Sermon Acts 2:1-21 June
4, 2017 Pentecost Year A
Fan the Flame
It is Pentecost Sunday!
Fifty days since Easter-the day of Resurrection-remember
that day?
It seems like forever ago, doesn’t it?
Imagine being the disciples!
They’ve been walking around in shock, in a daze. Their
emotions on a roller coaster ride.
First their hope in Jesus, their Savior, died.
Then, their love for Jesus
was restored when he rose from the dead.
They saw him several times during
the forty days he was on earth in his resurrected state. (Which is also very
confusing, because we aren’t really sure what he looked like, since several
people didn’t recognize him.)
Then, their faith was confused again, when he
ascended into heaven and told them to stay put. He said don’t go anywhere, just
stay where you are and the Spirit will come.
I believe this is one
of the single most important features of the faith of the early church:
*The disciples were willing to follow,
obey,
wait,
and respond,
to a future to which they had no clue.
All because they trusted the
One who led them.*
It is amazing the risks and uncertainties that we are
willing to take when we trust.
I can think of a few examples. I trust mom.
When I was a little girl, she told
me
I needed a vaccination.
She told me it would hurt,
but it would protect me from
disease.
I trusted her.
I didn’t like the idea of a
painful injection.
But, I trusted my mother’s words
and
I was willing to be protected
even if it caused a moments pain.
Jesus promised the disciples that they would receive power.
They would receive the Holy
Spirit and they would never be alone.
Everything these disciples lost
from a world they understood, did not
disillusion them from continuing to trust in the One who brought them all
together and loved them. Jesus’ love and promises rang true to these men and
women. And so, they waited.
They waited together.
They were willing to be comfortable
with uncertainty.
They prayed constantly together.
They knew that Jesus had told them
they would be
his witnesses throughout the ends
of the earth.
And they trusted him.
In their togetherness, the Spirit came.
The Spirit came with a mighty
rushing wind and descended on each of them with tongues of fire.
Look around at each other and
imagine a flame dancing on your brother or sister’s head. It’s pretty hard to
imagine. And as AJ said, “That’s silly!”
And then,
everyone you see who came today from different parts of the
country and the world, are speaking to you in a way you can understand.
Someone from Tangier is able to understand someone from New
Jersey. And folks from California can understand people from Louisiana.
Witnessing those speaking Greek when they were not Greek, or Persian, or Latin,
your eyes and your ears would not believe you.
Yet, this is how we are told it happened.
I can give you all the theological
reasons why we read it this way. Such as, this became the reverse to the tower
of Babel and so humanity was no longer purposely divided and dispersed but was
now drawn together in unity and understanding.
There is quite a bit more that we can sit down and study.
But, for today I think,
the power of God at work through these few trusting people
is a witness to those few of us still choosing to trust
today.
Or even if we don’t trust and yet we show up with skepticism
and with curiosity and with doubt and with wonder, this is where the power of
the Spirit surprises us and enters in.
Choosing to be together and choosing to trust each other is in itself
power. There is a world out there that has not changed a whole lot. It
is a world where there is little trust and a lot of discord. But, here, in this place, the Spirit comes with a mighty
wind and rushes through us to stir us, to pour out upon us, and to fill us with
the fire of God’s love.
Here in this place
God sees a gathered people praying
together and God swoops down with the Spirit’s flame and fills each of us. God witnesses a group
of faithful and fans the flame of his Spirit
to push through the centuries and to keep on keeping on.
You see Pentecost was not a onetime event.
Pentecost (which is Shavuot-fifty days from Passover-fifty
days from Easter for Christians) is still happening.
The power of the Spirit continues to rush through the church
and her people as they gather. God’s people find times when they are amazed at
their ability to understand one another and their ability to work together.
The strength of unity in diversity is the power of the
church.
It is what happened on this day more than 2000 years ago. And
it will keep happening as we take the steps.
Opening our hearts to trust is step one.
Opening our lives to power is step two.
Opening our minds to unity is step three.
The Holy Spirit will descend upon us with the rush of a
mighty wind
and tongues of fire will appear
and we will be amazed at what is happening
and we will not understand it
but we will accept it.
God did not give us a
spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline 2
Tim 1:7
We just need to ask God to fan the flame to keep us going
forward now and forever. Amen.
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