Pentecost

Sermon by Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan, Ph.D.

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21

The Sunday after Easter, we heard Rev. Dave preach from the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John. As ten of the disciples huddle behind locked doors, several days after the Crucifixion, Jesus suddenly stands among them and says, “Peace.” Then he breathes the Holy Spirit into them. This was John’s report of the coming of the Spirit on Easter evening.

But Luke depicts the coming of the Spirit, in the book of Acts, when over 100 disciples gather in an upper room 50 days after the Resurrection. Which is to say, the Bible does not describe the coming of the Holy Spirit as a clear, historical event. Apparently, she can arrive in any settings and perform whatever works she wants. Scripture describes the Spirit as empowering people to change their lives completely, shaping the mission of the church, guiding individuals in decisions, helping congregations discern the future, driving people out of their comfort zones, correcting behavior society thinks is acceptable, providing courage for testimony, empowering dramatic economic sacrifice and miraculous acts of healing. And these only describe the work of the Holy Spirit in the first week of the Church’s existence. Please listen for the word of God as you read the Pentecost story from the 2nd chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.

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.’ (1)

God is always active. The divine presence never ignores what is happening on Earth. The psalmist tells us LORD Yahweh neither slumbers nor sleeps. Our world is never abandoned. If we think about God’s being present with us in the person of the Holy Spirit, remember the Hebrew word for spirit also means breath and wind. Isn’t that lush? The Spirit is pervasive and alive all around us (wind, breath, spirit). From the beginning, the Spirit has acted. The Bible describes the Spirit, like a mother bird, brooding over primal waters. From the warmth of her own body, life comes cracking out. The Holy Spirit’s power to make things happen would not be contained.

And when humanity was created, we are told God breathed into us the breath of life, so from our very start, the Spirit has animated humankind. Even though most of us don’t think the book of Genesis tells creation history, we understand the intent of the myth to teach us about God’s power and love pouring into all creation. God’s creative Spirit animates us to live fully in this glorious world.

The Bible also tells us of an angelic visitation to a young woman when she was informed that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her to make her pregnant. The child was to be the Messiah, so our tradition includes the Spirit’s participation in the birth of Jesus the Christ. Whenever divine power and life and love are moving throughout Earth, God’s Holy Spirit is working. The Holy One has always been active on Earth.

Which means, the Spirit created the Church. We can’t know exactly how the church came into being, but we can have confidence the Spirit was the empowering force. Luke paints a meaningful scene, with the Holy Spirit crashing into the confused and frightened band of Jesus’ followers, like hurricane winds erupting indoors with light radiating around each person. No wonder Luke shows them fleeing into the street, where the Spirit fills their mouths with explanations of how God’s love can change the world. The Holy Spirit is disruptive holy power, for sure.

Regardless of what exactly happened in the early days of the church, one thing is clear. The Holy Spirit bound those folks together with a commitment to God’s vision for the world, which meant their characters were reshaped according to God’s pattern. The Spirit empowered believers to support each other physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. She guided their gifts for worship including prophesying, helping them find their authentic voices and strengthening them to “enter an unwelcoming world [boldly] preaching and living the love of Jesus.”(2) The Spirit forms the church into a community of God’s people,(3) allowing them to participate together in the inner life of God. (4)

But we must understand that the Spirit creates and indwells the church, not for itself but for others. Our work as the church empowered by the Spirit is to teach and manifest the purposes of God. We now share the ministry of Christ, to show forth God’s loving forgiveness throughout the world, to establish justice wherever we are, to demonstrate a radical sharing so all have enough. Latin American liberation theologian, Gustavo Gutíerrez, states plainly: “…outside of the action of the Spirit which leads the universe and history towards its fullness in Christ, the Church is nothing.”(5) The Spirit is moving the Church toward God’s Realm, which is why she created the church.

Which means creation of the church keeps happening. The church continues to be reborn, including St. Andrew. The passage quoted from Joel shows the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. No one is skipped, because the Spirit stays with us, indwelling the church to guide and empower our movement into whatever is next. So, we should expect to continue to be reshaped, pulled into the inner life of God. The Spirit is in the business of empowering the church to forgive, cross social boundaries, and heal rifts, to give ourselves and those around us a foretaste of the Realm God is preparing to bring in its fullness in time. Hans Kung says the Spirit is God present in us. So God is calling us together, reforming us. So then the Spirit can be expected to explode among us in scary, exciting, life changing, even Earth-shaking ways.

The Spirit among us can be scary, like for those churches who prayed, looked at all the options, and decided to sell their building to get away from a crushing mortgage, so they could do more outreach.

Or the Spirit among us can give exciting results, like when a Methodist Church in Michigan put in showers so they could partner with an organization serving unhoused people. Now they open 2 mornings and one evening each week, offering meals, showers, fresh underwear and socks, haircuts, mail services, and referrals to other agencies. In addition, they helped 86 persons find permanent, sustainable housing last year.

Or the Spirit can empower a life-changing program, like the one that first started by serving free lunch three days a week to people off the street. Except folks started coming in early to help, and the church people started sitting down to join the lunch crowd. And now, there is really no distinction between the church “us” and the others “them.” It’s all just “us” cooking and having lunch together 3 times a week. The life changing went in both directions, because the Spirit loves to disrupt our expectations.

Hear how the Spirit fills churches with God? Congregations continue to be stretched, empowered, challenged so the Spirit can have her way. So, St. Andrew. How might we let the Spirit have her way with us this Pentecost? Something Earth-shaking perhaps? Come, Holy Spirit, Come. The creation of the Church is ongoing!

1) Psalm 121:3, 4.

2) David Bender, “Pastoral Perspective,” Day of Pentecost, Feasting on the Word Year A, vol 3, (WJK, 2011), 18.

3) See Hans Kung, The Church (Sheed and Ward, 1967, English trans. 1968), 82-83.

4) See David Burrell, “The Spirit and the Christian Life,” Christian Theology, ed. Hodgson and King,1982, 326.

5) Gustavo Gutíerrez, “Sacrament of Liberation,” Readings in Christian Theology, Hodgson and King, 1985, 262.