirit, it resulted in a different manifestation of the Spirit’s
power.
This was the Spirit that Jesus had promised them, before his
arrest weeks earlier. His disciples were feeling as insecure as we often feel,
wanting some assurance, some sign, that they could follow. So Jesus told them
that the Father would give them an Advocate, a Spirit of truth, to be with them
forever, to teach them everything they needed to know. This Spirit, Jesus assured them, will be with
you and in you.
And on that day of Pentecost, when the Spirit arrived like a
rush of violent wind, it hovered over them and inhabited them and gave them
power to do what they formerly could not do.
Somehow, they were able to communicate with all the various and diverse
people who were gathered in Jerusalem for the festival. By the power of the Spirit, they were
connected with people who were different from them. This is the miracle of Pentecost.
The gift Jesus promise to his disciples that evening in the
upper room is for us too. The message
Jesus left with the disciples is for us too: that he will not leave us alone. He remains with us by the presence of the
Holy Spirit – whose power connects us with other people, all sorts of people. He will never leave us alone – because we
have him with us still and we have the company of one another, all of us made
one by the reconciling life of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Let me share some words from the last chapter of the letter from
our Apostle today, some words about the Spirit that will not leave us alone.
As Jesus
promised his friends 2000 years ago, I remind you today: He will not leave you alone. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God that
brings you comfort, courage, wisdom, and truth.
The Spirit brings you many things, but one thing I especially want you
to remember today is that the Spirit brings you community.
The Spirit
broke into the small gathering of disciples on Pentecost and gave them the
ability to reach beyond their comfortable limits to speak to the diverse
multicultural gathering outside their walls. The same Spirit enables you to
knit together community where there was none before. When you came to this church you found new
family, amongst people who had been strangers before. This was the work of the Spirit! But know that the Spirit does not rest. The Spirit continues to break barriers, forge
bonds, enlarge circles of community.
Like many
others, your denomination has spent too many years paralyzed by divisive
political issues. Some congregations
have thrown themselves into the fight, while others have preferred to stick
their heads in the sand. It hardly
matters which approach you took. Neither
could heal conflict nor bring reconciliation.
Both took too much energy and limited your ability to be effective
evangelists in the world. The church has
nearly forgotten how to pay attention to, and care about, some of the most
important things it was meant to be and do.
Perhaps it is
time to do something different: to listen for the Spirit, who enables us to speak
and hear one another across divisions of culture, language, politics,
generation, and anything else that divides us.
The Spirit will give you confidence to speak truth in love, to listen
compassionately, and to practice patience with one and all.
The Apostle has spoken.
Now it is your turn. You
have listened for several weeks to the words from the Apostle to a resurrected
people. What do you have to say in
return? Let the Spirit who is among us and in us work through us to
say what we need to say in answer to all we have heard.
Gather in small groups where you are and together write your
letter from the church to the Apostle of Jesus Christ. This is not the time to generate a list of
ideas of things we can or should do.
This is merely to speak your heart to the Apostle – voice the hopes, the
needs, the concerns and questions of a resurrected people – the church of Jesus
Christ.
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